One year later: The Erich Cawalla Quartet.

This time, Cawalla’s “Jazz Upstairs” concert will be a livestream video, 7:30 p.m. March 19, and on-demand beginning March 20, Miller Symphony Hall, Allentown.

Last year, Cawalla’s March 20, 2020, concert was one of the first live events to be canceled in the Lehigh Valley because of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic shutdown.

Performing with Cawalla, saxophone and vocals, is Steve Rudolph, piano; Bennie Sims, bass, and Marko Marcinko, drums.

Cawalla is still performing, but COVID-19 has drastically cut down on his concerts.

He has been working with smaller groups of musicians, live and virtually.

“One advantage of virtual shows is that you can personalize them, being able to recognize and say hello to people as they come online,” Cawalla says in a phone interview.

It took four and a half years, but Cawalla has completed his first solo album, “Erich Cawalla - The Great American Songbook.”

Performing on the recording were three members of the Quartet, plus an eight-musician string section and a 17-piece big band.

The album’s release date is delayed, possibly until 2022.

Cawalla is waiting for the best time to release the album to make sure it gets the right marketing and attention.

He put the band together for the album from those he’s worked with over the years.

The recording includes “That’s Life,” “When Sunny Gets Blue,” Smokey Robinson’s “Ooh Baby Baby,” and an original song, “Life’s About Forgiving.”

One of the musicians on the album is Grammy Award-winning trumpeter Randy Brecker, who did not record at any of the three studios where the album was put together.

“It was amazing,” says Cawalla. “I just mailed the track to him and he mailed it back through the Internet. Things are a lot different now than in the old days.”

Cawalla is well-known to audiences at the Berks Jazz Fest. He estimates he has appeared there about 20 times, 13 years consecutively, as part of the Groovemasters and his own Uptown Band.

Last year, Cawalla performed from the living room in the home of one of the Groovemasters to replace the usual Berks Jazz Fest kickoff from Reading’s Peanut Bar.

He has performed three times with the Reading Pops Orchestra.

The Uptown Band has nine players. They were at Musikfest in 2019, and have also been at the Allentown Fair and the former Sands and now Wind Creek Casino, doing about 100 concerts a year before the COVID outbreak.

The warmth and emotion Cawalla gives to classic songs takes over the stage, whether he is playing with a quartet or a big band. With singing that includes falsetto and scat, the outgoing Cawalla obviously enjoys his work, sharing a feeling that captivates audiences.

“I want to break down the barrier between the performer and the artist,” Cawalla says. “My goal is to be a Michael Buble, who also plays sax.”

While it’s difficult to switch back and forth between singing and playing, doing both gives him insight into the classic numbers he performs.

“I play melodies, instead of just notes.” He mentions Frank Sinatra, who learned phrasing from Tommy Dorsey when he sang with Dorsey’s big band.

Cawalla believes that instrumentalists should learn the lyrics of the songs they play, even if they do not sing them. “I like songs that tell a story.”

Cawalla, who lives near Reading, Berks County, grew up in nearby Shillingon.

He received an accounting degree from Shippensburg University, but gave up the profession to go into music full-time. Cawalla teaches and runs a booking agency that did about 150 shows a year pre-COVID.

“The Erich Cawalla Quartet Presents the Great American Songbook,” streaming premiere, 7:30 p.m. March 19, Miller Symphony Hall, Allentown; 48-hour rental video on demand beginning March 20. Ticket information: www.millersymphonyhall.org;