Memphis Symphony Big Band

The MSO Big Band returns to The Grove with featured vocalist Patrice Williamson! Bring your lawn chairs and blankets for a night of music and dancing under the trees.

Enjoy the incredible music of Memphis Symphony Big Band and food trucks all in the beautiful, park-like setting of the TruGreen Lawn.  Cocktails and drink specials are available on the First Horizon Foundation Plaza. Outside food and drinks are permitted at this family-friendly event.

The Memphis Symphony Big Band was founded in 2010 to highlight the virtuosic range and talent of the MSO musicians. Led by Principal Trumpet Scott Moore, the MSO Big Band performs timeless classics and new arrangements in styles from dance band to big band, samba, and many more.

The Memphis Symphony Big Band also holds and preserves the historical musical archive of the Peabody Hotel Skyway Ballroom Big Band, which was one of the select locations of nationwide syndicated Big Band radio broadcasts in the early part of the 20th century. A young Sam Phillips was one of the broadcasters for these “Big Band Remotes” before going on to found Sun Studios.

Featuring Patrice Williamson, a native of Memphis, Tennessee, this vocalist is a scintillating, soulful singer who swings hard and can scat with the best of them. She’s rightly been compared to Ella Fitzgerald and Sarah Vaughan in publications such as the Los Angeles Times and The All-Music Guide to Jazz. 

A favorite of the Boston music scene, Patrice’s sensitive ballad work and fluent scat style have garnered invitations to perform at the famed Blue Note Jazz club in New York City, and with many well-known instrumentalists such as Danilo Perez, Joe Lovano, Sean Jones and Terri Lyne Carrington. As a Professor of Voice at Berklee College of Music, her work has taken her to Italy, Greece, Japan, South Korea, Peru and India, where she performed with saxophonist Donald Harrison in the New Delhi Jazz Festival. 

Her independent recordings, My Shining Hour and Free to Dream have received high praise from jazz critics around the country. In 2014 Patrice started The Ella Project, a multi-faceted tribute leading up to Ella Fitzgerald’s 100th birthday, including a concert series, biographical performance, and recordings, including the release of Comes Love, an album celebrating the collaboration between Fitzgerald and legendary guitarist Joe Pass. 

Patrice received both her Master’s degree and an Artist Diploma from New England Conservatory of Music. In addition to performing, Patrice is actively passing on her knowledge and love of the jazz tradition through teaching at the Memphis Jazz Workshop, ensuring that new generations will appreciate this great American music.

Presented in partnership with the Memphis Symphony Orchestra.