Special to the Tribune-Star
TERRE HAUTE —
Make way for the Fabulous 40’s Big Band as they compete with the Terre Haute Community Band for the audience’s attention in the “Battle of the Big Bands III.”
The popular event returns to Fairbanks Park on Saturday when the Fabulous 40’s take the stage at 7 p.m., with the Terre Haute Community Band following at 8 p.m.
The Fabulous 40’s is a 16-piece commercial dance/concert band that plays a variety of venues throughout the Wabash Valley and beyond.
The band will go to the Great American Songbook for some standards from Duke Ellington, Count Basie and Claude Thornhill among others. Betsy Baer, a graduate of St. Mary-of-the-Woods College of Music and Theatre Department, is the featured singer with the Fabulous 40’s. She also performed with the Terre Haute Community Band earlier this summer.
The Terre Haute Community Band will counter with “A Tribute to Glenn Miller” including the familiar “Tuxedo Junction” and “Little Brown Jug.” The “Mancini Spectacular” is a medley of Henry Mancini tunes with “Moon River” and “Charade” featured. “Salute to American Jazz” is just that with excerpts from “Birdland,” “St. Louis Blues” and ”It Don’t Mean a Thing (if it ain’t Got that Swing).”
“Way Down Yonder in New Orleans” is a shift to some Dixieland jazz. “The Band Played On” is actually a waltz written in 1895 and recorded many times, most notably by the Guy Lombardo Orchestra in 1941. Two of the Community Band selections, “Velvet Trombones” and “Bugler’s Holiday” will feature different sections or groups within the band. The “Blue Goose Rag” is a concert ragtime number while “Bandancing” by Jack Stamp is a dance suite.
The Conductor of the Terre Haute Community Band is Yvonne Newlin, the Performing Arts Coordinator at Lincoln Trail Community College in Robinson, Ill. The Summer Concert Series is sponsored by the Terre Haute Parks and Recreation Department.
For information, contact the Terre Haute Community Band office at St. Mary-of-the-Woods College at (812) 535-6440 or visit www.terrehautecommunity
band.org.
