Columbia State Community College’s Ledbetter Auditorium will host The Merchants of Cool - Boogie-Woogie, Columbia’s community big band, on March 16 from 3 – 5 p.m.

The swinging 20-person band is nearly in its third decade and provides a wide range of swing, jazz, pop and easy-listening sounds from the 1930s and 1940s known as the ‘big band era.’ The big band era combined elements of jazz with pop melodies and smooth, crooning vocalists such as Frank Sinatra, Bing Crosby and Tony Bennett.

The band encourages audience involvement and dancing. They offer an assortment of vocalists and big band classics including “Begin the Beguine” and “Swing Swing Swing,” as well as classics from George Gershwin and Irving Berlin.

The Ledbetter Auditorium is located in the Frank G. Clement building on the Columbia Campus. Doors open at 2:30 p.m. The community is welcome for this free family show. For more information, contact Stuart Lenig, Columbia State professor of communications and drama, at slenig@ColumbiaState.edu or at 931-540-2877.