Christmas with the Count Basie Orchestra

Every performance by the Count Basie Orchestra is a jazz holiday celebrating a 90-year legacy so bountiful that a month-long residency could only scratch the surface. But a Christmas concert with the Basie Band takes the party to another level, delivering a Santa’s sled full of swing with a program of seasonal standards over an evening show and Sunday matinee.  

Under the direction of trumpeter Scotty Barnhart since 2013, the orchestra staked a claim to the North Pole with 2015’s chart-topping A Very Swingin’ Basie Christmas!, the first Xmas album ever recorded by the Basie organization. The project featured special guests Ledisi, Johnny Mathis, Ellis Marsalis, and Carmen Bradford, the ebullient jazz and blues singer who continues to tour with the band. The orchestra followed up that celebratory project with a series of excellent albums, scoring GRAMMY Award nominations for 2018’s All About That Basie (with special guests Stevie Wonder, Jon Faddis, and Take 6) and 2022’s Live At Birdland, while winning a GRAMMY with 2023’s Basie Swings the Blues. For swing-loving jazz fans, there’s no better gift than a night with the Basie Orchestra.