By Monique Danziger
The Oregon Festival of American Music (OFAM) kicked off its 2019 season, Might as Well Be Swing, on July 24 in The Shedd’s Jaqua Concert Hall. Music director and OFAM veteran Chuck Redd, along with the Festival Big Band, treated the audience to a perfect mix of standards, showstoppers and hidden gems from the era.
The show began with a rousing medley of two Benny Goodman classics, Let’s Dance, and Flying Home. These toe-tapping standards, brought to life by virtuosic, visiting soloist Will Anderson and his joyously frenetic clarinet, immediately electrified the audience. As Redd later joked with the audience, “We opened with the closer.”
The evening’s program did a superb job of showcasing the many flavors and styles of Swing – from the full sound of a big band, to small, three-instrument swing groups to jazz and blues-influenced tunes.
Following the big open, Redd’s program featured songs like Doris Day’s 1941 hit, Sentimental Journey, performed with worldly but tender longing by Eugene vocalist Shirley Andress. In Mood Indigo, vocalist Michael Stone channeled a young Frank Sinatra in a nod to Swing’s influence on a generation of crooners.
Then, picking the pace right back up, the always sensational Siri Vik bopped and scatted her way through It Don’t Mean a Thing (If it Ain’t Got that Swing). James Zoller, the accomplished jazz trumpeter from New York, joined Vik, providing some pure, brassy riffs to the mix.
In one of the standout ballads of the first set, Vik evoked a young Billie Holiday with a soft and sonorous rendition of the 1930’s love song Body and Soul. She then pivoted to the riotously upbeat and joyful, Drummin’ Man, for which Redd gleefully swapped places with drummer Matt Witek, noting with a wink to the crowd, “it feels nice to go back home, back there.”
In his first turn as musical director, after 12 years on drums with OFAM, Redd becomes an affable and charismatic bandleader. From start to finish, his sincere love for the genre fills the whole show with both earnestness and a sense of fun.
One of the best moments came during an explanation of the difference between a xylophone and a vibraphone, the latter which serves as the centerpiece for the Festival Band and as Redd’s base of operations. Redd explains the ins and outs of the vibraphone—or“vibes”—metal alloy composition and near indestructible quality.
The first set wraps up with the impossibly groovy 1940’s Jack Dorsey hit, Opus One, “in the right tempo,” as Redd explains.
The second act opens with the 1962 Duke Ellington smash, Kinda Dukish, where visiting pianist Ted Rosenthal shows off his serious piano chops.
In A Smo-o-o-oth One, Benny Goodman’s 1941 treatise on playing it cool, the vibraphone lends a wonderfully piquant and magical quality to a deeply smooth and mellow song. Set against some slinky brass and a lilting flute, each plink from the “vibes” calls to mind ice cubes clinking in a tall glass on a summer day.
No Swing repertoire would be complete without a little Ella Fitzgerald, so Vik’s playful delivery of Fitzgerald’s 1938 A-Tisket, A-Tasket, which includes some delightful call-and-response with the band, rounds things out nicely.
The evening wrapped up with not one, but three closing songs. In the Mood, one of the most recognizable Big Band Swing songs of the era, predictably brought the house down. Then came Gordon Jenkins’ sweetly sad, Goodbye, ending with Count Basie’s lighthearted romp, One O’Clock Jump.
It’s easy to forget that Swing music was born in a time of breadlines and war bonds. Its peppy, bold and big-hearted sound brought people together to dance, sing and forget their troubles. For longtime lovers of Swing and newcomers alike, OFAM’s series takes a genre that defined an era, and makes it feel new.
The music, lectures, and films included in OFAM’s Might as Well Be Swing calendar continue through August 3 at The Shedd Institute for the Arts.
Oregon Festival of American Music
When: July 24 through Aug. 3
Where: 868 High St., corner of Broadway and High streets in downtown Eugene
Tickets: $25 to $45, depending on performance (discounts available for students through college age, groups, and ticket packages); available at The Shedd ticket office, 868 High St., 541-434-7000, or online at theshedd.org
Schedule of events:
Wednesday, July 24
10 a.m.: Film — The Benny Goodman Story (1956); Sheffer Room; free
1 p.m.: Community Sing Along #1 — The Andrews Sisters & more! with Amy Adams & Singing Road Scholars; Jaqua Concert Hall; free
5 p.m.: Talk — The Age of Swing: Intro to OFAM 2019 with Jim Ralph; Sheffer Room; free
8 p.m.: Opening Gala — IN THE AGE OF SWING with Chuck Redd, director; Jaqua Concert Hall
Thursday, July 25
10 a.m.: Film: — The Fabulous Dorseys (1947); Sheffer Room; free
1 p.m.: Concert: CHASING SHADOWS: The Dorseys with Jesse Cloninger, director; Jaqua Concert Hall (repeats at 8 p.m. on Aug. 1)
5 p.m.: Talk — Duke Ellington & the Roots of Swing; Sheffer Room; free
8 p.m.: Concert — IT DON’T MEAN A THING: Swinging with Duke with Chuck Redd, director; Jaqua Concert Hall (repeats at 1 p.m. on Wednesday, July 31)
Friday, July 26
10 a.m.: Film — Hollywood Hotel (1937); Sheffer Room; free
1 p.m.: Concert: BENNY! The Palomar Ballroom to Carnegie Hallwith Chuck Redd, director; Jaqua Concert Hall (repeats at 8 p.m. on Aug. 3)
5 p.m.: Talk: Everybody Dance! Swinging with the bands with Ian Whitcomb; Sheffer Room; free
8 p.m.: Concert — DRUM BOOGIE: The Swing drummers with Chuck Redd, director; Jaqua Concert Hall (repeats at 1 p.m. on Aug. 1)
Saturday, July 27
10 a.m.: Film — Orchestra Wives (1942); Sheffer Room; free
1 p.m.: Concert: — SLIPPED DISC: Small Group Swing with Chuck Redd, director; Jaqua Concert Hall (repeats at 8 p.m. on July 31)
5 p.m.: Talk — Bing Crosby & the Rise of Crooning with Ian Whitcomb; Sheffer Room; free
8 p.m.: Concert: MOONLIGHT SERENADE: Swing & the war years with Jesse Cloninger, director; Jaqua Concert Hall (repeated at 1:30 p.m. on Aug. 3)
Sunday, July 28
4 p.m.: The Jazz Party — SWING’S THE THING with Chuck Redd, director; Jaqua Concert Hall, cabaret-style seating
Tuesday, July 30
8 p.m.: Concert — SATCHMO SWINGS! with Byron Stripling, director; Jaqua Concert Hall
Wednesday, July 31
10 a.m.: Film — Hellzapoppin’ (1941); Sheffer Room; free
1 p.m.: Concert: — IT DON’T MEAN A THING: Swinging with Duke with Chuck Redd, director; Jaqua Concert Hall; (also at 8 p.m. on July 25)
5 p.m.: Talk — The Rise of Western Swing with Ian Whitcomb; Sheffer Room; free
8 p.m.: Concert — SLIPPED DISC: Small Group Swing with Chuck Redd, director; Jaqua Concert Hall (also at 1:30 p.m. on July 27)
Thursday, Aug. 1
10 a.m.: Film — Las Vegas Nights (1941); Sheffer Room; free
1 p.m.: Concert — DRUM BOOGIE: The Swing drummers with Chuck Redd, director; Jaqua Concert Hall (also at 8 p.m. on July 26)
5 p.m.: Talk — Ian’s Top 10: Swing Era Classics with Ian Whitcomb; Sheffer Room; free
8 p.m.: Concert — CHASING SHADOWS: The Dorseys with Jesse Cloninger, director; Jaqua Concert Hall (also 1:30 p.m. on July 25)
Friday, Aug. 2
10 a.m.: Film —The Glenn Miller Story (1954); Sheffer Room; free
1 p.m.: Community Sing Along 2: The Mills Brothers & more! with Amy Adams & The Shedd Singing Club; Jaqua Concert Hall; free
5 p.m.: Talk — Piano Swing; Sheffer Room; free
8 p.m.: Concert — ONE O’CLOCK JUMP: The Great Pianists of Swing with Ted Rosenthal, director; Jaqua Concert Hall
Saturday, Aug. 3
10 a.m.: Film — Stormy Weather (1943); Sheffer Room; free
1 p.m.: Concert — MOONLIGHT SERENADE: Swing & the war years with Jesse Cloninger, director; Jaqua Concert Hall (also at 8 p.m. on July 27)
5 p.m.: Talk — Benny Goodman & The Age of Swing with Ian Whitcomb; Sheffer Room; free
8 p.m.: Grand Finale: — BENNY! The Palomar Ballroom to Carnegie Hall with Chuck Redd, director; Jaqua Concert Hall (also at 1:30 p.m. on Jul 26)
