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Arts & Entertainment

Historical Society Swings At Senior House

Big Band program delights viewers at the Senior House Monday night.

Big Band music was popular again Monday night as the Montville Historical Society held a program on this history of genre at the Senior House.

Run in conjunction with the New Jersey Council for the Humanities, the program covered the era’s Jazz beginnings, video and audio of music and a discussion of its importance by Dr. Stephen Marcone, Chairperson of the music department at William Petterson University.

Couples dropping by on Valentine's day were treated to the sounds of the likes of Benny Goodman, Glenn Miller, and Duke Ellington from archival footage while Dr. Marcone traced the style's development from New Orleans Jazz clubs to Carnegie Hall.

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“I always appreciate doing these talks, this is a type of music I've played a lot of, and it's great to talk about it with people that have such deep ties to this music,” said Marcone.

Using only a projector and a microphone, Marcone picked out the subtle differences in regional styles, and background information that even seasoned historians in the audience found surprising.

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“A lot of people here tonight lived this era, and they feel this music, while still understanding that it's nostalgia and not coming back,” he said of the two-decade long Big Band era in 1930s and 40s.

Marcone, a former Epic records recording artist and longtime musician, played with some of the names he mentioned while he was a faculty member at Syracuse University, where he taught from 1973-1984. And although Marcone didn't himself live through the era, he can see parallels with more modern styles.

“When you read about this era, you can see how they were similar to rock bands today. They're playing the same roles in the development of their genre,” he said.

“We do programs on all different topics, but this is a really good one,” said Kathy Fisher, president of the NJ Council for Humanities (NJCH). “We do these talks about once a month, and it's mostly about local history. So when we decided to change it up, Valentine's seemed like the perfect day to do it.”

Fisher said scholars or entertainers often present the talks, which can garner up to 125 guests, and that Marcone does a couple different talks.

“This is the most exciting thing we would've done,” said one couple who attened the event and called it a good way to end a Valentine’s Day. “It wouldn't have flown 30 years ago, but this was nice.”

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