Each year around the Fourth of July, Eric Felten gathers together his group of musicians at Blues Alley in musical tribute to the big band era of the World War II generation. Leading a top-rated jazz orchestra, this conductor, singer and trombonist will perform the classics of popular music in the ’30s and ’40s. The patriotic connection is inherent in every note.
“I do think there’s a real sense that these songs from the golden era in American music also contributed to the war effort,” he explained. “It certainly did so with [bandleaders] like Glen Miller, who entered the military, and Artie Shaw, who started a military band. The music was interwoven with the times.”
| Onstage |
| The Big Band Sound of WWII |
| Where: Blues Alley Jazz Supper Club, 1073 Wisconsin Ave. NW |
| When: 8 and 10 p.m. Sunday |
| Info: $25; 202-337-4141; bluesalley.com |
The songs of that era were very much associated with the war, especially in England. For example, Eric’s band plays classics such as “We’ll Meet Again,” “I’ll Be Seeing You,” and one especially poignant tune, “When the Lights Go on Again.”
“There’s a wonderful lyric in that song about how ‘When the lights go on again, rain and snow will be all that falls from the sky above’ — haunting lyrics, really” he said.
However, Felten’s show is much more than a maudlin stroll down memory lane. This 46-year old musician (who played in a rock band in college) will highlight the best part of the war-era music: swing.
“We’ll play music from the Count Basie band; songs recorded by Frank Sinatra and the great artists of the day,” Felten continued. “Sinatra had just gotten his start with the Tommy Dorsey Orchestra. His [popularity] really took off during the war.”
That Felten is so hooked on big band music is a direct result of his family roots. His grandfather was a trombonist during the swing era, and his sister (Felten’s great aunt) played with Ina Ray Hutton and her All-Girl Jazz Band, on which the classic film “Some Like it Hot” was based.
“I was always a jazz musician, primarily,” Felten noted. “But I came to understand and appreciate the music of the big bands. I learn something new every day.”
And when asked about his audience for this holiday Blues Alley gig, he said matter-of-factly, “We’ll have kids 10 years old all the up to [people in] their ’90s.”
