The United States Navy Band

Command performance

The Commodores, the United States Navy Band’s premiere jazz band from Washington, D.C., will perform a free concert open to the public Wednesday, Nov. 9, in downtown Beaumont at the Julie Rogers Theatre at 7:30 p.m.

Tickets can be picked up at the Beaumont Civic Center box office (Monday-Friday, 10 a.m. to 1 p.m., 701 Main Street), Guitar and Banjo Studio (4381 Calder Ave.), Rao’s Bakery (2596 Calder Ave.) and US Naval Recruiting Office (4414 Dowlen Road).

Jazz is America’s music and the U.S. Navy Band Commodores, the Navy’s premier jazz ensemble, have been performing the very best of big band jazz for the Navy and the nation for over 40 years. Formed in 1969, this group continues the jazz big band legacy with some of the finest musicians in the world.

Led by Senior Chief Musicians William C. Mulligan and Robert A. Holmes, the Commodores feature 18 top jazz and “big band” musicians offering a mixture of styles ranging from authentic sounds of the swing era to contemporary high-energy music.

Mulligan, a native of Columbus, Ohio, joined the Navy Band in 1997. He is the Commodores’ unit leader, master of ceremonies and alto saxophone instrumentalist. Mulligan has had the pleasure of performing with such luminaries as Ella Fitzgerald, Nancy Wilson, Henry Mancini, Doc Severinson, Stanley Turrentine, Joe Lovano, Phil Woods, John Clayton, Johnny Mathis, Maurice Hines, Bernadette Peters, Barry Manilow, the Four Tops, the Temptations, Idina Menzel, Tony Bennett and Lady Gaga.

Holmes was born and raised in the Washington, D.C. area and joined the Commodores in April 2000. He has recorded and produced three of his own critically acclaimed albums. Since joining the Commodores, he has contributed more than 30 musical arrangements, including nine original compositions, and in 2005, he produced the Commodores recording, “Three Shades of Blue.” In 2009, he won first place in the National Federation of Music Clubs for the composition, “Blues for a Change.”

He has also performed with the likes of the Great American Music Ensemble, the Richmond Symphony, Johnny Mathis, Regis Philbin, the Temptations, Chita Rivera, Joe Williams, John Faddis, Jimmy Heath, Frank Foster, Cecil Payne, Christian McBride and Mulgrew Miller.

Their mission includes public concerts, nation-al concert tours, ceremonial support in honoring our veterans, jazz education classes and clinics, and protocol performances for high-level military and civilian government officials.

The Commodores are held in high regard nationwide by concert patrons and critics alike. The list of guest artists who have appeared with the Commodores reads like a who’s who of jazz and popular music including Ray Charles, Branford Marsalis, Clark Terry, Grover Washington Jr., Chris Potter, Jerry Bergonzi, Eddie Daniels, James Moody and many more.

They have appeared on television shows, played nearly all major jazz festivals and toured across the United States and abroad. In conjunction with the Airmen of Note (Air Force) and the Army Blues (Army), the Commodores even host their own annual jazz festival, the Joint Service Jazz Festival in Washington, D.C.

As a versatile and relevant musical organization in the 21st century, the Commodores write and arrange much of their vast library of music. Their concerts are an eclectic mix of traditional big band music, exciting jazz vocal arrangements as well as fresh, new instrumental music written specifically for the Commodores of today. This vibrant, dynamic musical group is constantly striving for musical excellence and the pursuit of new and exciting ways to communicate with their audiences.

For more information, view beaumonteventstx.com.

-Chad Cooper, Entertainment Editor