There used to be a tradition in this country. For graduation, a Big Band would play. The best one, the most famous was the Tommy Dorsey Big band. Anyone remembers that? Also, there was those big rings people would wear. You would exchange them with your Sweetheart. I don’t see anyone wearing them anymore. Have they disappear?
I was listening to Tommy Dorsey the other day, it was one disc on a Mosaic Box set. It was really good. The playing is superb, the arrangements interesting and very well executed. I understand why they were so popular. They would go from college to college, I suppose, by car or by train. Everyone bunking in the same sleeping wagon, friendship forming, card games played, advices shared about the music or about life. It must have been a blast!
Then you come to the small college town, you get set up on stage. There is the principal, the person in charge of the food, of the drinks, the one in charge of everything. It’s a beautiful day, I imagine. It’s always a beautiful day, because if it rains, you play in the gymnasium. You go through the ceremony. It’s not bad. But you’re not here for that. You’re here for the real good stuff, when people get to have fun and dance. That’s why you’ve got a swinging drummer. He’s going to get the feet of the crowd moving.
On stage you see everything that’s going on in the audience. You’ve got the best spot for that. There is the couple that finally gets together, maybe you witness the first kiss. There is the group of friends that’s laughing at everything, having the time of their life. There is the teachers or chaperone that keep a vigilant eye on the whole thing. There is the couple that are breaking up, the guy who drank too much and is becoming violent, the woman who drank to much and becoming sick. You see the good, the bad and the ugly.
I read it all in many books when I was in France. That’s one of the reason I wanted to come here. Unfortunately, as I arrived in the 90’s, that time of big bands for college graduation was a bygone era. Oh, well, that’s all right. I still have that CD from Tommy Dorsey. The rest, I can imagine it easily.
