Kathy Hendricks, President of Hot Springs Concert Band, announces special New Orleans clarinetist Dr. Doreen Ketchens to be featured in a solo performance at the October 15 concert!
The first time I visited New Orleans was in high school, playing in a jazz festival with my high school jazz band. I fell in love with the music, the food, and the people of a place that I had never imagined to be so unlike any other place I had visited. For many years to follow, I visited and learned more and more about The Big Easy.
On one particular visit, I remember standing in Jackson Square and hearing the sounds of a group of musicians, which included a clarinetist. Having played the clarinet since I was in the third grade, I was fascinated by what I heard. Though having been trained as a classical clarinetist, I still was able to quickly recognize that I was hearing something great. I was listening to Doreen Ketchens and her band playing. I listened until they took a break, and then I quickly purchased one of the band’s CDs. Upon each subsequent visit, I would seek to find Doreen and her band, as I had become a big fan.
About a year ago, a friend of mine who plays trumpet in the Hot Springs Concert Band and Village Big Band, Janet Jenkins, asked me if I had ever heard of Doreen Ketchens. I told her that I had, and she told me that they had been friends for many years. As president of the Hot Springs Concert Band, I had what I thought was the far-fetched idea of asking Doreen to be a soloist with the band. So, fast forward to April of this year when we visited New Orleans.
Janet had told Dr. Ketchens that I would visit and would like to meet her. So, our itinerary included walking to Royal Street to find and listen to Doreen. We got to visit and become acquainted. She now calls me and my husband, Terry, her “clarinet cousins” and agreed that she would indeed like to play with the Hot Springs Concert Band.
Our Board of Directors agreed that this would be a great opportunity to share her talents with Arkansas, and Doreen agreed to be our soloist at our October concert. The week after we visited Doreen in New Orleans, she played at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. She has also been featured twice on CBS Sunday Morning.
The October 15th Hot Springs Concert Band performance promises to be one of the greatest we have ever done. The members of the band, especially me and Janet, are so excited to have Doreen and her husband, Lawrence, coming to Arkansas. Tickets are now on sale at hotspringsvillage.thundertix.com.
By Kathy Hendricks, President of Hot Springs Concert Band
The fall Hot Springs Concert Band concert featuring Dr. Doreen Ketchens will be held at the Woodlands Auditorium, 1101 DeSoto Boulevard in Hot Springs Village, on Sunday, October 15, 2023, at 3:00 p.m. The fall Hot Springs Concert Band concert will also be honoring one of its own, Mr. Kenneth Williams, who gave his life to save the life of another. A music composition written especially in his honor will be performed.
Click here to purchase tickets. Don’t delay! This concert looks to be sold out soon!
More about Doreen Ketchens
From Wikipedia: “Doreen Ketchens (born October 3, 1966) is a virtuoso American jazz clarinetist who performs Dixieland and Trad Jazz. She has performed at concert halls, music festivals, and U.S. embassies, as well as in decades of weekly performances in Dixieland’s tradition in the Royal Street Performing Arts Zone in the French Quarter of New Orleans, with her band, Doreen’s Jazz New Orleans. Ketchens has performed for four U.S. presidents: Bill Clinton, George Bush Sr, Ronald Regan, and Jimmy Carter, and was described by Nola.com in 2012 as one of the cultural ambassadors of New Orleans.
“Nicknamed “Lady Louis” because of her ability to hit and hold powerful high notes and her love of Louis Armstrong’s performance style, she has performed with Ellis Marsalis, Jon Faddis, Trombone Shorty, Al Hirt, Dorothy Donegan, The Black Crows, and Jennifer Warnes, opened for Macy Grey and Dr. John, and has been seen around the world by millions of people via media and fan videos of her performances. She has been featured in numerous documentaries about New Orleans, its music, and its heritage, and she has been seen on television in shows like HBO’s Treme.”
Click here to read a previous article about Hot Springs Concert Band.
