New Orleans Jazz Orchestra to play at Auditorium

Cool sounds and hot beats will be flowing out of the IU Auditorium Saturday night.\nThe New Orleans Jazz Orchestra will be playing at 8 p.m. for one night only in Bloomington. The orchestra features some of the top musicians in jazz.\n“NOjO is an incredibly talented collection of some of the finest jazz and Dixieland musicians in the country,” IU Auditorium director Doug Booher said. “With Irvin Mayfield, the distinguished trumpeter as their leader, this band has brought the joyful music of New Orleans back to the forefront of American music.”\nAfter the devastating Hurricane Katrina, jazz has taken a bit of a back seat, but not in Mayfield’s life. Even after the hurricane took the life of Mayfield’s father, Irvin Mayfield Sr., the group leader thinks that “jazz is nothing less than the manifestation of all that American democracy represents.”\nMayfield has just released a new album called “Love Songs, Ballads and Standards,” which features classic hits from The Beatles, Stevie Wonder, Duke Ellington, Thelonious Monk and Norah Jones. It is his first album since Hurricane Katrina, representing his beloved city in numerous events including being a featured artist at Lincoln Center’s 2005 Higher Ground benefit concert that helped victims of the disaster. He is now recording and touring with the orchestra. The show will be a reminder of what was lost and what will soon be regained through post-Katrina \nNew Orleans.\n“The most important reason to come to the show is that this music will do nothing less than put a smile on your soul,” Booher said. “That’s just what music from New Orleans does for all who have the luxury of hearing it.” \nFor tickets and more information, go to the IU Auditorium Web site at www.iuauditorium.com.