The University of Iowa’s Hancher will present the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis on Saturday, Dec. 7, at 5 and 8 p.m. in the West High School auditorium in Iowa City. The “Big Band Holidays” performances will feature vocalist Cécile McLorin Salvant.

The Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis has been hailed as “the finest big band in the world today” by the Daily Telegraph. Under the direction of Marsalis, a renowned musician and leading proponent of jazz and jazz education, the band includes some of the best soloists and ensemble players working today.

Cécile McLorin Salvant is only in her early twenties, but she has burst onto the jazz scene with a sound and style that harkens back to singers like Sarah Vaughan and Ella Fitzgerald. Writing in the New York Times, Stephen Holden raved, “Ms. Salvant has it all: perfect pitch and enunciation, a playful sense of humor, a rich and varied tonal palette, a supple sense of swing, exquisite taste in songs and phrasing, and a deep connection to lyrics.”

Hancher has presented the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra on seven previous occasions, most recently in 2008. The upcoming performances will bring the total number of people who have seen the band in a Hancher-presented performance to approximately 16,000.

The performances are supported by an anonymous family foundation and Len and Marlene Hadley, as well as by the Hancher Partners and gifts to the Hancher Circle through the UI Foundation.

Tickets, a limited number of which remain, are $40 and $35 for nonstudents; $36 and $10 for college students; and $20 and $10 for youth from the Hancher Box Office.

The Hancher Box Office, located on the first floor of the south end of the Old Capitol Town Center near the parking ramp, is open for phone (319-335-1160 or 800-HANCHER) or walk-up business from 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. weekdays. Tickets may be ordered online at the Hancher website. Any remaining tickets will be available for sale one hour before show time at the West High School auditorium.

Individuals with disabilities are encouraged to attend all UI-sponsored events. If you are a person with a disability who requires a reasonable accommodation in order to participate in this program, contact the Hancher Box Office in advance at 319-335-1158.