Students joining host of professional entertainers for benefit concert

Joe Williams made "Every Day (I Have the Blues)" a jazz classic.

But a better theme song for the annual scholarship concert that honors the late, great singer - and late, great Las Vegan - might be "Any Place I Hang My Hat Is Home."

On Sunday afternoon, the benefit concert makes its debut at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, spotlighting not only a host of professional entertainers - but some of the students who benefit directly from Williams scholarship support.

Williams began the scholarship fund in 1989 to assist students at the College of Southern Nevada - where Williams himself performed every year to raise scholarship money, in the company of fellow headliners.

Williams died in 1999, but the scholarship fund he started lives on, even though the concert has roamed from CSN to various casino showrooms and now to UNLV, where the university's award-winning Jazz Ensemble I will accompany such singers as Clint Holmes, Pia Zadora, Earl Turner and Laura Taylor.

Sunday's lineup also includes, among others, Vincent Falcone (Frank Sinatra's longtime music director) and comedians Pete Barbutti and Sammy Shore.

"It's going to be a spectacular," says Dave Loeb, UNLV's director of Jazz Studies.

Scholarships funded by concert proceeds "are essential to attracting top-quality students" to UNLV, he notes.

And the students in UNLV's Jazz Ensemble I - which recently won a Downbeat magazine Student Music Award for outstanding large-ensemble performance - are already demonstrating their artistry, according to Taylor, who headlined The Smith Center's Cabaret Jazz last month with Loeb at the piano.

"Part of the reason for this concert is to give (students) a chance to work with professionals," says Taylor, who rehearsed one of her signature tunes, "Mountain Greenery," with the 18-member ensemble.

"They sight-read one of my most difficult charts as if they'd been playing for 25 years," Taylor says. "It's a wonderful opportunity - a chance for them to play charts that are good and well-written."

The ensemble's big-band sound seems especially appropriate for a scholarship concert started by Williams, whom Taylor describes as "the last great big-band singer."

During his Grammy-winning career, Williams collaborated with such big-band giants as Coleman Hawkins, Lionel Hampton and Count Basie. Williams' recording of "Every Day (I Have the Blues)," made with the Basie band in 1955, was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1992. (Williams' star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame is right next to Basie's.)

Williams' burnished baritone transformed a rich mixture of blues, ballads, pop and jazz standards, performing in nightclubs, at jazz festivals around the world and in numerous TV appearances - more than 200 of them on NBC's "Tonight" show during the Steve Allen, Jack Paar and Johnny Carson eras.

Williams' "timing and his phrasing were impeccable," Taylor notes, citing "the great sense of humor" that came through in his live recordings. (Williams' sense of humor also surfaced in his recurring role as "The Cosby Show's" Grandpa Al, whose memories of life in Chicago were inspired by Williams' own.)

Taylor hopes to perform another of Williams' signature tunes, "All Right, OK, You Win" at Sunday's concert.

"It's great to listen to the best - and learn from what they did," Taylor says of Williams. "When you've got soul and sound and rhythm, how can you lose?"

Contact reporter Carol Cling at ccling@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0272.