Alive and well

Last evening a group of friends treated me to a nice Italian dinner and the local high school's Spring Concert as a pre-eighty-first Birthday Bash. Having heard an excellent performance of The Wizard of Oz at this same school several years ago, I should not have been surprised at the quality of the program, which was excellent.

It opened with a small chorus singing a capella versions of a number of songs I had never heard, but which were sung with sweet, light voices in tune. Various members of the group sang brief solo lines, including the daughter/grand daughter of my friends. It was good to hear these light, young voices singing with ease. Only one young woman felt the need to 'belt', but everyone else did a very nice job with their brief moment in the spotlight.

Their conductor was a young woman who obviously knew what she was doing. Apparently, these kids show up early at school several mornings a week to participate in this group before regular classes commence. My only suggestion to the conductor would be that she wear a longer jacket on stage. Keeping time with her right foot, the gyrations of her read end were a sight to behold. Not since Lenny went to his reward has a conductor's butt made such an impression on me!

Their finale was a medley of songs from Guys and Dolls, a show that none of these young people could have had any idea about. It brought back memories of seeing Vivian Blaine and Robert Alda sing the leads in this show on Broadway in the fifties, Being eighty-one lends one a certain perspective, doesn't it?

The chorus was followed by the Jazz Band, a sizable group led by a fellow who obviously knows his fachs of life. (Sorry!) They played with excellent technique and verve. He would mostly get them started with the traditional 'And-a-one-and-a-two', and they would take off and soar! The fact that this whole genre of music was more from my generation than theirs didn't seem to bother them in the least. They got it! The instrumental soloists had a real opportunity to perform, unlike the singers who barely got to sing one line of the song by themselves. And whereas Zoot Sims and Miles Davis would have improvised their 'licks', these kids played their written-out variations as if they were making them up. They were terrific!

It is very good for an old fogey like me to show up at a high school concert like this once in a while to be reminded that in a few public schools, at least, music is alive and well. There was even dancing in the aisles during one of the band numbers. It's almost like living in Greece!