When Bonnie and the Eckstein Middle School Jazz Band performed at Seattle’s Northwest Folklife Festival on Friday of Memorial Day Weekend, 2007, something unusual happened. When they began performing one of their signature pieces, Benny Goodman’s Sing, Sing, Sing, I heard the low, powerful rumble of a large airplane and looked up and watched in amazement as a WWII-era B-17 flew directly overhead. The last time that happened, Benny Goodman himself may have been performing, perhaps 60 years ago. There are only seven or eight remaining flight worthy B-17s, and this particular one I believe is owned by the Boeing Flight Museum, although it’s usually on tour somewhere else.

The Eckstein Senior Jazz Band performing at Northwest Folklife Festival, with Bonnie playing lead trombone in the second row, barely visible.

And… looking up…

A rare glimpse at a B-17 in flight.

And, playing a great rendition of Benny Goodman’s famous solo:

Anya