Big Bands and Standards

Back when I was a kid in the 60s and first digging the Beatles, my dad was not into it at all. He kept telling us that Glenn Miller and Tommy Dorsey and those folks with the big bands were the "real" music. Now that I am a bit older and have learned about and appreciate all types of musical styles, my position is if it's done well, I'll listen.

There are two recent releases done in big band or orchestrated style that are most definitely worth listening to. One is Mark Lowry's "I Love To Tell the Story" hymns CD which I discussed here. The other is a new CD by Reggie and Ladye Love Smith, two superb singers you probably are most familiar with from the Gaither Homecoming videos. Their new release, aptly called "Standards", is a collection of covers of some of the classic big band/easy listening standards, such as "It Had To Be You", "All of Me", and many others. I heard Reggie and Ladye sing some of this music at the first Mark Lowry Senior Trip, with Rory Partin and his orchestra. They did an amazing job and I waited for this project with great anticipation. Ladye grew up on this music, her dad (a guest musician on this CD) having played in big bands. Her feel and sense for the music is obvious, and her pure soprano makes a perfect match. Reggie Smith could quite possibly be one of the best kept male vocalist secrets across any genre (see the couple's MySpace page for more proof)...he's emotive, versatile and stylish. Put the two together and it doesn't get much better than that.

I'm sure my late dad would have given these his stamp of approval.