From Swing To The Cool

“I’ll Be Seeing You” — sung by Frank Sinatra, Billie Holiday and many others — carries at its heart the tender spirit of friends and loved ones who are dear yet are so far away. They are never forgotten.

“I’ll be seeing you / In all the old familiar places / That this heart of mine embraces / All day through.”

It is in this spirit that The Shedd Institute brings a week’s worth of elegant vocal and instrumental music to audiences at the winter Oregon Festival of American Music. I’ll Be Seeing You — From Swing to The Cool, 1938-52, kicks off Jan. 18 and concludes Jan. 22. 

Vocalists Lynnea Barry, Vanessa Greenway and Evynne Hollens join Siri Vik, Bill Hulings and percussionist Chuck Redd with his orchestra to take audiences through a tribute to Holiday as well as beloved jazz and bebop standards.

There also are nods to composers whose work from the time period endures. Johnny Herndon Mercer and Hoagland Howard “Hoagy” Carmichael, who composed together and apart, are two whose works are featured Saturday afternoon. Redd will guide the orchestra and singers through classics such as “Lazy Bones,” “Blues In The Night,” “Star Dust” and others.

The festival ends Sunday afternoon with an extended set of standards sung to bebop. “What Is This Thing Called Love?” is featured as well as “How High The Moon,” “I Got Rhythm” and “All Things You Are,” among others.

Typical OFAM fare — free films, community sing-alongs with Amy Adams and pre-concert talks at The Shedd’s Sheffer Recital Hall — also are on tap through Saturday.

Tickets for the concerts are at TheShedd.org or at 541-687-6526.

WEDNESDAY, JAN. 18

Film: To Have And Have Not (1944), 9:30 am, Sheffer Recital Hall. FREE.

Talk: “Johnny & Hoagy in the 1940s” w/ Jim Ralph, 5 pm, Sheffer Recital Hall. FREE.

Concert: Lazy Bones (Chuck Redd, director), 1:30 pm. $16-39.

THURSDAY, JAN. 19

Film: You Were Never Lovelier (1943), 9:30 am, Sheffer Recital Hall. FREE.

Community Sing-Along (Amy Adams, leader), 1:30 pm, Sheffer Recital Hall. FREE.

Talk: “2023 Winter Film Series Overview” w/ Jim Ralph, Sheffer Recital Hall. FREE.

Concert: Lazy Bones (Chuck Redd, director), 1:30 pm. $16-39.

FRIDAY, JAN. 20

Film: Cabin in the Sky (1943), 9:30 am, Sheffer Recital Hall. FREE. 

Concert: Fine and Mellow (Siri Vik, director), 1:30 pm. $25-39.

Talk: “Bebop & Cool Jazz” w/ Carl Woideck, 5 pm, Sheffer Recital Hall. FREE. 

Concert: Groovin’ High (Chuck Redd, director). $25-39.

SATURDAY, JAN. 21

Film: Blues in the Night (1941), 9:30 am, Sheffer Recital Hall. FREE.

Concert: Lazy Bones (Chuck Redd, director), 1:30 pm. $16-39.

Talk: “Billie Holiday” w/ Jim Ralph, 5 pm, Sheffer Recital Hall. FREE.

Concert: Fine and Mellow (Siri Vik, director), 7:30 pm. $25-39.

SUNDAY, JAN. 22

Concert: The Jazz Party: Hot House (Chuck Redd, host), 4 pm. $25-45.