
DATE: Thursday, April 3, 1997               TAG: 9704030710

SECTION: DAILY BREAK             PAGE: E3   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY FRANK ROBERTS, STAFF WRITER 

                                            LENGTH:   55 lines

SYMPHONY TO RECAPTURE BIG BAND SOUND

THIS WEEKEND, the Roy Muth Big Band and the Virginia Symphony are putting on a salute to big bands.

Well, sort of.

``The pieces we do by ourselves are remakes of older tunes,'' Muth said. ``Duke Ellington's `Take the A Train' is actually the Maynard Ferguson arrangement. We don't do the old arrangements as much on our own, but we will when we play with the symphony - embellished (with strings) re-orchestrations of the originals.''

Muth, who plays trumpet, began his band in the early 1980s - ``more for fun than anything else. I got serious about 3 1/2 years ago.''

The seriousness came about when some fellow musicians, whose experience included time with Barbara Mandrell, Wayne Newton, The Temptations and Johnny Mathis, decided they'd like to get together and work on new arrangements.

``It blossomed from there,'' said Muth, who grew up in Napa, Calif. ``I was in the U.S. Navy Band at the Little Creek Armed Forces School of Music, playing in a jazz ensemble. Before that, I had no background in swing or big band.

``After my discharge I got a degree in music education from Old Dominion. Then, I went on the road for a couple of years with a couple of different groups, and I did some club work.''

He still gets around, working in bands accompanying Broadway shows that tour Hampton Roads, filling in with the Virginia and Richmond symphonies and teaching at the Governor's School for the Arts and Virginia Commonwealth University. He played on Bruce Hornsby's ``Harbor Lights'' album. His band performs at the House of Jazz at Pembroke Mall in Virginia Beach.

Muth, 43, lives in Virginia Beach with his wife, Sarah, an elementary school counselor. Their 6-year-old daughter, Jessica, is a budding pianist.

Today's budding musicians get high marks from Muth.

``Technically, they are better, much better now,'' he said. ``But my favorite players were big band and jazz trumpet players, like Harry James.''

Yet, it is some of the era's lesser lights Muth enjoys the most, especially Jimmy Lunceford. And, as any musician will tell you, there is always The Duke - Edgar Kennedy Ellington, not John Wayne.

``He has tons and tons of stuff I enjoy,'' said Muth. ``But my favorite is Count Basie. He epitomizes swing, but with a style slightly different compared to other big bands.'' ILLUSTRATION: Graphic

IF YOU GO

What: ``Big Band Salute,'' featuring the Roy Muth Big Band with

the Virginia Symphony; Walter Noona, conducting

When: 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday, Chrysler Hall, Norfolk; 2:30

p.m. Sunday, Virginia Beach Pavilion Theatre

Tickets: $9 to $40, plus service charge; order at 671-8100 or

623-2310

Information: 623-8590