Bandstand Stories

How do you motivate 19 tired musicians to play a concert the day after a four-hour job on the road? It is easier than you might think, just tell them all the competiton will be there.

On October 1, the Sentimental Journey Orchestra performed for a four-hour private event in Tate, GA. Five hours for those four SJO brass players who formed a brass ensemble for a wedding performance, followed by a full reception and dance afterward. Less than 24 hours later the band was onstage at the Roswell Cultural Center, in Roswell, GA (just north of Atlanta), for a "Big band Battle for the Big Easy!"

This was a concert featuring SJO, the Atlanta Seventeen. The Modernaires, and the Atlanta Swing Orchestra. Some reporters have referred to the event as "historic" as no one can remember when four big bands have appeared in the same show here in the Atlanta area...or anywhere else, for that matter! There likely have never been so many musicians in one place on the same stage without a violinist. So there was the challenge: play your best stuff the next day after playing your best stuff the night before, this time for a completely sober and attentive audience plus at least 60 or so (fairly) sober fellow musicians. A daunting task to say the least.

Every member of the four bands was fully aware the average audience member knows little of the finer points of playing in a big band. At the same time, every member of the bands was also excruciatingly aware that the other big band musicians were completly attuned to those fine points, and were very capable of spotting any imperfections or subtle mistakes. Now that's what you call MOTIVATION! It is safe to say that all four bands raised their respective performances by several notches!! This in turn, raised the excitement level for the audience AND the musicians. It was a performance event to be remembered...and savored!

The SJO swingin' with our "opener," Harry James' "Two O'Clock Jump."

As you might imagine, planning a show with four bands took some coordination. The entire event went from concept to fruition in just under three weeks! In consideration of the audience, the bands didn't want to duplicate tunes so some effort was made to coordinate playlists so that each band could play a representative sample of its best music. If you are a fan of big bands, the Roswell Cultural Center was the place to have been on October 2!. While the show was inevitably long, a majority of the enthusiastic and knowledgeable audience stayed the whole time, which is a credit to the loyalty of fans for these bands and of "real music!"

Amy Holloway and Stephen Martin
doing their thing!

It is a tribute to the musicianship and style of these bands, that a tremendous variety of music was played. There were representative samples from the great bands of the past, such as Tommy Dorsey, Glenn Miller, Count Basie and Gene Krupa as well as more contemporary bands such as Buddy Rich, Ted Heath and Doc Severinsen's "Tonight Show" orchestra.

All of the bands presented one or more singers. SJO of course featured Amy Holloway and Stephen Martin, The Seventeen with Lani Sibley, The Modernaires with Amy Sherwood, and the Atlanta Swing Orchestra with Susan Hargus.

All the bands looked great and sounded great. The collegiality and fellowship among the musicians after the performance was sincere and memorable. It was a fun evening for a good cause and it was generally agreed that everyone had so much fun that we ought to do it again sometime.

(above)Charlie Sammons soars on the Doc Severinsen
version of "Georgia!" while SJO pianist Dan Turner lays
down the "changes."

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The contents of this page will contain short notes of interest on a variety of
subjects, as the muse dictates. All of the stories will have something to do
(one way or another) with life on the bandstand...ours, theirs, even YOURS.
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