User:Stitely/Stitely Entertainment

About Stitely Entertainment
Stitely Entertainment is an Evanston, IL, entertainment company that provides live music for private, corporate and public events. Started in 1995 by award-winning musician Jeff Stitely, the suburban Chicago firm features solo musicians, a host of instrumental combos and dance bands ranging from 5 to 17 pieces.Stitely Entertainment Website.

Among the bands represented by the company are the Stitely Orchestra, Chicago Groove Collective, 312 Chicago, the Alan Gresik Swing Shift Orchestra and Swing Gitan. The bands feature many of Chicago’s top musicians and have performed at many of Chicago’s most prominent venues, including Wrigley Field, Navy Pier, the House of Blues and the Green Mill jazz lounge.

Prior to starting his company, Jeff Stitely was a jazz drummer. He played with such talent at Wynton Marsalis, Chick Corea and Rany Brecker and toured internationally with Chicago jazz vocalist Patricia Barber. He also won the Best Soloist Award at the 9th International Jazz Competition of Belgium and released several CDs, including the critically acclaimed “Chameleon Eyes.” WBEZ-FM and the Chicago Sun-Times named it one of the top 10 jazz CDs of the year.

Stitely Entertainment started with a single orchestra bearing the owner’s name. Matt Lewis, a singer and bandleader, joined Stitely in 1998, giving the company a second band, known today as Chicago Groove Collective. The company saw slow, but steady growth during the next seven years. In 2005, Stitely opened a storefront office and hired his first full-time employee and saw sales increase 50 percent. In the following two years, the company added two more employees and saw its revenues continue at 40-percent plus growth as the number of its performances increased to 190 a year.

Stitely Orchestra
The Stitely Orchestra is one of Chicago's most respected and requested dance bands, performing more than 140 events a year. Featuring many of Chicago's top musicians and vocalists, the Stitely Orchestra is known for its versatility, great sound, impeccable service and exquisite taste.

The band's diverse repertoire includes everything from contemporary dance, rock, R&B, disco, funk, Motown, and ethnic music to Big Band, Swing and standards. Able to vary in size from eight to 14 musicians, the band works intimately with you to make sure your event is one that you and your guests will long remember.

Located in Chicago, the Stitely Orchestra has performed throughout the U.S. at every kind of occasion, from repeat performances for the U.S. Olympic Committee to audiences of up to 9,000. Orchestra leader Jeff Stitely has been entertaining audiences for more than 25 years. An internationally acclaimed jazz drummer, Jeff has played with such superb artists as Chick Corea, Randy Brecker and Wynton Marsalis and has extensively toured Europe, the Mideast and the U.S. Winner of the Best Soloist Award at the 9th International Jazz Competition of Belgium, Jeff currently is a Ravinia Jazz mentor, teaching and performing for Chicago Public School students.

312 Chicago
Comprised of some of Chicago’s top musicians and vocalists, 312 Chicago performs everything from smooth cocktails and dinner music to non-stop dance music. Featuring Chicago singers Nicholas Barron and Yvonne Gage, 312 Chicago performs a wide variety of musical styles from Big Band, swing and jazz to rock, Motown, R&B, funk, contemporary music and more.

Bandleader Nicholas Barron, who also plays guitar, has entertained Chicago audiences for more than two decades with his signature soulful vocals and unique interpretation of classic songs. Nicholas has opened for such national headliners as B.B. King, Al Green, Johnny Cash and the Neville Brothers and was featured in 2007 in the New York Times’ Emerging Artists series.

Accompanying Nicholas is vocalist Yvonne Gage, a noted R&B and jazz singer who has shared the studio and stage with such musicians as R. Kelly, Madonna, Celine Dion, Peter Cetera and Ramsey Lewis. In addition to singing with 312 Chicago, Yvonne’s voice can be heard in countless TV and radio commercials.

The Alan Gresik Swing Shift Orchestra and Swing Gitan
Every Thursday night since 1998, crowds have filled the historic Green Mill Jazz Club in Chicago's Uptown neighborhood to hear and dance to the Big Band and swing music of the Alan Gresik Swing Shift Orchestra.

Featured in the MGM movie "Return to Me," starring David Duchovny, Minnie Driver and Bonnie Hunt, the Swing Shift Orchestra brings the jumping, swinging music of the 30s and 40s to roaring life with its impeccable 15-musician crew. And, it does so as if part on an old-time radio show, complete with an emcee and actors performing era commercials.

The Swing Shift Orchestra has performed at such events as the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts 2008 Midsummer Night Swing Series, the Chicago Jazz Festival and Taste of Chicago The band has also been featured on CBS TV, WGN TV and WTTW TV, Chicago’s Public Broadcasting Station, and broadcast a live concert on WLIP AM radio based in Kenosha, WI.

The Swing Shift Orchestra specializes in unique, vintage arrangements from the 1930's and 1940's. Granted unlimited access to the Balaban and Katz Theatre Orchestra Collection of 26,000 stock arrangements, the orchestra performs fox trots, tangos, waltzes, ballads, and, of course, swing with an authenticity and vibrancy that epitomizes the golden age of American dance music.

Awards & Accomplishments
The Stitely Orchestra was listed among the "best entertainment" for holiday office parties in a Jan. 1, 2006, Chicago Tribune article. Reporter William Hageman visited 15 holiday office parties in 20 nights and sited the orchestra as one of his two favorite musical groups.

Stitely Entertainment has been selected to The Knot "Best of Weddings" magazine for both 2008 and 2009 - the only live music company in Chicago to be named two years in a row.