SEQUIM — A pair of big bands will join forces for a benefit dance at the Sequim Prairie Grange hall, 290 Macleay Road, tonight.
The Northwinds Homeschool Jazz Band and the Olympic Express Big Band each will play sets of swing and jazz standards at the 7 p.m. party.
Admission is $12 per person or $20 per couple. Both advance tickets and tickets at the door are available.
Proceeds will help students in the Northwinds Homeschool Band travel next year to the Heritage Festival music competition in Anaheim, Calif.
“If you come early, there’s going to be free swing dance lessons,” promised Gina Lowman, a Northwinds Homeschool Band parent.
Dan Tutton, the band’s director, confirmed that. He’ll give the basic lessons at 7 p.m.
Then it’s on to his 18-member jazz ensemble’s music: “Don’t Get Around Much Anymore,” “As Time Goes By,” “On Green Dolphin Street” and other classics.
“The jazz is fabulous,” Lowman said. The players “are on point.”
Tutton works with the home-schooled students, who range in age from 8 to 18, and has seen them through award-winning performances at the Clark County Jazz Festival in Vancouver, Wash., and the Lionel Hampton Jazz Festival in Moscow, Idaho.
Olympic Express
But the bandleader pointed to the other outfit to take the stage tonight: Olympic Express, Tutton said, “is a very, very outstanding band.”
The 18-piece Olympic Express has a repertoire ranging from “Let the Good Times Roll” and “I’m Beginning to See the Light” to “The Man I Love” and “At Last.”
Tonight’s dance will wrap up around 10 p.m. and, Tutton said, “it should be a real good time.”
Advance tickets are on sale at Northwest Fudge & Confections, 108 W. First St., Port Angeles, and at the Joyful Noise, 112 W. Washington St. in Sequim.
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Features Editor Diane Urbani de la Paz can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5062, or at diane.urbani@peninsuladailynews.com.
