True Blue Jazz to celebrate series with young performers, iconic jazz legends

True Blue Jazz is gearing up for an action-packed 2016 True Blue Jazz Series from Wednesday, Oct. 12 to Sunday, Oct. 16. True Blue Jazz producers are excited to bring to the Cape Region the best in local youth performance and headline shows featuring the Mid-Atlantic's finest Jazz performers and living legend, NEA Jazz Master Jimmy Heath.

True Blue Jazz is a nonprofit organization whose prime mission is the preservation and celebration of straight-ahead jazz through performance and education. Paramount to this mission is True Blue's Youth Jazz Initiative, which provides young musicians in the Cape Region with the opportunity to be seen and heard throughout the weekend and to work with professional musicians throughout the year.

The True Blue 2016 Series kicks off on Wednesday, Oct. 12, with the Youth Jazz Appreciation Night at Bethany Blues in Lewes from 6 to 9 p.m. Bethany Blues will donate a percentage of dinner checks to True Blue Jazz. In conjunction with a grant received from Sussex County Council, True Blue will award its second scholarship to a Sussex County student graduating in 2017.

Band directors Walt Hetfield and Rob Barbarita will direct their elementary and middle school students in some jazz standards. The Cape Henlopen High School Jazz Combo will perform, as well as a combo from Sussex Tech under the leadership of band director Ian Kenney. Sixteen-year-old piano phenom Frankie Nanna will also perform. Nanna recently appeared as a member of The Young Rascals Jazz Project at The Telluride Jazz Festival.

Headline concerts will be held in two nightly shows on Thursday, Friday and Saturday evenings at Clear Space Theatre in Rehoboth Beach, with two shows nightly at 7:30 and 9:30 p.m. A concert on Thursday, Oct. 13 will feature Chavis, Knoettner, Swanson and Thomas. This quartet is composed of four of the most well-respected and sought-after jazz musicians in the Mid-Atlantic region. Each player's resume is a mile long and well earned.

The concert on Friday, Oct. 14, will feature The Eddie Sherman Show with Peggy Raley and trumpet prodigy Geoff Gallante. Gallante, 15, won a coveted spot in the Grammy Band and performed at the Grammy Awards in February. July and August found him touring Japan as a member of the Monterey Jazz Next Generation Jazz Orchestra. Gallante also had solo headline shows at Blues Alley in D.C. and Iridium in New York City. The Rev. Norm Freeman, a Juilliard-educated master percussionist and Episcopal priest, will perform on vibes. Freeman joins the group fresh off his 10-show, nine-city tour with Barbara Streisand in August, and the completion of recording a PBS Christmas special featuring Jordan Smith. He will be back on the road with Streisand for her Thanksgiving tour. Rounding out the group are Joe Holt on piano and Mike McShane on drums.

From noon until 3 p.m., Saturday, Oct. 15, True Blue Jazz will host a free concert on the Bandstand in Rehoboth Beach featuring the Cape Henlopen High School Jazz Band under the direction of Chris Burkhart. The concert will feature various performers including True Blue Jazz 2016 scholarship winner Morgan Hurlock, the Rev. Norm Freeman, Geoff Gallante, Ron Cole and The Eddie Sherman Show featuring Peggy Raley.

On Saturday evening, Oct. 15, True Blue Jazz will present Jimmy Heath and his 17-piece big band. This concert marks Heath's 90th Birthday Celebration Tour. He leaves Rehoboth for a two-day gala at Lincoln Center in New York City and a Kennedy Center celebration at the end of the month. Shows will be held at 7:30 and 9:30 p.m.

True Blue will close the weekend atop the Henlopen Hotel at Salero at its inaugural Sunday Jazz Brunch where Fred Hughes will perform with his trio featuring South African vocalist Vuyo Sotashe and Italian vocalist Chiara Izzi. Both dynamic singers are Montreaux Jazz Festival vocal competition winners. Sotashe recently performed with legendary vocalist Dee Dee Bridgewater at Lincoln Center. The brunch will take place from 11 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.

True Blue Jazz gratefully acknowledges its sponsors, which include Megee Motors, Young America Capital, Atlantic Jewelry, Atlantic Transportation, Delaware Beach Life, The Avenue Inn, Shadd Pianos, WRDE, Delaware Beach Book, Highway One Companies, Community Bank, Berkshire Hathaway Gallo Realty, Lingo Realtors,  The Oldfather Group, Bayside Health, Shoreview Medical, Sussex County Council, State Farm/Jeanine O'Donnell, Meineke, Kaisey Delights, Southern Delaware Signs, The Atlantic Sands, The Breakers, The Estate of Shirley Horn/Shirley Horn Live at the 4 Queens, Dover Rent-All, The Cape Gazette and MSA.

For tickets and more information about any of the shows, go to www.truebluejazz.org.