FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER12, 2014 · 2018. 3. 16. · less: “In the Mood,” “Begin the Beguine,”...

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Transcript of FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER12, 2014 · 2018. 3. 16. · less: “In the Mood,” “Begin the Beguine,”...

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  • GULF COASTING » THE NEWS-PRESS » FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 12, 2014 » 3

    Gulf Coasting's guide to thisweekend, the next 10 days and amonth ahead. Go togulfcoastinglive.com to see full,searchable calendar of events forthis week and beyond.

    Craig Christman wasn’talive during the glorydays of big-band mu-sic, but he knows andloves the hits nonethe-less: “In the Mood,” “Begin theBeguine,” “April in Paris,”

    “Moonlight Serenade” “Chatta-nooga Choo Choo,” you name it.

    “I’ve always said I was bornin the wrong time,” saysChristman, 43, of south FortMyers. “I should have beenborn in 1920.

    “When I hear the music, itbrings me a lot of joy. It justmakes me feel happy. And to

    be able to play it is even bet-ter!”

    Now Christman hopes tobring that same joy to big-bandlovers throughout SouthwestFlorida. His new StardustMemories Big Band debutsSaturday with a concert inCape Coral.

    Christman knows he’s notalone in his love of Glenn Mil-ler, Artie Shaw, Tommy Dorseyand other cherished bandlead-ers from the golden age of

    big-band music in the 1920s,’30s and ’40s. And he hopes alot of those fans show up at theItalian American Club to seejust what his 18-piece band cando.

    Other local bands play thiskind of music, including theprofessional Naples Jazz Or-chestra (for which some Star-dust Memories members alsoplay). But Christman says hisband focuses exclusively ondance-oriented swing music

    from the big-band era. Andunlike local amateur bands, hisgroup is made up entirely ofprofessionals.

    “I thought, boy, if we hadprofessional musicians, wecould really do this music jus-tice,” Christman says. “It’s thebest musicians in SouthwestFlorida. I called them all my-self. We’ve played together invarious bands over the course

    Stardust Memories Big Band to debut Expect hits like ‘In the Mood’ and more during concert Saturday in Cape CoralBy Charles [email protected]

    MARC BEAUDIN/SPECIAL TO THE NEWS-PRESS

    Some members of The Stardust Memories Big Band, made up of professional musicians from Southwest Florida. They play Glenn Miller and other music from the big-band era.

    COVERSTORY

    See BAND » 17

  • of about 20 years.”The band features mu-

    sicians from the Naples Phil-harmonic Orchestra, South-west Florida Symphony, localchurches and colleges, andthe pit orchestras for Broad-way Palm dinner theater andThe Naples Players. It boastsfour trumpeters, four trom-bonists and five saxophone/clarinet players, plus arhythm section and a guitar-ist. Christman also hopes toadd male and female vocalistsometime soon.

    Christman, himself, hasplayed with other localgroups (including SouthwestFlorida Symphony and TheNaples Philharmonic Orches-tra), and he does freelancework playing clarinet, flute,oboe, English horn and sax-ophone for touring musicalsat Artis-Naples and BarbaraB. Mann Performing ArtsHall.

    But in the back of hismind, Christman says, he’salways wanted more thanthat. “I wanted to have myown group. This is just some-thing I’ve wanted to do all mylife.”

    Christman grew up listen-ing to big-band music in hishometown of Cape Coral.

    “My dad played it all thetime,” he says, “and I loved itas a kid … There’s just some-thing about the sound of a bigband.

    “You hear this music, andit makes you happy. It makesyou want to dance.”

    Well, it makes other peopledance, anyway. Not Christ-man. He just taps his toes.

    “I can’t dance,” he sayswith a grin.

    Those old arrangementsalso have sentimental valuefor Christman: They’re a wayhe can still connect with hisfather, Gene Christman, whodied when Christman was 17years old.

    “This is a way to keep hismemory alive, too,” he says.

    The Stardust MemoriesBig Band has had only tworehearsals so far in the bandroom at Florida SouthWesternState College (formerly Edi-son State College). But theseprofessional musicians areused to reading sheet musicand learning it quickly.

    The results were obviousat the band’s second rehearsal

    last month: Crisp, emotionaland entirely danceable ver-sions of brassy big-band clas-sics such as “In the Mood,”“Stardust,” “Don’t Be ThatWay,” “Let’s Dance,” “Moon-light Serenade” and “I’mGetting Sentimental OverYou.”

    Professionals make aworld of difference with thismusic, says trombone playerLex Tsaggaris, 66, who dou-bles as the band’s publicistand business manager.

    “If you don’t play thistight,” the Naples residentsays, “it sounds awful! Mostof these songs are very pre-cise.”

    Unlike the improvisation-heavy forms of jazz that camelater, big-band jazz is highlystructured music meant to be

    played just as it’s written onthe page. But the sheet musicstill leaves sections for im-provised solos by Christmanand other band members.

    “These guys just standup,” Tsaggaris says, “andthey make it up on the spot.”

    The band has already re-corded high-quality demos ofits rehearsals to post on itswebsite. “When people hearour demos,” Christman says,“I want them to think, ‘Wow,that’s a local band?’”

    Christman hopes wordgets out among big-band en-thusiasts and that his dreamproject takes off in SouthwestFlorida. He wants to playclubs, fundraisers, local danc-es and wherever else peoplelove and appreciate big-bandmusic done well.

    “Our mission is to keepthis music alive,” he says.“We’re really going for thenostalgia factor. We want tobe a musical time machine.”

    MARC BEAUDIN/SPECIAL TO THE NEWS-PRESS

    Some members of The Stardust Memories Big Band, professional musicians from Southwest Florida. They playGlenn Miller and other music from the big-band era.

    Continued from 3

    Band

    IF YOU GO

    » What: Stardust MemoriesBig Band debutsWhen: 8-11 p.m. SaturdayWhere: The Italian AmericanClub, 4725 Vincennes Blvd.,Cape CoralTickets: $35, including din-ner ($32 for club members)Info: 542-6515 or ccitaliana-mericanclub.comMore about the band:stardustmemoriesbigband-.com

    See The StardustMemories BigBand rehearse

    at news-press.com.

    GULF COASTING » THE NEWS-PRESS » FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 12, 2014 » 17

    COVER STORY IN BRIEF

    Auditions scheduledThe Southwest Florida

    Symphony, Lee County’sonly professional orchestra,will hold auditions fromOct. 8-11.

    These are blind audi-tions, judged by a panel offive musicians, includingMaestro Nir Kabaretti.Positions being auditionedare:

    » Section violin, sevenpositions open; auditionshappen Oct. 8;

    » Second oboe and sec-ond trumpet; auditions Oct.9;

    » Principal viola andsection cello; auditions Oct.10; and

    » Principal keyboard andsection percussion auditionstake place Oct. 11.

    Auditions will be approx-imately 10 minutes long andwill consist of requiredexcerpts, solo selection(s)and sight-reading. Requiredrepertoire and excerpts areavailable at swflso.org un-der the About Us drop downmenu or by emailing [email protected].

    Qualified musiciansshould send a one-pageresume to the SouthwestFlorida Symphony Office at8290 College Parkway, Suite103, Fort Myers, FL 33919,in care of personnel man-ager Alex Albanese. Al-ternately, a digital resumemay be emailed to [email protected].

    Resumes and a $40 re-fundable deposit are due bySept. 21. Phone calls regard-ing these positions will notbe accepted.

    THE NEWS-PRESS FILE PHOTO

    Conductor Nir Kabaretti