Originally published at: https://geektherapy.org/toarts-presents-count-basie-orchestra-featuring-nnenna-freelon/
Author: Newsroom
(Thousand Oaks, CA)- Nnenna Freelon joins the Count Basie Orchestra for an evening featuring favorites from the Great American Songbook while paying tribute to her jazz inspiration, Count Basie on Thursday, February 26, 2026, at 7:00 pm.
The Count Basie Orchestra is celebrating their 90th Anniversary and continues the excellent history started by Basie of stomping and shouting the blues, as well as refining those musical particulars that allow for the deepest and most moving of swing.
In the history of jazz music, there is only one bandleader that has the distinction of having his orchestra still performing sold out concerts all over the world. Nearly 40 years after his passing. Pianist and bandleader William James “Count” Basie was, and still is, an American institution that personifies the grandeur and excellence of Jazz. The Count Basie Orchestra, directed by Scotty Barnhart, has won every respected jazz poll in the world at least once, won 18 Grammy Awards, performed for Kings, Queens, and other world Royalty, appeared in several movies, television shows, at every major jazz festival and major concert hall in the world. The most recent honor is a 2024 Grammy winof Best Large Jazz Ensemble for “Basie Swings the Blues”. Other honors include their2022 Grammy Nomination for Live At Birdland, a 2018 Grammy Nomination for All About That Basie, which features special guests Stevie Wonder, Jon Faddis, and TAKE 6 among others, and the 2018 Downbeat Readers Poll Award as the #1 Jazz Orchestra in the world.
Multi Grammy-Award nominee Nnenna Freelon is known worldwide as a compelling and captivating live performer. A seven-time Grammy-nominated jazz vocalist, an arts education advocate, producer, arranger, and award-winning podcaster (entitled Great Grief with Nnenna Freelon) she has achieved great heights in recording and live performance. As celebrated as she is talented, Freelon’s accolades include the Billie Holiday Award from the prestigious Académie du Jazz as well as the Eubie Blake Award from the Cultural Crossroads Center in New York City. She also received the 2022 Jazz Masters Award from the prestigious Women’s Jazz and Blues Association of Palm Springs.
Single tickets are on sale now and are priced starting at $58. Tickets are available from Ticketmaster online at www.ticketmaster.com, or through the Bank of America Performing Arts Box Office, located at 2100 Thousand Oaks Boulevard. For more information call 805-449-2787 or visit www.bapacthousandoaks.com