Roy Thomson Hall was filled with people, who had come to hear the music of their youth - Jazz, Swing and a tiny bit of the Blues. Trumpeter Byron Stripling, who also offered some mean vocals, was at times joined by not just the TSO, but some local jazz musicians. Unfortunately, the program playbill did not list them, so I cannot pay tribute to some of their excellent solos - many of them improvisations of the highest order. Also along for the night, although again not listed on the program, was drummer Dave Mancini, who has played with the likes of Doc Severinsen and the late Maynard Ferguson. He performed some excellent solos, even if one felt tempted to compare him to Gene Krupa, which is rather unfair under these circumstances. Stripling, who is 45, earned his strips playing with the Count Basie Orchestra. One can't get higher musical recommendations than that!

I have to admit that I always have the feeling that classically trained musicians playing in a symphony orchestra aren't the kind of players to bring us jazz. But, here one didn't have to worry because the mix of players ensured that jazz was given a fair shake. The evening's program was presented under the title, Misbehavin' Tonight, a takeoff on Fats Waller's Ain't Misbehavin. Of course, this tune was part of the evening's presentation in an arrangement by Tyzik. We also heard an Ellington/Strayhorn medley called Essential Ellington, arranged by Tyzik. It started off the evening with Billy Strayhorn's Take The A-Train followed by a host of of the most well known tunes of a bygone era that now can be considered not just classics of their genre, but classical jazz that should be placed on the same level as 'classical' music as opposed to 'popular' music.

The numbers performed are too many to list all, but the evening closed with a tribute to Louis Armstrong, but not until we were first treated to the humorous Flat Foot Foogie and Cap Calloway's Minnie the Moocher.

Stripling is a virtuoso on the trumpet, who knows how to catch the audience's attention with some amazing musical trapeze acts on his instrument. At the same time he has a fine sense of humor, and as stated before, he can present some real mean vocals and he can scat along with the very best.

As an aside, it was interesting to notice that there were a few under-25s in the audience, though not many. Too bad, really. But what was most apparent was that most of the audience consisted of white-haired whites, although there was a larger number of blacks in the audience than usual, a smidgen of Asians, but none from the Indo community, or the Middle East. This makes one feel sad because these newer members of Toronto's citizenry are missing out on what is quintessential Canadian culture. It doesn't matter that it may have reached Canada from the USA. We have enough of our own, among them Oscar Peterson and the above mentioned Ferguson being just two, who have contributed hugely to the jazz idiom. Then there is Peter Appleyard, Moe Koffman, Fraser McPherson, Phil Nimmons and Doug Riley, to mention just a few more. Singer Diana Krall is, of course, the latest of the internationally recognized jazz singers, who hale from this country, and as is Holly Cole.