Big Band, big fun

Think of it as the soundtrack of the Greatest Generation. The Big Band Era spanned the end of the Depression, helped win World War II and spawned the baby boom as people danced to “Stompin’ at the Savoy,” “Chattanooga Choo-Choo” and “Night Train,” and fell in love to “In the Mood,” “Moonlight in Vermont” and “Always.”

It was an era when the latest music was played live on the radio from palatial dance halls where revelers jitterbugged, fox-trotted and cha-chaed.

The Inland Northwest-based Tuxedo Junction Big Band brings the era to life while working to inspire the next generation of jazz musicians.

“People ask me all the time if Big Band music is coming back,” band leader and trombonist Ernie Carlson said. “I always tell them the same thing. It never left.”

The band has built a strong local following, playing at such events as First Night Spokane and the Spokane Valley Mayor’s Ball as well as private occasions.

“We’re kind of at a point where I end up turning down as many gigs as we accept,” manager/trombonist Bill Moore said. “That’s a nice position to be in.”

Part of what sets Tuxedo Junction apart from other professional big bands is the fact that none of the musicians are paid for playing. What money the band makes is either put back into the band or used to fund music scholarships for area high school seniors – preferably musicians interested in studying jazz.

“At first we didn’t want to advertise that fact,” Moore said. “For one reason, we wanted to get jobs based on how we played and not because we were using the money for scholarships. For another, we really didn’t want to get buried in a flood of applications.”

The band, which practices at Post Falls High School, annually shares the bill with the school’s stage band at Sentimental Journey, a big band dance and fund-raiser.

The band’s philanthropy doesn’t overshadow its musicianship.

Ernie Carlson, 58, who was born in Missoula, spent more than three decades as one of the top studio musicians in Los Angeles, playing behind such legends as Frank Sinatra, Barbra Streisand, Tony Bennett and Elvis Presley and on countless recordings and soundtracks for John Williams, Nelson Riddle and Henry Mancini, among many others.

Singer Judi Carlson, Ernie’s wife, also 58, started singing at Disneyland and went on to sing with the bands of Tex Beneke (originally a vocalist and saxophone player for Glenn Miller), Harry James, Ray Anthony, Les Brown, Tommy and Jimmy Dorsey and was a member of The Modernaires.

Two members of the trumpet section are doctors: Pete Obligato of Hayden Lake and Bob Leatherwood of Coeur d’Alene. Lead trumpeter, Albert Einstein Lassiter, works for the city of Liberty Lake when he’s not firing off solos.

Lassiter worked up an arrangement of “The Davenport Waltz,” a piece written originally for the hotel more than 75 years ago, for the grand reopening of the hotel. The sweet waltz remains in the band’s repertoire.

“We have a number of music teachers in the band,” Moore said. “And we like to have local high school musicians sit in when we practice so they can get a feel for what we do.”

It’s an experience that cannot be duplicated.

“There is something incredible about singing in front of a big band,” Judi Carlson said. “You have this great sound behind you and people in front of you dancing and enjoying what you’re doing. I love it.”

When the pair left Los Angeles and moved to Coeur d’Alene four years ago, Tuxedo Junction was already formed. Adding the Carlsons brought the sheet music to life.

“It’s not just music to Ernie and Judi,” Moore explained. “They’re both great musicians, but they have that connection to the music. They’ve lived this music. The rest of us have just played it.”

Still, the band is a family, Ernie Carlson said.

“If you’re a member of this band, you’re always going to be a member of this band until you decide to leave,” he said. “We’re all in this together and we’re all in this to have fun and get better.”

And have fun, they do.

“What we try to do is create an energy on stage and transmit that to the audience,” Judi Carlson said. “If we’re having fun, they’re going to have fun. And if they’re having fun, that makes it that much more fun for us. It builds like that and takes on a life of its own.”

Once people see the fun the band has, they offer to sit in whenever Tuxedo Junction needs a fill in – even after they find out the band only covers expenses.

“The only time we have ever paid a musician is when we were desperate to get someone to fill-in for a job,” Moore said. “For as long as I’ve been a member of this band, I have never gotten paid for a job. The band has covered my expenses, but I’ve never gotten paid.

“And I like it that way.”

“This is what we do to have fun,” Judi Carlson said. “Ernie and I are still professional musicians and we still make a living, but Tuxedo Junction is about having fun.”