Hello friends! Happy Thanksgiving to all my U.S. friends and Happy Thursday to everyone everywhere else. I am thankful for you.
But this post isn’t about Thanksgiving, it’s about music. There’s a new PBS show called Jazz Tonight, debuting this evening on Austin PBS.
I’m delighted to share the link to Jazz Tonight, Episode 1 with you. My son, Thomas Wenglinski (AKA the Musical Millennial here in the blog), is the piano player and also wrote four of the arrangements.
Here’s an excerpt from the site:
"The premiere episode of Jazz Tonight features singer and trumpet player Benny Benack III, a longtime friend of Wiggs and a frequent performer in Austin clubs like Monks Jazz. Benack III plays songs from his album Third Time’s the Charm and more, accompanied by Wiggs and the local luminaries in the Jazz Tonight Orchestra. Benack duets with Wiggs on his viral hit “Social Call,” engages in a playful trumpet battle with fellow viral star Kellin Hanas on Roy Hargrove tribute “Roylike,” and entertains the crowd with his adopted theme song “Benny’s From Heaven.” With Wiggs, he also performs “It’s a Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood” in tribute to his grandfather Benny Benack I, who appeared on Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood in 1979 - a story Benack III discusses in a special interview segment."
Thomas arranged three of the tunes mentioned above: “Roylike”, “Benny’s From Heaven” and “It’s a Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood”. He also did the arrangement of “Human Nature”, a song from Michael Jackson’s album Thriller.
The episode is airing tonight on the Austin PBS channel, but I’m not sure which other stations have picked it up. However, you can see it via livestream for free! Just click here or paste this link in your browser:
https://www.pbs.org/show/jazz-tonight/
and press Watch Now.
That’s Thomas on the far left at the keyboard.
I’ve posted lots more links of Thomas’ music over the past decade as he moved into his college years, first with an undergrad in Jazz Composition at the University of Texas at Austin, and then moving to the University of Miami for a Master’s in Jazz Studio Arranging, and now, finally, in the last year of his doctorate.
If you haven’t guessed, I’m soooooo proud of him! And I also just love the music.
If you’d like to hear more, just click the Music tab in the menu bar above, or search for “Jazz”. Or just wait until tomorrow, when I’ll be posting another link, this time to a fun Christmas concert from the Frost School of Music Jazz Studio at University of Miami.
Or, if you’re in Austin, come to the December 15 performance of the Thomas Wenglinski Quintet at Monks Jazz.
Happy listening!
© 2024, Glover Gardens
Fantastic! He is amazing!
Thank you, Marti!