VALDOSTA – Valdosta Symphony Orchestra steps into the Great American Songbook.

Led by trumpet player Byron Stripling and Grammy-winning vocalist Carmen Bradford, the VSO is set to perform standards such as “Ain’t Misbehavin,” “I Got Rhythm,” “But Not For Me,” “Sweet Georgia Brown,” “S’Wonderful,” “I Won’t Dance,” “Someone To Watch Over Me” and “They Can’t Take That Away From Me” as part of the May 3 concert at Whitehead Auditorium, said Howard Hsu, Valdosta Symphony Orchestra music director. 

Audiences familiar with works by Beethoven, Strauss and Mozart will hear the orchestra perform music associated with Louis Armstrong, Ella Fitzgerald, George Gershwin, etc., played by guest artists who have performed with the likes of Dizzy Gillespie’s band, the Count Basie Orchestra, Woody Herman’s band and Dave Brubeck’s band.

Stripling and Bradford have both been associated with the Count Basie Orchestra. He served as the lead trumpet and vocalist with the Count Basie Orchestra. She won the 2024 Grammy as part of the album “Basie Swings the Blues” with the Count Basie Orchestra.

Stripling was named principal pops conductor for the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra in 2020 and is the artistic director and conductor of the Columbus Jazz Orchestra, according to a biography released by the VSO. 

His career is linked with Louis Armstrong having played the lead in the Broadway-bound “Satchmo” and a cameo performance in the television series “The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles.”

He has recorded and performed with Whitney Houston, Tony Bennett and numerous other artists.

Bradford is described as “jazz royalty” in her bio information. She is a five-time Grammy nominee, including the Grammy win, and is recipient of the Los Angeles Jazz Society’s Jazz Vocalist Award.

“The daughter of legendary cornetist and composer Bobby Bradford and world-renowned jazz vocalist, composer and author Melba Joyce, and granddaughter of Melvin Moore (who sang with Lucky Millender and his Big Band, Dizzy Gillespie’s Big Band, and the Ink Spots), Bradford grew up with music in her home and in her heart,” according to her biography.

Basie hired her when she was 22 and she became the featured vocalist for nine years with his orchestra.

Bradford has performed and/or recorded with a number of famed artists including Tony Bennett, James Brown, Willie Nelson, Lou Rawls, Wynton Marsalis, Frank Sinatra and Lena Horne, etc.

For the Valdosta Symphony performance, Stripling and Bradford will perform songs from the Great American Songbook.

Alan M. Rothenberg with Note Perfect Notes describes the Great American Songbook as “a loosely defined collection of songs that have remained popular for decades; they are as timeless and meaningful as the music of Bach and Beethoven. The list of performers of these songs is surprisingly varied. Some made a career out of singing the American Songbook — Tony Bennett, Michael Feinstein, Ella Fitzgerald, Mel Tormé, Billie Holiday and many more. And the influence of the American Songbook is evident when one considers the diversity of performers that have dabbled in it: Ringo Starr, Bob Dylan, Lady Gaga, Willie Nelson.

“The origin and development of the Songbook is a uniquely American story; different styles of music (some of it blatantly racist) and of different ethnic groups combined to create a body of musical literature Tony Bennett called ‘America’s Classical Music.’”

The concert marks the season-ending performance for the VSO.

Valdosta Symphony Orchestra is joined by Byron Stripling and Carmen Bradford in concert, 7:30 p.m. Saturday, May 3, Whitehead Auditorium, Valdosta State University Fine Arts Building, corner of Oak and Brookwood. Pre-concert chat scheduled at 6:45 p.m. For more information and tickets, visit valdostasymphony.org or call 229-333-2150.