The College of the Canyons music department will present its annual ‘Symphonic Jazz’ concert this month.

The event will be held on Friday, Oct. 21, at the Santa Clarita Performing Arts Center.

As the season-opening performance for the award-winning COC Studio Jazz Ensemble and Lab bands, the concert “Cool Night of Jazz” will feature many big-band favorites stretching from the 1940s to present day, along with some memorable solo performances.

The performance will also include the personal arrangements of Gary Urwin, a well-known jazz arranger, performer and bandleader.

“His arrangements combine innovative voicings for the band and fresh musical ideas on jazz and pop standards,” said KC Manji, COC music director. “The band always enjoys playing Gary’s music and sharing the stage with a musician of his caliber.”

This concert will also celebrate the third year in a row that the COC Studio Jazz Ensemble has won the State Championship for Big Bands awarded by the California Alliance for Jazz (CAJ).

“This is a special jazz festival open to all bands in the state and is adjudicated by some of the top music educators and professional performers,” added Manji. “This year our adjudicators were Jeff Jarvis, Director of Jazz Studies at Cal-State Long Beach and trumpet extraordinaire, Wayne Bergeron.”

The COC Symphonic Jazz concert will take place at 7:30 p.m. Friday, Oct. 21, on the PAC main stage.

All of the ensembles will perform under the direction of Manji, with the assistance of Jeff Takiguchi, Mike Saul and Rob Rudolph.

General admission tickets are $10 for adults and $5 for COC students and senior citizens.