100 years to the very day!

The  Freed Center for the Performing Arts presents the Centennial Dixieland Jass Band ensemble in a 7 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 26, performance.

The Centennial Dixieland Jass Band (CDJB) ensemble was created to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the very first recorded jazz by the Original Dixieland Jazz Band (ODJB) on Feb. 26, 1917, in New York City.

The ODJB was a collective of five musicians from New Orleans, La., led by the famous cornet player Nick LaRocca.

The Centennial band is led by Dr. David Kosmyna, ONU associate professor of music.

He is joined by Ray Heitger, leader of the Cakewalkin’ Jass Band in Toledo, on clarinet; James Dapogny, emeritus faculty at the University of Michigan and leader of his famous Chicago Jazz Band, on piano; Chris Smith, co-leader of Ann Arbor’s only classic jazz band, Phil Ogilvie’s Rhythm Kings, on trombone; and Pete Siers, one of the most versatile and in-demand jazz drummers in the country, on drums.

The Centennial will perform many of the classics of the ODJB while taking listeners on a journey showing how this music, born in New Orleans, was created of incredible diversity and assimilation.

Tickets are:
$20 - Adults
$10 - Seniors
$5 - Students/Children

Purchase tickets online through The Freed Center website or call the Freed Center Box Office at 419-772-1900.