Lifestyle
Harry James Orchestra brings big sounds and fond memories to Sahara
When the Harry James Orchestra plays big band classics like "You Made Me Love You" and "It's Been a Long, Long Time," audiences can't help but reminisce.
As a result, bandleader Fred Radke gets regaled with stories about what people were doing when they heard a certain Harry James tune.
One guy remembers dancing with Betty Grable at the Roosevelt Hotel before he shipped off to Europe to fight in WWII. Another remembers sitting in the rain and mud during the war and listening to the same songs again and again, because some guy on a tank had a wind-up record player and one Harry James record.
"There're so many stories like that," Radke says.
Radke and the Harry James Orchestra are keeping those memories and traditions alive into the 21st Century, still playing jazz and big band standards to packed audiences around the world, including our corner of it. They're stopping at Methuen's Sahara Club this Friday en route to the Montreal Jazz Festival for a special one-night performance with jazz singer Barbara Rosene. Radke promises a "swingin' show."
Harry James was a legendary trumpet player and bandleader, leading the swing era along with other bandleaders like Artie Shaw and Count Basie. Radke played with James as the band's first trumpeter on and off throughout the late '60s and '70s. He says playing with James was like "taking a trumpet lesson every night."
James was constantly surrounded by greats like Frank Sinatra, Johnny Carson, Dean Martin, Jack Benny and Desi Arnaz, because "that was the caliber that he was in," Radke says.
"Harry was, of course, the greatest trumpet player ever," Radke says. "And the band was always absolutely perfect."
Today, Radke carries on James' tradition of bringing swinging jazz to appreciative audiences. And although those audiences are getting older, Radke says there are plenty of young people who love the music and come to the band's shows, too. He credits jazz music programs in high schools and colleges and the show "Dancing with the Stars" for keeping that kind of music popular among young people.
"The music industry is evolving right now as we speak," he says, but adds that the music of the big band era has an everlasting quality that keeps it relevant. "This music is so much part of history, and was so much part of this culture of this country at one time, which was a very, very important era of the United States."
Moreover, jazz is as much a part of the fabric of American culture as baseball and the movies, so much so that Radke says people in other countries sometimes think they can come to America and "see a jazz club on every corner."
"Jazz is America's true art form," he says. "It was created here and it's important that we keep it alive in this country."
If you go
What: Harry James Orchestra.
Where: Sahara Restaurant & Club, 34 Bates St., Methuen.
When: Friday, July 2, 8 p.m.
How: $15. Call 603-898-1591, or visit www.jockosjazz.com/.
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