Lenox – There was dancing in the aisles at Tanglewood on the evening of September 3, as Keith Lockhart and the Boston Pops Swing Orchestra presented “Dancing Under the Stars,” a program ranging from Benny Goodman to the Temptations to Led Zeppelin. In fact, dancing throughout the Shed — in the aisles and everywhere else — was not only permissible on Saturday, it was mandated by the Pops’ conductor himself.
When it’s time to swing, and swing hard, nobody does it like the world’s hottest big band, the Boston Pops Swing Orchestra. They’re so at home with this style, it’s hard to believe that for most players in this orchestra, swing isn’t their main gig. Michael Monaghan is one notable exception. He’s been a regular player and soloist with the Boston Pops for almost 40 years, and his masterful solo playing on Saturday elicited enthusiastic responses from the swing-savvy crowd.
Traditional twelve-bar blues has — surprise! — never been one of the Boston Pops’ greatest strengths. But the blues genre presents significant challenges for any symphony orchestra, because it’s all about improvisation. Of course, one does not simply walk into Symphony Hall and cause classically trained musicians to play improvisational blues licks (not unless you happen to be Mike Block of the Silk Road’s Global Musician Workshop.). The solution? Get a real bluesman like Russ Costa to join the orchestra on stage. Russ knows how to work a Fender Stratocaster, and he’s comfortable singing material from the standard blues repertory. So he and the Pops played B. B. King’s “The Thrill is Gone,” with Russ improvising all the requisite blues licks on his guitar. The crowd must have loved it, because they gave him the most raucous ovation of the evening.
Guest vocalists Alexis Cole and Landau Eugene Murphy Jr. delivered splendid renditions of old favorites like “That’s Life,” which Mr. Murphy handled with commanding aplomb, and “Skylark,” which put Cole in the crowd’s good graces for the rest of the evening. Murphy, by the way, is no mere imitator of Frank Sinatra. His own musical ideas and instincts stand on their own. Saturday’s audience expressed their approval of both singers loudly and clearly.
The idea of making a big band arrangement of Billy Joel’s “Uptown Girl” sounds unpromising, at best. It shouldn’t have worked. But it did. Likewise, a female vocal on this tune could have been embarrassingly inappropriate. But this, too, worked well.
A horde of serious ballroom dancing enthusiasts descended on Tanglewood to participate in Saturday’s program. Foremost among them was Bob Romeo, President of the Berkshire County Chapter #3045 of USA Dance, Inc. Romeo brought a sizable delegation of devoted ballroom dancers with him, all of whom did their part to make the concert a success.
The evening’s program included pre-concert dance lessons for all concertgoers. Participation was high, and dance floors at each side of the Shed were well populated throughout the evening. The open area at the back of the Shed also was busy with dancers of all ages. Even some of the Shed ushers joined in, making the scene quirkily reminiscent of certain episodes from the Mary Poppins books (where respectable grownups forget their dignity and let their hair down). Keith Lockhart did not wear a lampshade on his head — maybe he forgot to bring one? — but he did his fair share of cutting up onstage. He likes to lead by example.
Lockhart made it clear at the beginning of the show that he wanted everyone in the Shed to get up and dance wherever and whenever they liked. James Taylor is famous for insisting that everyone be free to thoroughly enjoy themselves at his Tanglewood shows, but Lockhart really spells it out: “Tonight, thou shalt frolic!” And now we know why the Boston Pops Swing Orchestra is known as a party band on par with the B-52s.
Saturday’s crowd was as appreciative and enthusiastic as any you’ll ever see at Tanglewood. Everyone knew how special — and unusual — the program was, and at the end of the show, they expressed their gratitude in no uncertain terms. Clearly, Keith Lockhart, his guest soloists, and the Boston Pops Swing Orchestra hit a home run on Saturday, September 3 with “Dancing Under the Stars.”
