"Port Chicago" was composed by Marcus Shelby and commissioned by the Equal Justice Society. It's part of a 14-part suite for jazz orchestra which pays tribute to the U.S. Naval soldiers who perished in the largest stateside accident during WWII (Shelby was honored with a Congressional Certificate for Community Service by Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi for his work on "Port Chicago). The band features 15 of the San Francisco Bay Area's finest jazz musicians including Rob Barics (tenor/clarinet), who regularly performs with Wynton Marsalis. This album is a collection of straight ahead big band jazz in the spirit of Duke Ellington and Count Basie, and the CD also contains compositions incorporating Afro-Cuban and neo-classic influences.