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B6 THE OAKVILLE BEAVER Wednesday, September 27, 2000 Arts & Entertainment O akville B eaver Entertainment Editor: Carol Baldwin 8 4 5 -3 8 2 4 (Extension 254); Fax: 337 -55 67 ; E-mail: b a ld w in @ h a lto n s e a rc h .c o m Bridging the musical Young musicians in the Toronto All-Star Big Band are bringing back big-band music and lots o f memories By Carol Baldwin ENTERTAINMENT EDITOR ren't these kids great? That's the question that seems to be on everyone's lips as they marvel at the musicality and energy of the Toronto All-Star Big Band members. These young men and women, aged 14 to 20, are remi niscent of Glenn Miller's band or Tommy Dorsey's. They are young, vibrant, talented performers who obviously enjoy what they are doing. And three of them have been traveling from their Oakville homes every week - every day during the summer - to practise with the band in Etobicoke. Why? Because they love the music, they say. All three 19-year-old Iroquois Ridge High School grad uates even admit to being secret listeners of CHWO on occasion. (Shhhh, don't tell their peers.) Jenny Petch, Brian Harman and Josh Perkins, the latter being one of the band's newest members, have found their musical niche with the big-band sound. `T he band really opens your eyes to what's available (musically) and what people really loved about that kind of music. When we get a new piece, our director, a lot of the times, will play the original recording so that we can get the right feel for it. So, we try to stay as authentic as possible," says Petch, explaining that the band has a repertoire of over 30 songs. "Over the past three years I've learned to love swing. I listen to it just for fun." And she seems to sing it for fun, too. In fact, she says, one of the things she likes most about performing with the band is the way audiences respond to the music. "The way that people have a connection to this kind of music is just incredible to us," she says, adding that people will approach band members after a set and reminisce about their experiences with big-band musicians 60 years ago. "It brings back all these memories for people, which is so fan tastic because there isn't a lot of music out there now that bands can play that gets such a response...They love to see young people. They love the energy and they love to think about what it was like when they first heard that music." Perkins, third trumpet with the band, says he first heard the band play at the Festival o f Lights in Toronto. "It was great. I had always wanted to be in the band from the first time I heard them play, but I didn't think I had what it takes to make the band," he recalls. However, Petch and Harman encouraged him to audi tion, and to Perkins' delight he was accepted. The young musician says he played trumpet in a jazz band as far back as elementary school, which is when he got his own trumpet - the trumpet he still plays. But despite his love of music and his talent as a musi cian, Perkins recently entered the Management and Tech nology program at Ryerson Polytechnical University. Petch, on the other hand, has just enrolled in the Music Education program at the University of Toronto. She has been with the band for about three years as one of six vocalists collectively known as the Serenaders. This young singer has taken private vocal lessons with the music A director of the Oakville Children's Choir, of which she was one of the first members. She also sang with Hamilton's Vox Nouveau. But it was a friend who suggested she audi tion with the Toronto All-Star Big Band when they had an opening for a mezzo-soprano. Most openings in the band, she says, are created because of the transient nature of its members - students, who are forever moving to different schools or cities or into full time careers. "It's a great opportunity for young adults. The band has really taken off in the last couple of years. By December, we will have done 50 shows this year at various events," says Petch, adding that the band traveled to Florida last year to entertain the Canadian snowbirds. "We're funded through a government grant which allows us to get paid as students during the summer. During the year, it's a volun teer community group." Harman, who has been playing the piano since about age 7, plays tenor saxophone with the Big Band and has just entered the University of Toronto for piano composition. "I played trumpet in Grade 7 for the first time and it was n't my favourite instrument," he says, looking apologeti cally at Perkins. "I switched in Grade 8 to play the tenor sax...and continued that through high school playing with different groups." He auditioned for the All-Star Band a year ago and has been with them ever since. "It's really taught me a lot about '30s and '40s music - how to play in that style. It taught me a lot about improvising, and things like that," he says. "I love performing with the band. It's just fun. You don't feel like you're working and making money. You just feel like you're out having a good time." The Toronto All-Star Big Band, which recorded a CD last year titled In The Mood, will be in concert at 2 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 1st in the Oakville Centre for the Performing Arts. Tickets are $24.99 ($19.99 for Big Ticket members and $18.99 for Big Ticket Plus) and are available by visiting or calling the box office at 130 Navy St., 815-2021. Photo by Peter C. M cCusker Brian Harman on sax, Jenny Petch and Josh Perkins, Oakville members of the Toronto All-Star Big Band, practise for Sunday's concert at the Oakville Centre for the Performing Arts. Enjoy two film firsts The Oakville Arts Council (OAC) will be presenting two film-related events next week. Its premiere Sunday screening will feature Wonderland at 7 p.m. at Famous Players Theatres in Oakville Town Centre I, North Service Road at Dorval. Doors open at 6:30 p.m. Tickets are $8, $6 for members, and are available at the door or in advance at Bean There (106 Reynolds St.), Bookers Bookstore (172 Lakeshore Rd. E.), Chapters (Oakville Town Centre I), and Oakville Place. Wonderland, Michael Winterbottom's story of three generations of a family as seen one wintery November weekend, was filmed on location in the pubs and streets of London with a super 16 mm, hand-held camera in natural lighting. (Rated R; 108 minutes.) 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