Close Encounters 10

April 7, 2020 #1964


Once again I reminisce about concerts I've attended and musical personalities I've met. Back in the last decades of the 20th century, prominent musicians and their fans got together at the annual banquet of the Big Band Academy of America, held at Sportsmen's Lodge in Studio City, California. During those years as many as 800 people filled the ballroom. I chatted briefly with Helen O'Connell and her husband, bandleader Frank De Vol. Closer to home I saw the Preservation Hall band in performance plus the Woody Herman and Jimmy Dorsey bands under new leadership. The Russ Morgan band continued to thrive under the leadership of his son Jack. And so it went: First-class entertainment, keeping the big band sound alive and well.


Playlist

As time goes by
Helen O’Connell
Change partners/Mandy
Frank DeVol
Body and soul
Woody Herman
Muskrat ramble
Jimmy Dorsey
We’ll meet again
Preservation Hall Jazz Band
Do I worry?
Ink Spots
Dear heart
Jack Morgan
The entertainer
Swingle Singers
Beyond the blue horizon
Martha Tilton
Willow weep for me
Herb Ellis
Petit fleur
Preservation Hall Jazz Band
September in the rain
Diane Schuur
Blues in the night
Rosemary Clooney