By Chris Mayhew
The Cincinnati Enquirer

COVINGTON - The Masons have started a free concert series in hopes of filling an 850-seat theater several times a year at the Scottish Rite Temple in Covington.

This Friday at 8 p.m., the Air Force Night Flight Jazz Ensemble will hold a big-band concert.

The 20-piece jazz ensemble will play two sets. The first will be a performance of Duke Ellington's music. During the second set, the band will change into the same style of military uniforms that Glenn Miller's Army Air Corps band wore during World War II and play Maj. Alton Glenn Miller's music, said Jim Tharp, one of the two entertainment chairmen at the Scottish Rite.

Tharp said that over lunch last year, he and the other entertainment coordinator, Bill Lorenz, came up with the idea of a concert series as a way to bring back in members who were from the World War II generation, as well as members of the community.

"There's a lot of people in Northern Kentucky and Cincinnati who are veterans of the Armed forces who really like big band music," Tharp said.

Tharp said they are hoping to bring in big names such as Country Western artists Mel Tillis and Roy Clark - who are Masons themselves.

"Hopefully three (concerts) a year, but when we're going to have entertainment it's going to be top notch," Tharp said.

Tickets for Friday's performance can be picked up between 10 a.m. and 3 p.m. until Friday at the Scottish Rite Temple on 1553 Madison Ave. Tickets for the concert are free, but people with tickets will be seated before people who walk up the night of the concert.

Reserve tickets for a performance by a Frank Sinatra impersonator on June 18 are also available. Tickets for the June 18 concert will be made available to anyone who sends a self-stamped addressed envelope to the Scottish Rite Temple (limit six per request) on a first come, first served basis.

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E-mail cmayhew@enquirer.com