Brian Setzer Orchestra Christmas Rocks! Extravaganza

NiteLite and the Genesee Theatre are proud to present the 7th Annual Brian Setzer Orchestra Christmas Rocks! Extravaganza on Saturday, November 21 at 8:00pm. Join us for some jumpin' Christmas tunes and don't forget your dancing shoes; the Genesee pit area will be transformed into a hoppin' dance floor! Tickets, priced at $59 - $39, are available at the Genesee Theatre box office, all Ticketmaster outlets, charge-by-phone at 800.982.2787 or online at www.ticketmaster.com. All seats reserved.
Official Website: http://www.briansetzer.com
Setzer, who had grown up playing the baritone horn in school, often envisioned a rock guitar fronting a big band. In 1990, Setzer organized the orchestra, styled as a big band which included full sections of trumpet, trombone and saxophone players, and a rhythm section with Setzer on guitar and vocals, plus piano, string bass and drums. The orchestra began playing clubs in and around Los Angeles, and was eventually signed to Hollywood Records.
After the release of its first two albums in 1994 and 1996, the group achieved national acclaim during the Swing Revival of the mid 1990's. There had also been a change of labels, to Interscope Records. The band also had a slight change in orchestration, dropping the piano player. The arrangements on The Dirty Boogie (1998), a mix of Setzer-penned originals and covers of swing standards, had a much harder edge than the previous two albums. Setzer's cover of "Jump Jive an' Wail" was featured in a commercial for The Gap, after which the band soon found unprecedented demand. The orchestra then embarked on several U.S. and world tours.
The follow-up album to The Dirty Boogie was Vavoom! which did not see the same success that its predecessor did, as the Swing Revival was dying out. However, the BSO did bounce back in the early 2000's with two albums of holiday music and several supporting tours. The orchestra added two backing vocalists, one of whom, Julie Reiten, eventually became Mrs. Brian Setzer.
Inspired by the use of Frank Comstock's arrangement of "The Nutcracker Suite" on one of the Christmas albums, Setzer lured Comstock out of retirement to create arrangements for Setzer's 2007 album, Wolfgang's Big Night Out.