Jack Behrens
Where did big bands and swing music go?
They didn't leave. . . but many Americans actually believe they disappeared along with ballrooms, jukeboxes, bobby sox and zoot suits decades ago.
Band leader Brooks Tegler, who has recreated the great music of World War II with his Army Air Corps Review Big Band, offers a good response. "In order for something to come back, it needs to have gone away. Big bands have wrongly been put in that category. They never went away."
And that's the essence of the chapters of my book about America's big bands, ballrooms and dancing's past and present. And there's a good look at the future through the eyes of a number of young bandleaders from the east to west coast who carry on in the tradition of Guy Lombardo, Glenn Miller, Harry James, Woody Herman, Duke Ellington and a host of other music legends in their own distinctive way.
The struggle to survive in the music business hasn't been without losses and a need for life support. It did when Miller, Benny Goodman, James and Ellington were in their heyday. It's a financially precarious business regardless of your talent.
Inevitably, music and dancing evolved and matured. The reasons are numerous and linked to our heritage. But like marching bands on the 4th of July, imagine a country club new year's eve without live dance music and a big band. Think about the many community social events and high school and college proms let alone wedding receptions that still insist on having live bands to play the foxtrots and swing numbers people enjoy. My research shows that while there were approximately 800 big bands on the road during the swing era of the 1940s, today there are nearly 1,300 big bands, according to a Google search and a review of hundreds of territory bands. Consequently, neither the bands nor the music vanished. . . they scattered throughout the American countryside.
"My big band days were spread over two decades (1940s, 1950s) but they were a special six years. I met bandleaders, musicians, singers and played ballrooms, clubs and dancing and drinking spots I never forgot. I met people I never forgot either," Jack Behrens told a radio audience in 2002 about his life "on the road" after the release of his 1st book about the big band era, "Big Band Days." (AuthorHouse/2003).
A nationally known award-winning columnist, editor and writer and Reader's Digest Magazine professor, Jack Behrens has written more than 14,000 magazine articles, columns and essays in national and international periodicals including Harvard's Nieman Report, Mankind, Physicians Financial News, Writer's Digest, National Observer, Business Journal and hundreds of others. "Big Bands & Great Ballrooms: America Is Dancing. . . Again" is his 20th book. His 1976 book "Typewriter Guerrillas" (Nelson-Hall) was a best seller. Columbia Scholastic Press Association awarded him the coveted Gold Key Award for his work with the student press.He's a 30 year member of America's writing elite, the American Society of Journalists & Authors.
His music experience led him to become a writer. "I traveled with Bob Hope's USO Tour in the Far East while working for Pacific Stars & Stripes and once I heard Les Brown's great drummer, the late Jack Sperling, I knew I better polish my writing and put my drumsticks aside," he laughs.
Before Glenn Miller, Count Basie, Harry James and even the King of Swing, Benny Goodman, became household names in the late 1930s and during the 1940s, they played in territory bands. It was the place everyone started. It was the place a great number stayed. And, thank goodness, territorial bands continue today.
Why? Countless reasons but think about the thousands of non-profit social affairs that benefit millions thanks to dance music, the numerous high school, college and civic social events that still enjoy sounds from the past and present, the corporate functions that use dance bands to embellish their entertainment and the country clubs and private organizations that yearly offer holiday activities where they traditionally have dance music.
Territorial bands are the backbone of the industry and, while there are very few touring bands anymore, there still are a good number of regional bands with excellent area musicians playing at the community center near you more than likely. They not only need your support. . . they deserve it.
They're the workers in the local grocery market or mall who you see on the stand on Friday or Saturday night at the Legion Hall or the Country Club gala. They are frequently the musical directors at local high schools. Yet, they can also be the surgeon at the local hospital, the insurance agent or real estate sales person. . . even the utility line person or plumber who handles your emergency and races home on Friday to change to get to the bandstand for your charity ball.
A story in the Naples (FL) Illustrated described the dedication of these part-time players. "I consider myself young at heart but my body is not as young," says 55-year-old Michael Mesnik, a percussionist in the band Phoenix which plays the clubs in Naples and Marco Island, FL. He spends his playing nights working three sets of congas, claves, tambourine and other hand held instruments. "I'm a weekend warrior," he adds pointing out that he's self-taught and plays by ear.
While you won't necessarily find a band in the Yellow Pages of your telephone directory, go online with Google and you'll find 1,295 jazz and swing bands. Select the bands and artists listing and you'll be able to pull up nearly 51,000 names! Compare that to the 1940s at the peak of the "big band era" when there were about 800 bands touring the country. Big bands and dancing have returned in what California big band leader Pete Jacobs calls the "Second Era of Swing."
Joe Enrighty who leads his Virginia-based Royal Virginians is typical of bands that recognize their roles and, at the same time, are satisfied with their purpose. Joe named his band, he says, because of his respect and love for Guy Lombardo, who certainly led one of the major "sweet" big bands of the early age of music. The primary focus is on Lombardo, Joe says, but "I don't just play Lombardo styled arrangements either. We mix it up.
"I couldn't use 'Royal Canadians' because that is registered and owned by the Lombardo Estate. So I did the next best thing since I live in Virginia, the name 'Royal Virginians' was an obvious choice. And, I think, just like when Guy Lombardo was alive and traveling, that having 'royal' in the name of our band is real classy. I don't necessarily agree with the term 'big band' because it seems to conjure names like Woody Herman and Benny Goodman, even though bands like Guy Lombardo and Jan Garber were considered big bands," he says.
Joe wanted to make sure of the authentic Lombardo sound so he spent the time to transcribe from 78 and LP albums the sound of the 'Royal Canadians.' "I want to make clear that we are not the official orchestra. . . My goal is recreate a sound in American popular music that outlasted every other form of big band. Swing music had its heyday for about 10 years. While it's true that the swing band leaders came back from time to time and reformed bands for recording dates and special appearances, it was the sweet bands that never folded and continued to play with the same personnel night after night." The reason? Says Joe: "It's the music the people wanted the most."
Across the country in Pasadena, CA, a group of swing musicians who work at NASA's Jet Propulsion Lab found their interests were similar; they all wanted to continue playing. Says the spokesman for Big Band Theory, Richard Machuzak, "The band started back in January, 1999, when Brenda Burkhart and Patrick Olguin (both trumpet players and still with the band) realized that there were enough musicians walking around JPL to form a big band. The band was originally called Jazz Propulsion Big Band. Putting together a lunch-time band was a challenging job but not too bad. After all, it's not like it's rocket science. Seems that an interest in math and science go hand in hand with an interest in music. After all, music is a series of mathematical relationships. . . We do some charity work off lab and have been hired from time to time for more professional gigs. We're now trying to 'break out.'"
The NASA band, says Richard, finds that audiences aren't simply gray heads. "Most of the people in our charity audiences for example are the younger set whereas paying gigs seem to feature the older generation. There does seem to be quite an interest in swing dancing especially among the college crowd we play for," he explains.
