CELEBRATING INTERNATIONAL DANCE DAY & INTERNATIONAL JAZZ DAY UNDER A BIG BAND SWING DANCE ERA THEME
MARK YOUR CALENDAR: 2026 NAOMI UYAMA RETURNS – April 29 Dance Workshops with Naomi Uyama, April 30 Celebration on the Hotel Congress Plaza, May 1 Naomi & Her Handsome Devils at The Century Room
[May 4, 2025 – We had a swingin’ time April 30-May 2, 2025]
Thank you to everyone who made this 3-day celebration a SUCCESS! The weather cooperated creating a perfect outdoor event on Wednesday on the PLAZA of Hotel Congress. The dance lesson with Naomi Uyama brought people together of all ages and all abilities on a dance floor provided by AZ Swing Cats. Even the Tucson Jazz Institute (TJI) Ellington Big Band was on the dance floor (cast listed at the end of this post)! Then the band, directed by Brice Winston, put on a stellar performance featuring some new dance music like Pennsylvania 6-5000, In The Mood and Sing, Sing, Sing — songs normally not in their repertoire. Naomi and Her Handsome Devils took the stage and the audience had the option of sitting and watching or dancing until 10 pm. Naomi led the Tucson Devils with only a soundcheck and we are fortunate to have great jazz musicians — three of which were TJI alums: Kevin Ravellette/sax/clarinet, Anthony Gibes/trumpet, and Aidan Schofield/trombone (Friday at The Century Room). Arthur Vint/drums (event co-organizer, artistic director of The Century Room) is also an alum of the first rendition of the TJI Ellington Big Band going back to 2007. Other Devils included Scott Black/bass (TJI co-owner/director), Rob Boone/trombone (Wednesday, Friday keys), Matt Mitchell/guitar, and Sly Slipetsky/keys.
The Lindy Hop dance workshops at the Tucson Creative Dance Center on Thursday were well attended (multi-generational, beginners to advanced dancers) with a few dancers making the journey from Phoenix. Everyone was interested in learning, dancing, meeting new people with the same desire to dance, and being a part of the celebration. Naomi shared her knowledge and talent from years of participating in Lindy Hop events around the world. Thank you to Michelle Kostuk (host of Jittercat Jive, Tucson) for securing one of the most beautiful dance studios in Tucson and for reaching out to all her dance colleagues. There was some definite calorie-burning going on accompanied by smiles expressing gratitude and happiness.
The Century Room presented two shows on Friday debuting Naomi and Her Handsome Devils. Again, some guests made the journey from Phoenix to hear Naomi — a long-time fan of theirs from past Lindy Hop events held around the country [fyi – Naomi used to tour 40 weekends per year working the Lindy Hop circuit around the world]. Naomi presented some original arrangements, some transcriptions of Count Basie and Billie Holiday, and some head arrangements she choreographed live on stage. She engaged the audience and made herself available after each show to greet fans and autograph her CDs .
See you next year!
Tucson is joining the world in celebrating two special days:
INTERNATIONAL DANCE DAY (falls on April 29th since 1982) and INTERNATIONAL JAZZ DAY (falls on April 30th since 2011)
on April 30th, Wednesday, 6-10 pm, on the Hotel Congress Plaza. The event is sponsored by the Tucson Jazz Music Foundation (TJMF) in partnership with The Century Room, with organization by its artistic director Arthur Vint (also a TJMF director and 2024 JAZZ HERO/Jazz Journalists Assn).
The celebration will feature the nationally recognized, award-winning Tucson Jazz Institute Ellington Big Band directed by Brice Winston. Music will be for dancing – a first for this band that usually plays in venues for a seated audience – FOX Tucson Theatre (Tucson Jazz Festival), DesertView Performing Arts Center (SaddleBrooke), The Highlands at Dove Mountain, The Century Room, The Sands (UofA), Tohono Chul, and the Community Performance & Arts Center (CPAC in Green Valley).
Connecting ‘swing dance’ with ‘jazz’ – two arts forms created in the U.S.A. — will take place under a Big Band Swing Dance Era theme. The audience will be invited to participate in a beginner East Coast Swing/Lindy Hop dance lesson at 6 pm taught by special guest artist from Minneapolis Naomi Uyama. She’s a Lindy Hop superstar who has won many dance competitions around the country. Plus she’s a vocalist and band leader of Her Handsome Devils who will be performing after the Ellington Band providing dance music until 10 pm.
The dance floor will be provided by the Arizona Swing Cats, a University of Arizona dance club whose members will be on hand to assist in the dance lesson and to motivate attendees to dance!
Tickets for this ‘family friendly’ event are available through DICE / Hotel Congress PLAZA: FREE for those 18 and under, $10 students with valid ID, $20 adults, $30 preferred seating.
MORE DANCE LESSONS: Naomi will also be teaching three Lindy Hop and Vernacular Jazz workshops on Thursday, May 1, 2025, 6:30-9:30 pm, at the Tucson Creative Dance Center, 3131 North Cherry, Tucson. It’s next to the Nature Conservancy. To learn more and register, go here.
SECOND OPPORTUNITY TO HEAR NAOMI UYAMA & THE HANDSOME DEVILS: On Friday, May 2, 2025, Naomi and Her Handsome Devils will perform two shows at The Century Room (6:30 & 8:30 pm). Tickets: $30, $40 preferred seating, are available through DICE.
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION ABOUT THE TJI ELLINGTON BIG BAND
The TJI Ellington Big Band is preparing for a trip to NYC to attend the prestigious Essentially Ellington high school big band competition May 7-11, 2025 – an honor they have experienced 8 other times, always placing in the top three spots with five of them being 1st place. They will be one of thirty bands competing with three of them from Spain, Australia and Japan. This competition is often described as the Super Bowl equivalent for high school big bands and it is organized and produced by Jazz Academy, a division of Jazz at Lincoln Center directed by Wynton Marsalis.
[In previous years only 10 bands were selected from across the country based on regions. This year the bands were selected on their performance eliminating regional limitations. Example: A band in the Midwest was selected, but a band in the Southwest was more accomplished and not selected because they were competing against some of the best bands in the country in their Southwest region.]
TJI Ellington Big Band consists of 16 high school students and 2 eight graders from 10 schools in Southern Arizona: 1 private school (The Gregory School), 2 middle/intermediate schools (Cross Middle School, Gallego Intermediate), and 7 high schools (Catalina Foothills HS, Tucson HS, University HS, Desert View HS, Marana HS, Sunnyside HS, Nogales HS). [Cast list below.]
TJI Ellington Big Band’s first invitation to Essentially Ellington in 2010 resulted in a 1st place win in the Community Band category where Wynton Marsalis said “TUCSON?” when he announced the winner. That moment put Tucson on the global jazz map and began the buzz identifying Tucson as having the best jazz music education in Arizona and the Southwest region. TJI’s wins (DownBeat, Monterey Jazz Festival, Fullerton, in addition to Essentially Ellington) also helped create a successful Tucson Jazz Festival, and more recently The Century Room – our first and only jazz club in Southern Arizona where many TJI alums perform and even headline their own bands. It’s a second home for them and reunion space during school breaks.
SPONSORS / PRESENTERS
This celebration is sponsored by the Tucson Jazz Music Foundation in partnership with The Century Room and Hotel Congress. The Foundation is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit charitable organization dedicated to making jazz music education accessible for Arizona’s youth and the community since 2012.
The Century Room is Tucson’s jazz club housed inside Hotel Congress since 2023. It is the downtown hotspot for featuring some of the finest and legendary jazz artists from around the country as well as local professionals. It’s partnership with the Foundation established the Century Room Jazz Education Program where national guest artists (and some locals) present master classes, workshops, and presentations for students and the community.
CAST (18) Tucson Jazz Institute Ellington Big Band directed by Brice Winston (sorted by last name, school/school district, instrument)
Itzayana Alvarez, Tucson HS / TUSD, saxophone (senior going to University of California Berkley)
Theo Balzer-Partain, Tucson HS / TUSD, saxophone
Ryan Burns, Premier Prep Online Academy, saxophone
Milo Fox, University HS / TUSD, trumpet
Jaxon Hirsh, Tucson HS / TUSD, saxophone (senior going to The New School in NYC)
Zeke Hirsh, Tucson HS / TUSD, bass
Elia Johnson, Desert View HS / Sunnyside, trombone
Jayce Johnson, Desert View HS / Sunnyside, trombone (senior going to Pima CC, then NAU)
Hallie Larriva, Marana HS / Marana, trombone (senior going to Pima CC, then NAU)
Alex Meuillet, Cross MS 8th grade / Amphitheater, trumpet
David Nguyen, University HS / TUSD, tenor sax/ trumpet/ clarinet (senior going to University of Nevada Las Vegas on scholarship)
Jacob Nguyen, Gallego Int 8th grade / Sunnyside, piano
Joshua Parker, The Gregory School / private, trombone
Ryan Robles, Nogales HS / Nogales, drums (Arthur Vint subbed for Ryan on Wednesday)
Keenan Sammani, Catalina Foothills HS/Catalina Foothills, saxophone
Eli Trujillo, Desert View HS / Sunnyside, trumpet
Diego Valencia, University HS / TUSD, guitar
Daniel Valenzuela, Sunnyside HS / Sunnyside, lead trumpet
Naomi Uyama and Her Handsome Devils
Naomi Uyama, vocalist, band leader, and dance instructor, from Minneapolis
Her Handsome Devils (local musicians): Scott Black/bass, Arthur Vint/drums, Sly Slipetsky/keys (Wednesday only), Matt Mitchell/guitar, Rob Boone /trombone (keys on Friday at The Century Room), Anthony Gibes/trumpet, Kevin Ravellette/reeds, Aidan Schofield/trombone on Friday at The Century Room
