RECAP: Upstate Composers Orchestra Packs House at the Avalon Lounge, Catskill, NY 1/5/2025

January 7, 2025

2–3 minutes

Upstate NY’s latest big band was the brainchild of prolific drummer/composer Bobby Previte. Previte, a veteran of the 80s NY “Downtown” scene, is has a residency with trio on the second floor of Avalon Lounge on most Sundays and plays in other venues in the Hudson Valley and the Berkshires.

A while back Bobby had the idea of putting together a big band to perform at this venue on the main stage which hosts other alternative genres several nights a week. The band’s debut on January 5 showed that this is not your great grandfather’s big band featuring the Glen Miller/Tommy Dorsey format but as advertised as featuring , ” From Strauss to Ellington to Johnny Winter via John Barry. Expect everything”. Band members included Keith Pray and Dylan Canterbury, who both are leaders of their own big bands based in the Capital District.

This debut set featured movie and tv scores along with the twangy surf rock of the 60s. As Bobby is behind his kit for most of the performance, he enlisted help from Michael Kammers, an equally distinguished jazz musician/band leader to conduct the band.

Michael is as imaginative as Bobby and has a dramatic style of conducting, adding to the performance. Flashcards were on occasion flashed to signal changes in the music’s direction. Bobby’s direction at times were as dramatic as the pantomine of Marcel Marceau. He was also an additional instrument where warranted, playing a flute, soprano sax and synthesizer to add even more color to the band’s sound.

There were certainly rough edges to this debut performance as there was little practice time and 2 of the musicians billed could not make the gig. The 518’s own Brian Melick, was a last minute substitute for JIm Pugilese. Jonathan Talbot couldn’t make the performance. But this was jazz and showbiz. Besides that everyone was having fun!

Bobby told stories of Quincy Jones and Henry Mancini which set the stage of the first of many covers. The Austin Powers theme by the recently departed Quincy opened what would be a set of many covers among them: Apache (surf rock), 007 Theme (James Bond), Comanche (altered by a Klezmer Clarinet part), Also Sprach Zarathustra (Richard Strauss 2001 Space Odyssey, based on Deodato 1972 hit) with the encore being a total surprise, Bobby singing the Wizard of Oz’s “If I Only Had A Brain ” with such glee. Certainly not jazz.

I left Catskill with that Wizard of Oz tune as an earworm that is still with me as I am writing this.

The next performance will be on February 2nd. I would expect more of everything