" data-original-title="" title="">Gordon Goodwin's rollicking Big Phat Band, not realizing that the extra performance wasn't included in our registration fee. I could have parted with another $25 to sit in on the concert but decided to pass; there would be more than enough music to groove on in the days ahead.

And so the festivities began for us early Thursday morning with the first of four films canvassing big-band jazz from the 1920s to the transitional post-swing and pre-bop era of the early '40s. I hadn't planned to write anything about this year's event but old habits die hard, and it wasn't long before I was seated in the rear of a darkened ballroom, scribbling largely illegible notes and wondering why I was unable to simply relax and enjoy the music. Well, if write we must, I said to myself, let us at least approach the enterprise from a different angle. Agreed. Instead of the day-to-day summary set forth in years past, we would devise a list of categories—the "Best of BBS," so to speak—not only to give the reader a sense of what took place during the four-day event but to underline the sights and sounds that proved to be most memorable from our vantage point in the back row. So without further ado, here we go...

Best Individual Performance

There were a lot of them, making the choice quite difficult. In the end, however, one performance outshone the rest, and it came midway through the BBS's twenty-seventh and final concert Sunday evening by the