Concert
Themes for 2024
Every song tells a
story
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VintageMusicConcerts trace
musical, romantic and historic themes with memorable tunes, clever lyrics and
amusing anecdotes. Delighted adult and senior audiences say their favorite pop tunes are graced with wit & warmth, while hosts find the programs are easy to promote. Recently expanded and updated, here are the Concert Themes we're now offering.
Crooners, Swingers and Idols — Concert
of familiar hits and romantic ballads popularized by the heart-throb crooners, Rat Pack swingers and
TV-dinner idols of the 1950s and 1960s — songs that were hits for a generation that found its pop music on record players,
transistor radios, juke boxes, the movies and sock-hops in high school gyms.
Vintage Guitar Roadshow — One hundred years ago the acoustic guitars now called vintage were newly made instruments. In this program, we offer some of the syncopated ragtime, early jazz and rhythmic swing tunes of the 1920s, 1930s and 1940s played on vintage acoustic guitars from the same period. This program re-creates back-in-the-day tunes — most of it familiar — that people heard when musicians performed it as new music.
Poets of the Prairie — Concert
of songs and stories explores the cultural impact of some of the 20th Century's most talented musical artists — Midwest Americans from Woody Guthrie, Goebel Reeves and Gene Autry to Johnny Cash, Bob Dylan, Phil Ochs and Jimmy Webb, and popular mid-continent Canadians, from Ian Tyson and Gordon Lightfoot to Joni Mitchell
and Buffy Sainte-Marie.
Kingston Trio Redux — Concert
of well-known, much-loved tunes by the most successful combo of the 1960s, a trio that stretched the pop music scene with their
brand of folk, folk-rock, calypso and show tunes they performed in small clubs, coffeehouses, colleges and hugely successful LPs.
The Moon, The Stars and You — Concert
will summon the moon, the stars and misty memories for romantic insight and dreamy warmth with such timeless classics as Blue
Moon, Old Cape Cod, Pennies From Heaven, Fly Me To The Moon, As Time Goes By, Stars Fell On Alabama, Beyond The Sea,
Stardust, Dream A Little Dream Of Me and I'll See You In My Dreams.
Roots of American Jazz — Concert
of jazz tunes first heard on 78 rpm records,
vaudeville stages, speakeasy bandstands, juke joint dance floors and, eventually, on radio. We will offer some of the songs first crafted by well-known and obscure jazz cats, from
Isham
Jones, Louis Armstrong, Bessie Smith and Bix Beiderbecke, Sophie Tucker and Mildred Bailey to Rudey Vallée, Sidney
Bechet, Ruth Etting, Paul Whiteman and Hoagy Carmichael.
MidCentury Melodies — Concert
of pop music from 20th Century’s juicy middle, with songs by Tony Bennett,
Frank Sinatra, Nat King Cole, Rosemary Clooney, Kate Smith, Jo Stafford, Dean Martin, Ella Fitzgerald, Perry Como, Peggy Lee, Eydie Gormé, Dinah Washington, Vaughn Monroe,
Frankie Laine, Patti Page, Eddy Arnold and others.
She Did It Her Way — Concert
celebrates the lives, careers, tunes & cultural influence of female composers,
vocalists and recording artists of the 1950s and 1960s. In addition to well-known pop singers, this program honors previously unheralded songwriters, including Dorothy Fields, Claire Rothrock, Cindy Walker and Sadie Vimmerstedt, who created evergreen songs.
He Did It His Way — Concert honors
the lives, careers, tunes and cultural impact of male song writers, vocalists and recording artists from the 1950s and 1960s. In addition to well-known pop singers, program celebrates previously unheralded composers, including Bart Howard, Joe Kosma, Ned Washington, J.D. Loudermilk, Johnny Black, Neil Moret and Richard Whiting.
My Achin’ Breakin’ Heart — Concert
of tear-stained ballads, steamy standards and love-struck laments from the 1950s and 1960s written by N.Y., L.A. and Nashville
songwriters for movie, folk, Broadway and country music fans. Everybody deserves an hour of musical heartburn.
Great American Cabaret — In the 1950s and 1960s couples dated, dined and danced in cabarets, juke joints,
hotel ballrooms, nightclubs and restaurants that featured fine dining, live music and a dance floor. We'll offer some well-loved ballads, swing standards and hit tunes popularized by jazz combos, saloon singers and dance bands from back in the day.
Folk Song Boomers — Concert
of the folk, protest, traditional & ethnic songs that were sing-along anthems,
radio favorites and hit recordings for the post-WW II teenagers
known as Baby Boomers.
Broadway
Song Mementos — Tunes that Great White Way producers used to advance dramatic and comedic story lines,
tout latest ingénues, spur publicity in the media and, perhaps, draw extra income. Such options included sheet music sales, radio airplay, recordings, jukebox selections and conversion to feature movies. Concerts typically include songs from "Everybody's Welcome," "The Great Magoo," "Babes in Arms," "Music Man" and other stage productions.
Great American Songsters — Song and
stories of the 20th Century artists, composers, vocalists and musical scamps
who helped spawn the genres known today primarily by marketing monikers: jazz, folk, blues, shouter, Americana, swing, boogie-woogie, hokum, folk rock, British folk revival, country 'n western, Brill Building and western. Just don't expect bubblegum, grunge or arena rock.
Hollywood Souvenirs — Concert of
songs that allowed Hollywood moguls a way to capitalize on the tunes inculcated into
their celluloid dramas, torrid romances or screwball comedies. Concerts typically include songs from "Some Like It Hot," "Pal Joey," "Babes in Arms," "Shall We Dance," "Julie & Julia," "Manhattan Melodrama," "Pollock" and other movies.
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ALSO AVAILABLE
Over the past 25 years we have also offered these great programs to audiences at retirement communities, senior centers and public libraries along the East Coast and Midwest. They are available for concerts as well.
Big Band Idols — Concert
of memorable tunes immortalized by top-tier musicians, swing vocalists and impresarios
who fronted Big Bands, jazz combos,
society orchestras and juke-joint players in the 1930s and 1940s.
Bye Bye Blues — Concert features the jazz and swing hits popular in the era between world wars. Young people enjoyed the tunes since they were danceable, with clever lyrics and memorable melodies. Many were performed by vocalists and Big Band leaders who gained popularity with their simultaneous appearance in recordings, radios, juke boxes and movies.
In The Mood — Concert
offers a bouquet of romantic tunes from the 1940s that gave
pop music its emotional depth and resonated with
folks on the Home Front and Front Lines. Back in the day, nostalgic escapism was a
priority for many. This concert will help you get away from it all.
Juke Joint Jive — Toe-tappin' tunes favored by the teenage rebels of the 1940s known by their slang labels: bobby soxers, swing-shift maisies,
drugstore cowboys, stagedoor johnnies, lindy hoppers, jitter buggers and zoot suiters.
Legendary Love Songs — Concert
offers standards with amorous lyrics, memorable tunes and
warm sentiments to recall old flames, illicit moonlit rendezvous,
romantic affairs and heartache.
Radio Ramblers — For more than three decades
Americans turned on a tabletop, portable or console radio for their favorite music, comedy,
drama, news, gossip and sports. In this concert we salute the shows,
singers and emcees who were cultural forces during radio’s heyday.
Sunny Side of Street — Concert
of mirthful and romantic songs to smother you with pithy
advice, repair your personality, beat back the blues and poke fun at high
society.
Tin Pan Alley Cats — Stories and songs by famous composers, including Cole Porter, Frank Loesser, Irving
Berlin, Johnny Mercer, George Gershwin, Jule Styne, Hoagy
Carmichael and others.
Torch Song Embers — Concert
of bittersweet tunes — painful, torchy and regretful ballads — songs we remember because they allow us to idolize the One Who Got Away, recall a long-ago romantic
tryst or rue some misbegotten lover. This concert is about remembrance as well as how we create and hold onto besotted memories.
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© 2024 - Kenneth Lelen - All Rights Reserved
