Chicago-based CHICAGO JAZZ ENSEMBLE is recreating Benny Goodman's original 1938 Carnegie Hall performance in a series of concerts through 2001. World-renowned clarinetist Buddy De Franco has also been scheduled to joined the group's performances.

According to the band's web site, the group was originally founded in 1965 as a professional jazz orchestra under the sponsorship of Columbia College in Chicago. The band played for three years, including a full-length concert at Ravinia, an opera production at St. James Cathedral, and a Sacred Concert under Duke Ellington's supervision, before it disbanded in 1968.

The Ensemble later had an underground existence, playing without a name at Columbia College graduations, until it re-entered public visibility in 1991 at the Chicago Jazz Festival.

Tour dates [subject to change]:

*Wednesday 11/15/00 7pm Columbia College
*Thursday 11/16/00 7pm Rockford College
*Friday 11/17/00 8pm Wheaton College
*Saturday 11/18/00 8pm North Shore Center for the Performing Arts
*Sunday 11/19/00 3pm DuSable Museum
Monday 12/7/00 8:30pm Joe Segal's Jazz Showcase
12/26/00- 1/1/01 Italian Tour
Monday 2/5/01 8:30pm Joe Segal's Jazz Showcase

More information can be found on the band's web site at: http://www.chijazz.com/