PHOENIX BAND, Westminster's Jewett Center, 7:30 p.m., one show only.
The Egyptian legend goes like this: There was a magnificent bird, which lived in the desert for 500 years. At the end of that time it burned itself on its own pyre, but when its remains had been completely consumed another bird rose from the ashes and flew away.That bird was the phoenix.
The fowl's namesake musical group in Salt Lake City, the Phoenix Band, can't lay claim to exactly 500 years of life. More like nine. But it can claim resurrection of a musical form that hasn't seen its heyday for the past 50 years: big band swing.
In its concert at Westminster College's Jewett Center Saturday, the Phoenix Band resurrected the kind of music made popular by Glenn Miller, William "Count" Basie, Tommy Dorsey, Artie Shaw and others. Its white-haired (or no-haired) members, all retired local musicians, spun out such classics as "Begin the Beguine," "The Lady is a Tramp," "All of Me" and "I've Got My Love to Keep Me Warm."
Most of the band members played professionally at Salt Lake's Rainbow Rendezvous back in the '30s and '40s, and their experience showed. They are also getting older and practicing less, and that showed, too.
The execution, in other words, while solid and consistently of high quality, was not perfect. Nor did it need to be. The concert was as much a reminder as performance, unabashedly nostalgic, taking the capacity crowd back to the days when if a girl didn't have two different dates to the same dance she was a wallflower, as one band member once put it.
But there was some serious music going on just the same. Lead trumpet Dick Skillacorn may be a bit older than current musicians, but he can hit some impressive high notes just the same. In fact, Skillacorn was doing a pretty fair imitation of legendary screamer Maynard Ferguson in the band's rendition of Stan Kenton's "Intermission Riff."
Lead tenor Dave Jorgensen coaxed fine solos out of his saxophone during various numbers and was especially good in his own arrangement of "These Foolish Things."
Second tenor Mo Smith, playing a relatively rare black-lacquered sax, had only one solo (in "Phoenix Blues"), and he took full advantage. His muscular tone, easy runs and vigorous swinging improvisation were, simply, great. One wished he had had more opportunities to shine.
Calling the Phoenix Band a big band like the big swing bands of yore is perhaps a misnomer. It should be called a really big band. In its performance Saturday it had six trombones, seven trumpets and seven saxophones. Count 'em!
"We like to keep seven or eight because we never know when somebody's going to drop off," explained band leader and trumpet player Doug Boll.
The extended personnel changed the usual sound of the standard swing tunes somewhat. The saxophone section, for example, containing an extra tenor and baritone, each of those lower in register than the alto, was more vinegary -- at times downright gutty -- than most.
Not that that's necessarily a bad thing. With its beefed-up section, the saxes were able to take full advantage of the light-hearted low notes in Kenton's "Hey Daddy."
The Phoenix Band has played various charity events around the valley, as well as the Governor's Ball, senior centers and country clubs. If you're looking for a toe-tapping good time and familiar music solidly played, go to one and enjoy.