the Dance at JB, the blue nights band = stinko

In other years they had a full sized swing band dressed in Khaki uniforms with 8th Air force patches, for the past two they have used this pipsqueak band with bad intonation and no dynamic spread, they can all read music but don't listen to each other, I made a request for Lilli Marlene, they said we don't know it. that is a lame excuse, all bands carry a fake book for just such requests. LM was the most popular song of ww2, true it started out as a German song but was quickly translated and covered by artists on both sides of the Atlantic, covered here by Marlena Dietrich. It would be different if these guys were supposed to be playing contemporary music, but the purport to play period swing and dance music. this was the second time I requested it, to me it is either anti-German bias or just plain incompetence. I am a trumpet player and have played with many bands. you can't pull the wool over my ears. Maybe they are afraid the playing of Lilli Marlene would bring the German soldaten into the dance. I think they should. it has been over 60 years since the war was over. my zwei pfennig.

 

I actually started to fall asleep listening to the band. I play the Saxophone and wow were they borining. No ups and downs just a moderate line. Of course I was a little tired from two Infantry Assults and some panzer attacks.

 

music

With my experience of bands I know that you get what you pay for, if you pay peanuts you get monkeys! so, I suppose they were the cheapest and that's what you got. For what it's worth, with my band (I finished when I got to 75!!!) we played Lili Marlene in different versions, in German, English and the Italian veterans favourite 'D Day Dodgers'.
We even played Lili and Tipperary in Germany, no problems.

 

Thats very true Merlin. KP has a fairly descent voice.

 

azabuv

Is that word ...'descent' either 'decent or 'descant'?
Here's a pic of one of my old 'trios' the 'V -Notes' at the time of 'fifty years end of war shows'.

 

I say, Merlin.
Those drop-ceilings look to be a bitch...
or is that gentleman extremely tall?


Tim

 

Why do you think he's wearing a tin hat?