Jazz Connection Magazine

The Modernaires Team Up With The Skyliners Big Band For Holiday Weekend Extravaganza

The Modernaires, above, performed their smooth, superbly-blended and tight-sounding five-part harmony for the near-sold out crowd at the

Paradise Performing Arts Center in Paradise, CA, on Saturday, May 28. "The Mods" teamed up with area big band, The Skyliners, as part

of the PPAC's annual Memorial Day week extravaganza, "Jukebox Saturday Night." The Modernaires are l-r: Joe Croyle, Martha Dickinson,

Julie Dickinson, Paula Kelly, Jr., and Alan Copeland, who first joined the vocal group in 1948.

Memories were recalled and memories were made over the Memorial Day weekend at the Paradise Performing Arts Center as The Modernaires with Paula Kelly, Jr., teamed up with the Skyliners Big Band from Chico to headline the fine arts theater's annual extravaganza, "Jukebox Saturday Night." The near sold-out crowd was serenaded in grand style with a trip down memory lane of hit songs from the 1940s by the singing group's smooth, superbly blended, well-tuned and tight-sounding five-part harmony. Many of the evening's selections came directly from the library of the Glenn Miller orchestra, from which the original group reached stardom back in 1941.

The current Modernaires group - Paula Kelly, Jr., Martha and Julie Dickinson - are the daughters of Hal Dickinson, one of the founding members of the celebrated vocal group which started in 1935, and Paula Kelly, Sr., who sang with "The Mods" in Miller's band and who became the "fifth wheel" of the group when they branched out as a solo act. Rounding out the fivesome were Alan Copeland, who has been a member of celebrated vocal team on and off since 1948, and "newcomer" Joe Croyle, who joined in the late 1990s.

All the Miller-Modernaires hit tunes - Kalamazoo, Elmer's Tune, Moonlight Cocktail, Chattanooga Choo-Choo, Don't Sit Under The Apple Tree, and Perfidia - were presented in Hit Parade-like fashion. Also given homage were a number of other Miller hits, originally instrumentals - Moonlight Serenade, Little Brown Jug, Tuxedo Junction, and In The Mood - that were given the vocalese stamp of excellence thanks to the genius of Copeland who penned lyrics and wrote new arrangements of these chestnuts almost 50 years ago.

Tribute was also given to The Pied Pipers, Tommy Dorsey's stylistic vocal group who also went on to record chart toppers during the '40s as a solo group, and who were also The Modernaires' strongest rival. The Mods rendered solid versions of Dream, On The Sunny Side Of The Street, For You and Boogie Woogie. Once again, Copeland's gift for lyricism sparkled on the latter tune, originally a Dorsey hit instrumental from 1938.

One of the more pleasant surprises of the evening's gala was presented by Joe Croyle, who sang magnificently, nearly bringing down the house, on the romantic A Nightingale Sang In Berkeley Square, in tribute to Miller's renowned boy singer, Ray Eberle.

Other highlights included new Copeland lyrics to the jaunty medley of Tin Roof Blues/Make Love To Me; a group effort that featured Paula Kelly, Jr., in the solo spot on the sultry Teach Me Tonight, a hit for Jo Stafford in 1954 as well as a group vocal version charted that same year by the De Castro Sisters; and a moving version by Copeland on the Harry Warren-Mack Gordon gem, At Last. Copeland, the Grammy Award-winning singer, writer and composer, who turns 78 in October, has literally single-handedly re-written The Modernaires repertoire for the past 57 years. He's also been a favorite to Count Basie, David Rose, Les Brown, Sarah Vaughn, Dick Haymes, Steve Lawrence and Eydie Gorme, and Peter Marshall, among others.

The climax of the show was an "expanded" version of the Miller-Modernaire hit, Jukebox Saturday Night, where The Mods parody other famous singers and celebrities, giving the tune a more "contemporary" edge. Croyle imitated Jim Nabors as TV's "Gomer Pyle" on the song, Jambalaya, then did a "really big shoe" a la TV host host, Ed Sullivan, on Besame Mucho. Copeland then joined in on his imitation of crooner Vaughn Monroe's There! I've Said It Again, then Nat "King" Cole, and finally a very believable Don Cornell on I'm Yours. To conclude the parody, Croyle did his best falsetto take on Bill Kenny of The Ink Spots as Copeland took the deep bass part of Hoppy Jones on If I Didn't Care.

Opening each set was the power-packed Skyliners17-piece big band under the direction of John and Joey Mahoney, who were celebrating their 30th wedding anniversary. Part of the couple's merry making included a "schtick" where Joey came waltzing out on stage wearing her mother's wedding dress from 1936. They sang to each other a believable version the Nat "King" Cole opus, Unforgettable, as a couple still truly in love.

Later, the couple also sang a bouncy version of The Way You Look Tonight, while Joey was featured on her show piece tune, Orange Colored Sky. The band itself was in its element on a few swinging instrumentals from the Count Basie book and on Duke Ellington's It Don't Mean A Thing If It Ain't Got That Swing.

This is second time in four years that The Moderanires and Skyliners have performed together for PPAC audiences. And once again, the Skyliners rose to the occasion supporting the famed singing group with impeccable musical taste. Truly a fun evening of nostalgia.

"Jukebox Saturday Night 2006" is set to take place at the Paradise Performing Arts Center on Saturday, May 27, as the Skyliners join Marilyn King from the famed King Sisters singing group. For ticket information, log on the PPAC website at www.paradisedirect.com/ppac/

The Modernaires 1 The Modernaires 2 The Modernaires 3 The Modernaires 4 The Modernaires 5

Martha, Julie, Paula Martha, Julie, Paula Alan Copeland Paula Kelly, Jr. Martha Dickinson

Julie Dickinson Joe Croyle The Skyliners John and Joey Mahoney John and Joey Mahoney