The second concert of the TCJS “Jazz from J to Z” season will be swinging in Hopkins on Oct. 4! Doug Haining and his Twin Cities Seven ensemble will join forces with vocalist Charmin Michelle for “Swing Into Fall,” an evening featuring the music of the great swing era composers.

Doug Haining is one of the most swinging of area sax and clarinet players, citing the influence of Johnny Hodges. A graduate of St. Olaf College in Northfield, Haining has been delighting audiences for over three decades,  including stints with Steve Allen, Don Rick-les and Bob Hope, playing for such Broadway shows as West Side Story, Cats, and A Chorus Line, and working in famed area bands including Red Wolfe’s Ellington Echoes, the Hall Brothers Band and the Wolverines Classic Jazz Orchestra.

Since 1999, much of Haining’s musical energy has gone into leading Minnesota’s premier small swing band, the Twin Cities Seven, playing in the tradition of the great small bands of Count Basie and Duke Ellington. In addition to Haining on saxes and clarinet, the TC Seven includes Steve Wright, trumpet; Dave Graf, trombone; Kent Saunders, guitar; Rick Carl-son, piano; Steve Pikal, bass (and trombone); and Dick Bortolussi on drums. TC Seven released I Swing… Therefore I Am in 2000, “an ample sample of splendid, communal small-group swing” (Tom Surowicz, Star Tribune).

Charmin Michelle has been the long-time featured guest vocalist for the TC Seven. Born in Birmingham, Alabama, she moved to Minnesota as a young child. With the promotion of organ legend “Captain” Jack McDuff, Charmin toured Europe with internationally known pianists Mulgrew Miller and Kirk Lightsey in 1997, and has since performed in jazz festivals throughout western Europe. In recent years, she has been performing at clubs, concert halls and festivals in Spain, and this past spring was featured at Orchestra Hall with trombonist Delfeayo Marsalis in a salute to Louis Armstrong. In addition to duo gigs with guitarist Joel Shapira and pianist Denny Malmberg, Charmin also performs frequently with the Jerry O’Hagan Orchestra and throughout the area at such venues as Cue at the Guthrie, Kozy’s, Rossi’s, the Dakota and more. In addition to her most recent recording (Pure Imagination, 2005) with Joel Shapira, she released Your Eyes (Zimboy, 1994), Destination Moon (CM, 1998), and Hot (CM, 2001), covering the tunes of Billie Holiday, the Great American Songbook, blues and bossa.

Don’t stumble into fall—swing into the season with Charmin Michelle, Doug Haining, and the Twin Cities Seven at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 4. The Hopkins Center for the Arts is located at 1111 Main Street in downtown Hopkins. Tickets are $24 ($20, TCJS members) and available online at www.hopkinsmn.com or call (952) 979-1111. This concert is co-presented by TCJS with the Hopkins Center for the Arts Mainstage Season.