Vince Giordano and the Nighthawks To Perform

On Friday, Oct. 18, Performance Music at The University of Scranton will host Vince Giordano and the Nighthawks in an exciting mid-season concert as part of its fall 2024 schedule. The concert begins at 7:30 p.m. in the Houlihan-McLean Center, Mulberry Street and Jefferson Avenue. Admission is free. The concert is open to the public, and seating is on a first-come, first-seated basis.

“We are deeply honored that Mr. Giordano and the Nighthawks will be performing in our concert hall,” according to Performance Music Conductor and Director Cheryl Y. Boga, whose son, Joseph, is a trumpeter with the group. “Mr. Giordano and his band have for decades enthralled legions of fans throughout the nation - many of them here in our region - who normally must travel to NYC to hear them perform live.”

For over 50 years, Grammy-winner, New York native, and multi-instrumentalist Vince Giordano has almost single-handedly kept alive a wonderful genre of American music that continues to spread the joy and pathos of an era that shaped our nation. Giordano’s passion, commitment to authenticity, and knowledge led him to create a sensational band of like-minded players, the Nighthawks. Each member of the ensemble is a virtuosic player on their instrument and an expert historical performer.

Giordano and his band have performed in top New York nightclubs and concert halls including Birdland, The Town Hall, Jazz At Lincoln Center, Newport Jazz Festival, 92nd Street Y, and many others for the past five decades. They have recorded soundtracks for numerous filmmakers, including Martin Scorcese, Robert DeNiro, Tamara Jenkins and Woody Allen, and have performed and/or recorded with singers from a wide variety of genres, such as Elvis Costello, Michael Feinstein, Patti Smith, Leon Redbone, Liza Minelli and too many more to list. Their extensive filmography includes “Killers of the Flower Moon,” “Boardwalk Empire,” “The Cotton Club,” “The Aviator,” “Revolutionary Road,” “Café Society,” “The Joker,” “The Irishman,” “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel” and a long list of others.

A Hudson West Productions feature documentary, “Vince Giordano – There’s a Future in the Past,” opened in theaters in 2017. Giordano’s passion for music from the 1920s and 30s and the people that made it led him to amass an amazing collection of over 64,000 band arrangements and sheet music, 1920s and 30s films, 78 rpm recordings, and jazz-age memorabilia. In addition to their extensive recording discography, several tunes recorded by Giordano and the Nighthawks are used in video games: BioShock, Fallout 3, and Fallout 4.

Also on Oct. 18, Giordano will present a lecture entitled “There’s A Future In The Past” as part of the Schemel Forum’s World Affairs Luncheon Seminars at the University. For more information on that event, visit www.scranton.edu/schemelforum.

For additional information on the concert, call 570-941-7624, email music@scranton.edu or visit scranton.edu/music. For more on Giordano and his Nighthawks, visit vincegiordano.com. 

Vince Giordano speak about Scranton Sirens and other musical legacies with WVIA’s Erika Funke.