Tickets are on sale today for Back in Business, my new big band show set to take the stage at Hoyt Sherman Place July 30th. Check out the details below & get tickets at hoytsherman.org or at the Hoyt Sherman Place box office. Know that this is going to be an exciting night full of great performers.

Join vocalist Max Wellman, fresh off his 30th birthday, for a return performance at Hoyt Sherman Place alongside an 18-piece big band led by composer/pianist Nate Sparks and some of the best jazz musicians from around the region. Following an extremely trying year in the music industry, Wellman is bringing together some of his greatest collaborators from around the country for one big show to kick off the next chapter as the arts community prepares to move forward. Composer/pianist Annie Booth and drummer Alejandro Castano will be joining from Denver, along with New York-based bassist Hannah Marks and Los Angeles-based vocalist Rose Colella. Additionally, Iowa favorites Tina Haase Findlay and Gina Gedler will be featured on the concert.

The evening will comprise some of Wellman's favorite standards from the world of jazz and cabaret music, including the title of the show, "Back in Business," an all-too-appropriate anthem made famous by Liza Minnelli in her return to Radio City Music Hall in 1992. Wellman has put the show together in close collaboration with Nate Sparks, an Iowa native who returned to Des Moines during the pandemic after several years of lauded performances in New York City's greatest jazz clubs, Dizzy's Club among them.

In the spirit of the sold-out performance a then-19-year-old Wellman gave at Hoyt Sherman Place in July 2010, this concert is sure to be a can't-miss event in this summer of revival for the arts community in central Iowa.

Personnel
Vocalists: Max Wellman, Gina Gedler, Rose Colella, Tina Haase Findlay
Rhythm: Annie Booth/Nate Sparks, Hannah Marks, Alejandro Castaño
Horns: Andy Classen, Dave Rezek, Antonio Garza, Ryan Garmoe, Michael Conrad, Anthony Williams, Paul Bridson, John Sens, Gabe Scheid, Anthony Orji, Robert Espe, Wayne Page, Jim Romain