Jazz Orchestra to perform benefit concert for Food for the Hungry Nov. 22

The Knox Community Jazz Orchestra will continue its tradition of supporting Food for the Hungry this year, with a benefit concert on Saturday, Nov. 22. The performance, featuring talented young vocalist Benjamin Priestland, will take place in the Mount Vernon High School auditorium, starting at 7 p.m.

The concert is free and open to the public. But audience members are requested to bring canned goods or other non-perishable items for Food for the Hungry. Cash contributions will be accepted as well.

“We’re calling this concert ‘To the Moon and Beyond,’” said band leader Ted Buehrer, “because we’ve got tunes on the program like ‘Fly Me to the Moon’ and ‘The Moon Is Blue,’ while others evoke the idea of going places. All in all, it’s an exciting, high-energy program that should send people into the holiday season smiling.”

This is the fourth consecutive year that the jazz orchestra will offer a free concert to support Food for the Hungry. A nonprofit dedicated to reducing hunger in Knox County, Food for the Hungry has worked since 1982 to collect food and money for needy families.

“We’re really excited and grateful that the jazz orchestra is helping us to build momentum in our 2025 drive,” said Kathy Brechler, executive director of Food for the Hungry. “This is wonderful, fun music for the whole family, and a terrific way to get people involved in a community effort that serves thousands of people in Knox County who need a helping hand.” The money and food donated during the annual drive enable Food for the Hungry to support Interchurch Social Services and the Salvation Army, along with other community partners such as food pantries. In addition, summer grants help children who normally get nutritional aid through schools, and winter grants providing more general assistance.

The vocal numbers in the concert will showcase the talents of Benjamin Priestland, a Kenyon College junior who has been active on the campus music scene. Priestland will sing the version of “Fly Me to the Moon” made famous by Frank Sinatra and the Count Basie Orchestra in 1964. He’ll also sing the George and Ira Gershwin classic, “Our Love Is Here to Stay,” again in an arrangement sung by Sinatra.

Priestland will round out his performance with two other numbers: the 1957 Sinatra version of “Brazil,” composed in 1939 by Ary Barroso as “Aquarela do Brasil,” with English lyrics by Bob Russell; and “Here Comes the Big Parade,” a rousing New-Orleans style song by Harry Connick Jr.

Another highlight will be the driving, up-tempo arrangement of Cole Porter’s “Love for Sale” that Buddy Rich and his band introduced in the 1967 album Big Swing Face. “This arrangement comes out swinging, bright and fast, and never lets up,” said Buehrer. “It’s a piece we haven’t played before, and a good example of the band’s enthusiastic appetite for new music.”

Buehrer, who teaches music at Kenyon, founded the Knox Community Jazz Orchestra in 2017. Since then, the 20-member ensemble – which includes a number of local music educators – has won a devoted following with its ever-expanding repertoire of big band numbers, from Swing Era classics to pieces from the jazz scene in later years. The big band regularly plays at Ariel-Foundation Park, the Woodward Opera House, and other local venues.

The Nov. 22 concert is one of several local events in November and December supporting Food for the Hungry. For more information, see the organization’s website at: foodforthehungrycares.org.

And for more information about the jazz orchestra, see the band’s website at: knoxcommunityjazz.org. The group’s next performance will be a Valentine’s Day concert, on Feb. 14, at the Woodward Opera House.