The Tacoma jazz scene lost its linchpin when Red Kelly died in 2004.

Many of the best musicians in the Northwest performed in his little Tacoma Avenue club, and it definitely wasn’t for the money. Perhaps the main attraction was hanging with Red and hearing great stories about the jazz giants he worked with.

One of those who liked to perform at Kelly’s was drummer Greg Williamson, who runs Seattle’s Pony Boy Records. With Red and his joint gone, we haven’t seen much of Williamson lately, but he’s coming to Thursday’s free Jazz Under the Stars show at Pacific Lutheran University and he’s bringing reinforcements.

The Pony Boy All-Star Big Band features many of the best musicians in the Northwest, including Tacoma saxophonist Bill Ramsay. The 16-member group’s collective résumé includes stints with the Glenn Miller Orchestra, Woody Herman’s Herd, Harry James Orchestra, Count Basie, Natalie Cole, Jimmy Dorsey Orchestra, Diana Krall, Steve Allen and many smaller ensembles.

“But Rams (Ramsay) won’t be with us for the July 24 show,” Williamson said. “He has a gig up in Port Townsend.”

For the 7 to 9 p.m. concert, Williamson plans a mix of older material and more contemporary tunes and arrangements.

“For this kind of show we do … some of the fun older stuff that has a jump energy to it,” Williamson said, “including a couple of Glenn Miller things like ‘Volga Boatman’ and some of those that are almost raucous that you wouldn’t think of with the Miller band.”

He has something else in mind for the show, something that’s hard to describe. “I call it an antiphonal performance,” Williamson said.

Actually, he calls it the “Pony Boy All-Star Concurrently Consecutive Antiphonal Sonic Sculpture Stationary Traveling Big Band & Dance.”

“It’s kind of like a guerilla art attack,” he said. “There are no chairs set up on stage. It’s just blank, and all of a sudden you start hearing music behind you and in front of you and all around. The guys are approaching the stage while playing pieces of a tune we picked beforehand. You’ll hear part of like ‘In the Mood’ coming from one side, and on the other side you hear it in another key. You’re in the middle of it. Then, as the guys gather, it turns into an improvisational thing, and they end up on the stage and grab folding chairs and set up. The music is continuous and then breaks into the first actual tune of the set.”

But the Jazz Under the Stars audience will expect music – if not live surround sound. Williamson targets the unsuspecting, too.

“We do this as a surprise performance like on street corners where no one suspects,” Williamson said. “The guys start out a couple blocks away in four groups. … We’ve done it in Kent, Auburn, Duvall, Mercer Island. It shocked the hell out of them on Mercer Island.”

It also inspired a remarkable nine-minute video you can find on YouTube. With split-screen cameras showing the approach of the four groups to a central location in Kent, the music is decidedly antiphonal before they come together and get into a great groove. You can go to ponyboyrecords.com, click on the big-band logo and find the YouTube link at the bottom.

In addition to the antiphonal event and traditional tunes, Williamson said the Jazz Under the Stars show will feature “some current be-bop big-band stuff, real high energy and a mini-set of ’70s music.”

“My feeling is a lot of bands will do a salute to the swing era, the ’40s, and the be-bop era, but everyone skips over the ugly ’70s era, so we’ll hit up some of those charts (arrangements). We’ll do ‘Theme From Shaft.’ Maynard Ferguson did a chart for it. And we’ll have a couple of other surprises.”

The concert will be held in the amphitheater outside the Mary Baker Russell Music Center at PLU, Wheeler Street South and Eighth Avenue South. For more information, visit www.plu.edu/~music/events-jazz-stars.html.

Blues Vespers: There won’t be a wedding at Sunday’s 5 p.m. Blues Vespers concert at Immanuel Presbyterian Church, but there will be somthing old and something new. Newcomer Alex Weed, who just finished a year at Boston’s famed Berkley School of Music, will open with an acoustic blues set for Northwest legends Little Bill & the Blues Notes.

Bill Engelhart, Little Bill, has 53 years of experience, ranging from his 1959 hit “I Love an Angel” to his current set, a tribute to Ray Charles. His Blue Notes include Tom Morgan, who received the 2006 lifetime achievement award from the Washington Blues Society; Billy Stapleton, who won the WBS best slide guitar award; and the acclaimed veteran Dick Powell on harmonica, keyboards and vocals.

After the freewill donations concert, there will be a free barbecue with donations accepted for the Shared Housing Service.

The church is at 909 N. J St., Tacoma. For directions or more information, call 253- 627-8371.

HALF NOTES

 • The former Free, Bad Company and the Firm rocker Paul Rodgers performs at the Emerald Queen Casino Showroom tonight in an 8:30 p.m. concert; $30-$55

 • Jazzbones features the Paperboys’ mix of bluegrass, pop and Celtic tonight. Blues guitar slinger Tinsley Ellis performs Saturday.

 • The Swiss serves up the Retros tonight and Kry on Saturday.

 • The Jambalaya will offer blues from the Michal Miller Band tonight.

 • You can catch Steve Stefanowicz Sunday afternoon (1 p.m.) at O’Callahan’s and in the evening at the Engine House.

 • The Mandolin Café will showcase Trevalyan Triangle on Wednesday.

rick.nelson@the newstribune.com