The Lesbian & Gay Big Apple Corps (LGBAC) Symphonic Band, our community’s band, made a welcome return to live, in-person performing on December 11, at Symphony Space, with a wonderful holiday concert that was a tribute as well to Big Band-era swing. The evening was billed as “A Big Band Holiday: Music from the 1940s.” It was led mostly by Music Director Henco Espag, hosted by WNBC’s Rafael Miranda, and included sing-alongs, award presentations, and music of such starry names as Duke Ellington and Glenn Miller.
Ellington’s “It Don’t Mean a Thing (if it ain’t got that swing),” arranged by Dick Ravenal, served as the program’s wildly rousing overture. A hot “Night in Tunisia,” by Dizzy Gillespie and Frank Paparelli, in Paul Murtha’s arrangement, highlighting the saxophone section, combined swing and exotica. Assistant Conductor Royden Ringer took over for Raymond Scott’s animated “Powerhouse,” as arranged by Murtha, evoking cartoon chases, rush hours, and assembly lines. With Espag back on the podium, a Glenn Miller medley, in Naohiro Iwai’s edition, proved a rhapsodic time capsule of favorite ’40s melodies, including “Little Brown Jug” and “In the Mood.” Leslie Regina Becker led us in a joyous sing-along of Irving Berlin songs, from the film “Holiday Inn,” “Happy Holiday” and “White Christmas,” written for Bing Crosby.
We returned from intermission for a rollicking “Bei Mir Bist Du Schön,” the Sholom Secunda and Jacob Jacobs Yiddish theater song, from “I Would if I Could,” that became an Andrews Sisters hit and, here, in Roland Kreid’s version, incorporated a clarinet solo and audience clap-along. Firas Harith led a solemn sing-along of Charles Wiley’s arrangement of “Auld Lang Syne,” in memory of those we’ve lost, including Edie Windsor, whose baton Henco wielded for this song.
Henco and Marching Band Director Marita Begley presented LGBAC’s Golden Apple Award to Symphonic Events Coordinator Steven M. Lewis, for coordinating the band’s efforts technologically during the pandemic. Henco and Leslie presented the Pride Bands Alliance’s Pillars of Pride Award to Marita. And New York State Assemblymember Rebecca Seawright, assisted by Judith M. Kasen-Windsor, brought a plaque awarded to LGBAC, by the New York State Legislature, and accepted, on the Corps’ behalf, by Henco.
A zesty medley of Cole Porter songs from “Kiss Me, Kate”—“Another Opening, Another Show,” “Why Can’t You Behave?,” “Brush Up Your Shakespeare,” “Too Darn Hot,” and “So in Love,” arranged by John Moss—was the finale of the performance. A cheerful sing-along, with Eric Deiboldt, of Robert Alex Anderson’s Hawaiian carol “Mele Kalikimaka,” also written for Crosby, in Marco Martoia’s edition, was the encore.
LGBAC returns to Symphony Space in April 2022 for “Carnival of the Animals,” featuring music by Camille Saint-Saëns and others.