Hot Tomatoes Dance Orchestra lights up the stage on Sunday afternoon

The swinging music of the big band era held court for listeners and dancers from the 1930s and 1940s, when every major city had a multitude of dance halls and auditoriums where fans could dance the night away to this infectious music. Tommy Dorsey, Benny Goodman, Count Basie, Duke Ellington and Colorado’s own Glenn Miller were just a few of the famous road bands bringing their music to the cheering crowds.

Sunday afternoon, Feb. 16, brought back memories of those bygone days when Denver’s swinging Hot Tomatoes Dance Orchestra rolled into town for the second concert in the Phillips County Arts Council’s 2019/2020 season. An excited crowd of 200 listeners at the Holyoke High School auditorium were treated to a sampling of some of the classic songs from the big-band era.

The concert kicked off with Benny Goodman’s “Don’t Be That Way,” the first song at Goodman’s famous Carnegie Hall concert in 1938, and the afternoon was off to a roaring start. The band covered some of the most celebrated songs of the era: Dorsey’s “Song of India” with trombonist Wade Sanders recreating Dorsey’s soaring trombone solo, Goodman’s theme song “Let’s Dance” with clarinetist Rich Chiaraluce displaying his mastery of the instrument, Ellington’s “Perdido” featuring a tour de force trumpet solo by Al Hood, and Arty Shaw’s arrangement of Hoagy Carmichael’s classic “Star Dust” featuring superb solos by pianist Doug Roche, clarinetist Rich Maul, and Kevin Bollinger on trumpet.

Joining the Hot Tomatoes on stage was guest vocalist and longtime band member Joe Hall. Hall retired from the Hot Tomatoes in 2009 and is currently a resident in the Holyoke area.

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