Come celebrate the holiday season with a FREE concert by the Miami Big Sound Orchestra and guest vocalists, presented by The Lincoln Road BID and produced by KCC Productions. Held at the 1100 block stage Sunday Dec 17 from 1-4 PM. Featured are: Wendy Pedersen, Lourdes M. Valentin, and Javier Merino, Jr.

The Miami Big Sound Orchestra is downtown Miami’s resident Latin Jazz big band since 2006, a project formed as a collaboration of musicians from Miami’s jazz and Latin music communities. The band combines 21st-century big band jazz with Afro-Cuban and Brazilian music, funk, and soul.

Hailing from all over the western hemisphere, the members of the MBSO are all veteran Miami musicians who have performed and toured with artists such as Celia Cruz, Gloria Estefan, Issac Delgado, Jon Secada, Chayanne, Rey Ruiz, Tito Nieves, K.C. and the Sunshine Band, Chaka Khan, and the Funk Brothers, to name a few.

The band’s repertoire, inspired by the music of Issac Delgado, Ray Barretto, Machito, Willy Rosario, Paquito D’Rivera, Irakere, and Tito Puente, includes original compositions by Rafael “Cali” Valencia (legendary Miami bassist/composer), Chino Nunez (Grammy-Award winning producer), and Jaui Schneider (former pianist/composer for Ray Barretto), as well as classics from legends such as the great Mario Bauza.

Their leader, Peter Francis, is based at NWSA and Miami-Dade Wolfson campus.