Tom Ferguson

The Association of Lifelong Learners will be hosting a series of musical performances at Granum Theatre on the Alpena Community College campus. The public is invited to these free performances, which will be held on selected dates. Donations are gratefully accepted.

The first performance will be held Thursday at 2 p.m. and will feature Tom Ferguson playing a number of Duke Ellington’s pieces on the Granum Theatre’s piano:

Dr. Tom began playing with Alpena area dance bands in the mid-1950s, when every nightclub and dance hall still had a piano — though often out of tune and missing a key or two. When real pianos began disappearing from the bar-and-grill scene altogether, Ferguson happily greeted the invention of the electric piano and has been playing one ever since. For this all show, however, he is delighted to be leaving his piano home and playing ACC’s Granum Auditorium baby grand, “Duke would approve,” Ferguson says.

That would be Duke Ellington, a towering figure in jazz and all American music. The entire program Thursday will be drawn from the half-century of music produced by Ellington and members of his band.

Most of the material will be familiar to anyone who knows 20th Century American music. Some — including an obscure melody Duke first performed in the Upper Peninsula, not so much.

Ferguson says, your toes will tap and your ears will smile during this free matinee show of piano, vocals, and monologues that some say are entertaining as well as informative.

The second performance for Adventures in Music will take place at 1:30 pm on December 11, featuring a Christmas program with Carol Cadarette on her keyboard, followed by a Christmas carol sing-along.

This musical program is made possible with the help of Alpena Community College and the Granum Grant Program.