Route 66 Jazz Orchestra @ Kirkwood Park Amphitheater

Summer Concert

The Route 66 Jazz Orchestra is a 22-piece jazz band dedicated to the preservation and promotion of “Big Band” Jazz.  Ron Wilkinson appears as a featured vocalist.

The roots of the Route 66 Jazz Orchestra trace back to 1969, when Meramec Community College band director, Dr. Ron Stilwell, realized the need and potential to add a jazz band to the music program at the college. As the “Meramec Jazz Lab Band”, the band flourished for over 40 years in their role as jazz ambassadors for the college. Since 2005, the band has been under the leadership of lifelong music educator and band director, Bob Boedges. In the fall of 2012, the band decided to leave the college in pursuit of the further opportunities available as an “independent” organization and in 2023 Gary Brandes joined the band as the associate director.