Brian Setzer Orchestra plans ahead for holiday tour

Swing fans are already looking forward to the holidays, as the Brian Setzer Orchestra has announced plans for its 7th Annual Christmas Extravaganza.

The band will play a one-off festival in Aspen, CO, in June before launching the US holiday outing Nov. 24 in New Brunswick, NJ. The tour will make its way from the East Coast to the West Coast, wrapping in late December with four shows in California. Details are listed below.

No doubt, Brian Setzer Orchestra will play tunes from its 2005 release, "Dig That Crazy Christmas," and fans will likely get a taste of the big band's latest effort, "Wolfgang's Big Night Out." The latter set, which surfaced in September, is BSO's first non-Christmas studio collection in seven years.

"Wolfgang's Big Night Out" has the 18-piece orchestra putting its own modern spin on centuries-old music by classical composers including Mozart, Beethoven, Tchaikovsky and Mendelssohn. To help blend the classic melodies with Setzer's rock-and-roll sensibility, the frontman tracked down 84-year-old orchestrator Frank Comstock and talked him into working on the project, according to Setzer's bio.

"I called him up out of the blue and said, 'Frank, how would you like to write a couple of charts for my new big band album?'" Setzer explained in a statement. "He was surprised and flattered to be asked, but said he hadn't written a note in over 20 years and didn't think he could do it anymore."

After a little convincing, Comstock agreed to take a shot at one or two of Setzer's ideas, but he ended up writing the charts for seven songs on the record. The collaboration earned BSO a nomination for Best Classical Crossover Album at this year's Grammy Awards. A few tunes from the set are streaming at Setzer's MySpace page.

The singer/songwriter/guitarist is also staying busy with The Stray Cats' "Farewell Tour," which will head for Europe in August. His other side project, Brian Setzer & the Nashvillains, released a live album, "Red Hot & Live," last summer.

TOUR DATES
 tour dates and tickets
June 2008
21 - Aspen, CO - Jazz Aspen Festival at Snowmass

November 2008
24 - New Brunswick, NJ - State Theatre
25 - New York, NY - Hammerstein Ballroom
26 - Reading, PA - Sovereign PAC
28 - Atlantic City, NJ - Trump Taj Mahal
29 - Mashantucket, CT - Foxwoods Casino
30 - Glenside, PA - Keswick Theatre

December 2008
1 - Bethesda, MD - Strathmore Theatre
3 - Nashville, TN - Ryman Auditorium
5 - Mt. Pleasant, MI - Soaring Eagle
6 - Waukegan, IL - Genesee Theatre
7 - Welch, MN - Treasure Island
9 - Austin, TX - Austin Music Hall
10 - Houston, TX - House of Blues
12 - Dallas, TX - House of Blues
13 - Mescalero, NM - Inn of the Mountain Gods Casino
14 - Albuquerque, NM - Isleta Casino
16 - Phoenix, AZ - Dodge Theatre
17 - Coachella, CA - Spotlight Casino
19 - Universal City, CA - Gibson Amphitheatre
21 - San Francisco, CA - Warfield Theatre
23 - Friant, CA - Table Mountain Casino


 tour dates and tickets
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