Listen to the Sea ‘T Sky Big Band play and you might feel yourself slipping back to the 1940s.
Michael Perkins had recently moved to Squamish from Kelowna seven years ago, and was looking for a way to connect with his new community.
Now the jazz band has 15 adults, joined by promising local high school students from Howe Sound to fill in and get some experience playing with an adult band. After Perkins left three years ago, former Don Ross Middle School music teacher Stan Thomson picked up the reins and has been acting as its director ever since.
Thomson says the group was pretty rough when they started, but over the years, new people have moved to Squamish, bringing their passion and talent for music with them.
And, like any team sport, the group improved together.
“You have to all work together or it falls apart, like a team,” he said.
“It’s challenging and a lot of fun. You go to practice and you make sure you do your part, because everyone has a particular part they cover.”
This month, the band will be in full swing at the Brackendale Art Gallery on June 23 at 8 p.m. as they host a special performance for their reunion with Perkins.
It costs $20 to get in, and part of the proceeds will go toward a donation to music programs at Brackendale Elementary, and to a bursary for a graduating Howe Sound Secondary student enrolled in a music program.
As for the music, Thomson says he likes playing jazz because of the freedom to improvise.
When the band plays, he hopes the audience enjoys it as much has he does.
“(It’s) an opportunity to kind of go back in time for some of the charts,” he says. “There’s not too many swing bands that are around, so (it’s) a kind of fun opportunity to hear something a little bit different.”
One number the audience will enjoy is St. James Infirmary, a New Orleans funeral song made famous by Louis Armstrong’s 1928 recording.
Most of the music they perform comes from the ‘30s and ‘40s, but there’s also a few new numbers the audience will be sure to enjoy, like the theme from The Incredibles.
Don’t forget performances by some talented Howe Sound students.
Grade 12 student Connor Lum will be on the piano.
He was awarded the Sea ‘T Sky Big Band bursary this year.
Lum will be going on to take jazz at Capilano University. Founder of Squamish Academy of Music Melissa Braun will be singing, along with Liesel Pederson on trombone.
