THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, July 21, 1995 TAG: 9507200164
SECTION: CHESAPEAKE CLIPPER PAGE: E10 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY ERIC FEBER, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 83 lines
The Hotel Paradise Roof Garden Orchestra.
A mouthful to say, but the name is music to the ears of fans across Hampton Roads.
They're one of the hottest musical groups in the area, and there's nary an electronic instrument or guitar on stage when they perform. They play songs that were hits before most of their audience members were born.
Their appeal goes from senior citizens to teens. They've played at such modern music meccas as Planet Music and Blockbuster Music.
But if you try to catch their most popular gig - the first Sunday of each month at Norfolk's Uncle Louie's Restaurant at Wards Corner - good luck. You will need to get tickets about eight weeks in advance.
But, Chesapeake music fans, take heart. The orchestra will be at Chesapeake Square Mall on Thursday for a free concert beginning at 6:30 p.m. The concert is being sponsored by the Chesapeake Department of Parks and Recreation as part of its celebration of July as National Parks and Recreation Month.
This marks the first time the swing orchestra has played in Chesapeake, said the orchestra's founder, musical director and conductor, Lynn Summerall.
``After playing for three years at virtually every Hampton Roads city, we'll finally play in Chesapeake, and we're all very excited about it,'' the Portsmouth resident said. ``We just got a new member, a drummer, David Snead, who's from Chesapeake.''
Summerall, 48, said Snead joins two Chesapeake stalwarts, David Starkey on tenor sax and Buddy White on alto sax.
The ages of the group's musicians range from 23 to about 70. The median age is in the 30s. The majority of the members are professionals who hail from the Virginia Symphony, the Boston Pops, service bands and various rock groups.
Virginia Beach resident Becky Livas provides most of the vocals, and White croons a few. Even Summerall sings a few tunes himself when he's not swinging the baton or swinging his trombone.
Ragtime is just one small part of the varied musical menu served up by the orchestra. Summerall said the group specializes in swing music from the 1920s and '30s, a style that seems to appeal to fans of all ages.
The Chesapeake Square performance will feature such top tunes as Cole Porter's ``Night and Day'' and such early hits as ``Muskrat Ramble,'' ``The Lullaby of Broadway,'' ``Let a Smile Be Your Umbrella'' and ``Sweet Georgia Brown.''
As an added treat, Summerall said the orchestra will perform ``Forever August Moon,'' an original song in the early jazz, swing tradition composed by Robert Flynn of Alberta, Va.
``We are an early big band, the roots of the big band music of the '40s and '50s,'' Summerall said. ``I was generally inspired by a Isham Jones, who was a popular bandleader of the late '20s and early '30s.''
Summerall said his group sports the same instrumentation used by the popular bands of the era: three saxes, two trumpets, one trombone, drums, a tuba instead of string bass, a banjo instead of guitar and a violin section.
He said as the bands moved into the '40s they ditched the tuba, strings and banjo, added more horns, a guitar and string bass, which made up the classic big bands of the Tommy Dorsey, Glenn Miller and Artie Shaw era.
Summerall said he finds the group's wonderful melodic dance material at the Library of Congress. After White made a few visits there, he was directed to many personal music collections as well as to the Peabody Conservatory in Baltimore, the Chatfield Brass Band Library in Minnesota and the Fairfax County Public Library in Northern Virginia.
Even though it was somewhat of a search to find material, the tunes played by these early big bands never went out of style, he said.
The Hotel Paradise Roof Garden Orchestra will soon release its own recording in August, tentatively entitled ``Bye-Bye Blues.'' Summerall said the recording, over an hour's worth of songs from the early jazz/swing period, will be sold at all of the group's performance dates or through the mail.
``The '20s and '30s was such an incredibly rich musical period,'' Summerall said. ``The music will always endure, as long as there are pops concerts or groups like us.'' MEMO: The Hotel Paradise Roof Garden Orchestra will perform a free concert
from 6:30-8:30 p.m., July 27, at Chesapeake Square Mall on Portsmouth
Boulevard in Western Branch. Dancing will be encouraged.
ILLUSTRATION: The Hotel Paradise Roof Garden Orchestra, led by Lynn Summerall,
left, will perform at Chesapeake Square Mall on Thursday.
by CNB