HERMAN ORCHESTRA TO PLAY IN CARLSBAD

The Woody Herman Orchestra, minus its ailing leader, will perform Sunday at the newly built 6,000-capacity outdoor amphitheater in Batiquitos Lagoon Educational Park.

An unspecified portion of the concert’s proceeds will benefit the legendary Big Band leader, who since spring has been bedridden with emphysema and heart problems, promoter Scott Pedersen said.

Broke and unable to pay his rent or taxes, Herman, 74, was saved last week from eviction from the Hollywood Hills home he once owned when offers of assistance came in from such entertainers as Frank Sinatra, Peggy Lee and Tony Bennett.

Frank Tiberi, director of the 15-member Woody Herman Orchestra, said the concert repertoire will span Herman’s 50-plus years of recording.

Selections will range from such classics as “Apple Honey” and “Woodchoppers’ Ball” to newer pieces like Chick Corea’s “Samba Song” and Thelonious Monk’s “ ‘Round Midnight,” which are featured on Herman’s two most recent Concord albums.

“Despite his illness, Woody is very much aware of everything that’s happening with his band,” said Tiberi, whose association with Herman dates to 1969. “His daughter reads him every article that’s written about our shows, and he’s very pleased that we’re continuing, that we’re out there keeping his music alive.”

The concert is the next-to-last performance in the Batiquitos Festival of the Arts series, which concludes Sept. 27 with an appearance by Grammy Award-winning singer-songwriter B.J. Thomas.