The Columbian | Serving Clark County, Washington

If variety is the spice of life, then the upcoming pops concert with the Vancouver Big Band might be just the thing for you.

The first half of the performance will feature rock violinist Aaron Meyer playing his original pieces and arrangements of Beatles tunes and other popular numbers.

The second half of the program will offer a 17-member ensemble performing snappy big-band pieces, with acclaimed jazz vocalist Shirley Nanette for several songs. The whole shebang will benefit the Vancouver Symphony, which is sponsoring the event.

Nanette has sung all over the nation, and opened shows for Frankie Valle and the Four Seasons, Billy Ecstine, Diane Schurr, Lou Rawls and Eddie Harries. She has sung pops concerts not only with the Oregon Symphony, but also with the symphony orchestras of Chicago, Seattle, St. Louis, Indianapolis, Baltimore and San Diego, and the National Symphony Orchestra in Washington, D.C. She appeared with the Spokane Symphony, substituting for Tony Bennett when he couldn’t perform because of illness.

Nanette often sings with the Woody Hite Big Band and the George Reinmiller Big Band.

“I love the big-band style,” Nanette said. “I love the instrumentation for big band, the sound of the horns, and the arrangements are great.”

Nanette plans to sing four pieces: “The Song Is You” was composed by Jerome Kern, with lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II. The 1941 song “Lover Man” is associated with Billie Holiday. “Too Close for Comfort” was made famous by Frank Sinatra, and “Ain’t Misbehavin’” is the famous Fats Waller number.

“I love to connect with the audience,” Nanette said. “I want people to feel what I’m singing. I like to sing a song where I jump inside of the song. I become the song and the audience can feel the song with me. They can really feel what the song has to say.

“It’s like being an actor. You believe the character that you are playing. That’s the way I feel about music and the lyrics. When I teach students, I teach them to make the song theirs.”

The Vancouver Big Band will play “Nevertheless,” made famous by Frank Sinatra in the ’50s; Duke Ellington’s “I’m Beginning to See the Light” in a version for trombones; an arrangement of “Friend Like Me” from Disney’s movie “Aladdin”; “Rackafracker,” a piece that was popular on the college big-band circuit in the 1970s; and Wayne Bergeron’s “Do You Call This a Living?”

“All of these numbers are toe-tappers,” said trombonist Doug Peebles, “and the show will have a couple of surprises, but I can’t give them away.”

Rock violin

The concert will open with violinist Meyer, who has collaborated with Smokey Robinson, Aaron Neville, The Temptations and Everclear. Meyer and guitarist Tim Ellis will cover tunes such as the theme from the movie “Lawrence of Arabia”; Led Zeppelin tunes; “Let It Be”; and selections from their own CDs, “The Journey … not the Destination” and “Warming Up.”

“A lot of the pieces in these recordings are originals that we’ve written,” Meyer said. “Our music has a classical element with (a) strong progressive rock component and a world-music feel.”

Meyer studied violin at Indiana University’s famous music school, but he decided to drop the violin playing for a while and transferred to Lewis & Clark College.

After graduating in 1995, he returned to his violin and began playing with Thomas Lauderdale and Pink Martini. That turned into a touring gig that lasted two years and participation in the ensemble’s first album, “Sympathique,” which has sold 975,000 copies since it was released in 1997.

Since that time, Meyer still does string sessions with other artists, but he has pursued a different path.

“I decided to find my own way,” Meyer said. “I like writing music, exploring other kinds of music, improvising and performing. The improvising will come in handy for the grand finale of this concert. There’s nothing quite like rock violin and big band.”

Print this article