Monday, August 13, 2012

"When Swing Was King" Swings In August

After a well-received start at the Rehabilitation Center of Omaha last week, we tweaked the latest volume of "When Swing Was King" a bit for the next day's presentation at Life Care Center. By the time we got to Immanuel Courtyard on Friday, we'd changed the program by substituting one more song and -- voilĂ  -- it was perfect.

Better still, it was a huge hit with our audiences singing along, applauding, swapping stories, laughing (and an occasional tear), and lots of heartwarming conversation before and after the program.

Boy, we have a lot of fun with this!

This new volume now brings our total of separate "When Swing Was King" presentations to 17. A few more and we won't have to repeat any of the programs for two years! Sure, there's some of the favorite standards that appear in different volumes and quite a few of the photos are repeated too. But each volume remains fresh, vibrant and fun with a nice mix of big band swing, crooners and canaries, novelty songs, and even a little bit of early jazz.

Here's the song list for this volume:

1) Glenn Miller Orchestra (Ray Eberle, vocals) -- 
"When You Wish Upon A Star"

2) Count Basie Orchestra -- 
"Jumpin' At the Woodside"

3) Artie Shaw Orchestra (Helen Forrest, vocals) -- 
"I Have Eyes" 

4) Harry James Orchestra -- 
"Strictly Instrumental"

5) Bob Crosby Orchestra (Dave Street, vocals) -- 
"I Left My Heart at the Stage Door Canteen"

6) Bennie Moten & the Kansas City Orchestra -- 
"Moten Swing"

7) Tommy Dorsey Orchestra (Frank Sinatra, vocals) -- 
"How About You?"

8) Guy Lombardo Orchestra (Kenny Gardner, vocals) -- 
"For Me & My Gal"

9) Chick Webb Orchestra (Ella Fitzgerald, vocals) -- 
"I Love Each Move You Make"

10) Glen Gray & the Casa Loma Orchestra -- 
"Blue Room"

11) Gene Krupa Orchestra (Carolyn Grey, vocals) -- 
"They Didn't Believe Me"

12) Benny Goodman Quartet -- 
"Moonglow, Take One"

13) Gene Autry -- 
"Deep in the Heart of Texas"

As we've mentioned many times before, we would love to have you come along to be a part of "When Swing Was King." You'll enjoy the program; you'll hear some great stories from the residents of the retirement centers and nursing homes where we play; and you'll be a source of great blessing to them just by being a friend. What d'ya say? The schedule is right here.