Uptown Jazz Quartet of Hendersonville will perform a concert featuring standards from the ‘30s to the ‘70s at 3 p.m. Sunday, Aug. 27, at the Swain County Center for the Arts in Bryson City. Immediately following the concert will be a reception for artist Lilian Parks of Waynesville. Parks’ retrospective exhibit — a variety of media, subjects and styles — will be on display at the Arts Center through the end of September.

Uptown Jazz Quartet and its predecessor, the Foxtrotters, have performed for private parties, wedding receptions, and clubs in North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia. Members of the quartet include Russ Sena on trumpet and flugel horn, Ron Hensley, Sr., filling in for Bob Belmont on guitar, Frank Pomeroy on acoustic bass, and leader, Rick Dowdeswell, on drums. All four have spent their lives involved in musical performance and theater up and down the East Coast before moving to the Asheville area and coming together as a group.

Life-long professional musician and teacher Russ Sena worked with some of the top celebrities in the entertainment world including Bob Hope, Red Skelton, Tony Bennett and Ray Charles. Hensley has lived, worked and played music in Europe, the Far East and many parts of the U.S. He also had a small role in the movie, “Coal Miner’s Daughter” with Loretta Lynn. Pomeroy has an extensive background with multiple instruments including tuba, mandolin, guitar, piano and synthesizer. Band leader Rick Dowdeswell has played in dance band combos throughout his life with extensive experience in instrumental groups, choral and theatre.

Meanwhile, Lilian Parks is known for her watercolors; however her exhibit also includes a sampling of oil paintings, pen and ink drawings, a bas-relief woodcarving, baskets, dolls and even a bronze sculpture. Parks did the sculpture in a 1950 class in London taught by famous sculptor Henry Moore. Ten award-winning paintings by Parks appear in the exhibit along with gicleè prints, offset prints and cards of many of the paintings. Most of the paintings and all of the prints and cards are for sale. Originally from San Francisco, Parks came to the mountains by way of Hawaii, New York, Atlanta and Miami. She finally settled in Waynesville sixteen years ago. Parks teaches classes in Waynesville at Studio D and Continuing Education classes at Haywood Community College in Clyde.

The Swain County Center for the Arts is located at Swain County High School, 1415 Fontana Road in Bryson City. For more information, call Jenny Johnson at 828.488.7843. Go to www.swaincountyschools.com and click on Arts Center to view the current calendar of events.