Contact: Public Relations
(863) 680-4118

Count Basie Orchestra
performs in Festival concert

LAKELAND, Fla. (Feb. 24, 2003) - Florida Southern College welcomes the Count Basie Orchestra, led by jazz great Grover Mitchell. The performance begins at 7:30 p.m. March 10 in Branscomb Auditorium. 

The legendary Count died in 1984, but his orchestra lives on. Basie started in Kansas City, Mo., in 1935. He and his orchestra went on to appear in such places as the Roseland Ballroom in New York, the Savoy Ballroom, and the Apollo Theater. Mitchell, a lyrical lead trombonist and soloist, worked with the original Basie group in the 1960s and 1980s. He returned four years ago as director. 

Tickets are $25. FSC students are admitted free of charge; non-FSC students pay half price. For ticket information, please contact the Branscomb Auditorium box office at (863) 680-4296. 

About Florida Southern College
Florida Southern is a four-year, private, co-educational liberal arts college affiliated with the United Methodist Church. The college offers more than 40 undergraduate majors and a master of business administration degree accredited by the Commission on Colleges of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools. Located in Lakeland, Fla., the college is home to the largest, single-site collection of Frank Lloyd Wright architecture in the world. 

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