Swingtime Jazz Band Salutes Veterans
By Space Coast Daily // November 8, 2012
7 P.M. Dance At Melbourne Auditorium Thursday
BREVARD COUNTY • MELBOURNE, FLORIDA – Active-duty military members and veterans will receive free admission to the Swingtime Jazz Band’s “A Salute to Our Veterans” dance on Thursday, Nov. 8 at the Melbourne Auditorium.
The dance will include a wide variety of music, including popular swing, waltz, polkas and Latin selections. Swingtime vocalists Sally Hart, a singing star with the Lawrence Welk Show, and Len Fallen, another local favorite, also will be featured.
“The band is very excited about this opportunity to say thank you to our nation’s military for the sacrifices they make,” said Art Martin, conductor. “Many of the Swingtime Jazz Band and Melbourne Municipal Band members are themselves veterans and got their musical start in military bands, so this has a very special meaning for us.”
The Melbourne Municipal Band, established in 1965, plays free concerts for the citizens of Brevard County nearly every month, and also contributes to the community through parades, patriotic concerts and ceremonial performances. Some 30 percent of the band’s 80-plus members are professional musicians.
In a typical year, the band serves 69,000 concert attendees, and its members give 27,000 hours of community service in the form of rehearsals and performance time.
Swingtime is the 18 to 21-piece “Big Band” dance ensemble of the MMB, playing music from the 1920s to the 1970s. The for-hire band features saxophones, trombones, trumpets, a piano, guitar, bass and trap set, along with two vocalists and a conductor/announcer.
The dance begins at 7 p.m. Thursday and for those who would like to brush up on their dancing skills can do so from 6 to 7 p.m., when Laura Beers offers lessons. The fee for lessons is $5, payable to the instructor.
Dance tickets are $5 in advance or $7 at the door for non-veterans/active-duty.
For more information about the event and ticket locations visit http://melbournemunicipalband.org/ or call 321-724-0555.
