Mile High Jazz Band presents a night of big band jazz and poetry March 12 at Gina's Good Life Music and Lounge
Anticipate the coming of spring with the Mile High Jazz Band, singer Jakki Ford, and six award-winning poets and readers. "Blooming,” an evening of big-band jazz and poetry, will be on Tuesday, March 12, from 7 to 9 p.m., at Gina's Good Life Music & Lounge, 507 N. Carson Street, inside the Carson Nugget. The music is free, donations are welcome.
Gina's is a smoke-free, climate-controlled venue, and has a well-stocked bar.
"Blooming” features the 17-member band playing swinging songs on the theme of the evening. Poets and readers are Rita Geil, Wayne Carlson, Krista Lukas, Susan Sara Priest, Timothy Rhodes, and the Reno Poet Laureate, Jesse James Ziegler. Each poem expresses an aspect the theme and is followed by a tune that relates to the poem. Several tunes feature Jakki Ford.
Pianist and bandleader David Bugli said, "We'd like to tell you the tunes we will be playing, but that would spoil the fun for the audience to make connections between the poems and the tunes that follow them. You need to be there to experience it."
Mile High Jazz Band performances and educational activities are supported in part by private donations and memberships, and by a grant from the Nevada Arts Council and National Endowment for the Arts. For information about the band and its activities, see milehighjazz.com.