Jeff Lindbergs Chicago Jazz Orchestra was founded in 1978 (Jazz Members Big Band) by Jeff Lindberg and the late Steve Jensen. Composed of Chicagos top musicians, the CJO is Chicagos oldest professional jazz orchestra in continuous operation and one of the oldest jazz repertory orchestras in the country. Conductor and Artistic Director Jeff Lindberg is one of the foremost transcribers in jazz. As a result, the Orchestras repertoire draws upon his vast library, which includes the works of Duke Ellington, Count Basie, Dizzy Gillespie, Lionel Hampton, Benny Carter, Oliver Nelson, Ray Charles, and many others. - - Jeff Lindbergs Chicago Jazz Orchestra became the first professional jazz orchestra in Chicago to present a yearly subscription series (1998-99). The series features Chicago-based artists as well as internationally-known musicians. The CJO is recognized nationally, having been the resident orchestra for The Kennedy Center Honors Gala for the past sixteen years. Our recent compact disc, Clark Terry and Jeff Lindbergs Chicago Jazz Orchestra: George Gershwins Porgy and Bess (Americana Music), is receiving widespread critical acclaim, including a rare FIVE-STAR rating in Down Beat magazine and a nomination as Jazz Album of The Year by the Jazz Journalists Association. . In addition, the CD also made the Jazz @ Lincoln Center, Jazz Times and Jazz Education Journal top lists. CJO Honorary Board members are Ramsey Lewis, Benny Golson, Jimmy Heath, Harold Jones, Studs Terkel and Clark Terry. - - The members of the orchestra participate in educational programs and workshops, namely with the Merit School of Music, each year. - - The CJOA is a not-for-profit corporation that supports performance and educational projects of the Chicago Jazz Orchestra, Chicago's oldest professional jazz orchestra in contiuous operation (29 years). Its goals are to preserve and pertpetuate music for the American jazz orchestra, as it was originally conceived, performed and recorded by jazz master composers and soloists, and make live performances of such music available to citizens of all ages in Chicago, throughout Illinois and nationally. - ---- - - ----- - ----- -

The Chicago Jazz Orchestra Association is a not-for-profit corporation that supports performance and educational projects of the Chicago Jazz Orchestra, Chicagos oldest professional jazz orchestra in continuous operation (29 years). Its goals are to preserve and perpetuate music for the American Jazz orchestra, as it was originally conceived, performed and recorded by jazz master composers and soloists, and make live performances of such music available to citizens of all ages in Chicago and throughout Illinois. The Chicago Jazz Orchestra Association serves all people and does not practice discrimination toward anyone on the basis of race, ethnicity, nationality, creed, gender, sexual orientation or disability.

October 7, 2007 Thorne Auditorium, 375 E. Chicago Avenue, Chicago Buddy DeFranco has won countless awards as the number one jazz clarinetist in the world. He will perform the Cross Country Suite, an eleven-movement work by Nelson Riddle which paints a unique portrait of America, capturing the flavor of many of its regions. It is a unique, descriptive work that includes elements of jazz and symphonic music. DeFranco will join an expanded CJO for this live world premiere. Roy Hargrove has dazzled audiences all over the world from the time he graduated from high school. In 1996 he formed a group made up of Cuban and African-American jazz players named Crisol, which is Spanish for melting pot. The resulting CD, HABANA, won a Grammy in 1998. In this performance, Hargrove and an expanded CJO will perform a new arrangement of Concierto de Aranjuez which was originally composed for solo guitar and symphony orchestra by the Spanish composer Joaqu?n Rodrigo. December 13, 2007, Harris Theater for Music and Dance, 205 E. Randolph Drive, Chicago Chicago native Ann Hampton Callaway is probably best known as the composer of the TV theme song The Nanny (which she also sings) and for penning songs for Barbra Streisand. In this performance, Callaway comes home for the holidays, performing with Jeff Lindberg's expanded Chicago Jazz Orchestra the original arrangements of holiday classics as recorded by Ella Fitzgerald and Barbra Streisand. May 18, 2008 - Thorne Auditorium, 375 E. Chicago Avenue, Chicago Jazz Goes Hollywood! The CJO Plays Famous TV and Movie Themes Originally Composed for Big Band! Some of the best-known jazz and big band music was written for television and movie sound tracks. The CJO will perform some of the greatest TV and movie music from the 50's, 60's, 70's and beyond, including themes from The Danny Thomas Show, The Dick Van Dyke Show, Mannix, Mission Impossible, and many, many more. The second half of the program will feature tenor saxophonist Eric Alexander in a special Tribute to Stanley Turrentine, who was one of the most distinctive tenor saxophonists in jazz. Known for his big warm sound, Eric Alexander is a native of Galesburg, Illinois. He has been called the 34-year old colossus-on-the-rise in major music circles. At last count, Alexander has been featured on about 70 albums with major veterans of the craft. He has been able to establish his own voice within the bop-based jazz tradition. April 18, 2008 The Chicago Jazz Orchestra makes its debut appearance at Jazz @ Symphony Center, Chicago. The CJO will perform with the great Ahmad Jamal Trio.