USF Jazz Orchestra with Guest Artist Carl Fischer

The USF Jazz Orchestra is back at the Peter and Cynthia Zinober Concert Hall on Wednesday, November 4, with guest artist Carl Fischer on trumpet. It's the orchestra's second concert of the fall, and the bill puts a 20-piece big band behind a trumpet player who's spent his career in some of the biggest rooms in jazz.

The orchestra is directed by Tom Brantley, and the set pulls from both ends of the book: classic jazz arrangements alongside more contemporary ones. With twenty musicians on stage, it's a full big band sound, and having Fischer as the guest soloist means the trumpet takes center stage for the night.

Fischer is a multi-instrumentalist, and his resume reads like a who's who of the jazz world. He's performed with the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra under Wynton Marsalis and worked as both a featured soloist and musical director with Maynard Ferguson. That second one is a good marker for the kind of trumpet playing you can expect—Ferguson was known for his high-note power and big-band leadership, and Fischer's time with him puts him right in that tradition. Between the Marsalis and Ferguson connections, he's played at the highest levels of the genre, and this is a chance to hear him lead a full ensemble in person.

The concert is on Wednesday, November 4, at 7:30 PM at the Peter and Cynthia Zinober Concert Hall, 3755 USF Holly Drive, MUS 101, Tampa, FL 33620.