The Commodores provided the big band magic for the Black Tie Gala held at the Kiwanis Centre in Madoc on September 27. The orchestra has been providing music from the big band era for 80 years. Musical favourites by the likes of Guy Lombardo, Glenn Miller, Tommy Dorsey and Benny Goodman were heard during the evening. Photo: Cindy Redding

By Cindy Redding
Madoc -The Kiwanis Club in Madoc was transformed into elegance on September 27 during the Black Tie Gala event. Many Cinderellas danced the night away with their Prince Charmings to music reminiscent of a bygone era.

The Commodores orchestra has provided big band magic for 80 years and the moment dinner was over the ladies and gentleman quickly moved to the dance floor. The 17-piece band played some wonderful old favourites like Sentimental Journey, Me and my Gal, In the Mood and Only You.

The beautiful gowns and elegant tuxedos completed the transformation into this gala event making it an amazing night and something everyone would like to do again.
Decorations for the evening were completed by Eugene and Teresa Guenette and Nancy Sawkins with Kelly DeClair donating the rose bowls and Gord Johnston donating the balloons.

The dinner was a tasty delight complete with shrimp cocktails, Caesar salad and roast beef with chocolate cheese cake to top it off. The Youth Foundation volunteers served the dinner while the complete gourmet meal was prepared by Paul McComb.

Continuing on their green program the Kiwanis not only use bio-degradable garbage bags and corn beverage cups but the wine for the evening was in environmentally friendly packaging. The wine was donated by Coldwell Banker Real Estate, Jamie Troke and Jim Denison.

The round table settings made for cosy visits amongst friends with guests coming from all over the region including Hugh and Glenna Mitchell from Oak Ridges. This couple has taken a real interest in this community and the fund raising for the medical centre. The long-time friends of Tom Simpson even sold 100 tickets for the car draw. Maybe before long Tom will have them convinced into moving to Madoc so they will not have to commute in order to enjoy the luxuries found in the community of Centre Hastings.

In attendance were MP Daryl Kramp, Centre Hastings Reeve Tom Deline, Deputy-reeve Tom Simpson, Councillor Shelby Kramp-Neuman, Councillor Dave Schulz and their families.
Being wined and dined in such an elegant manner was wonderful for Tina and Rick Wilmore from local business Paws Fur Effect. Although having travelled extensively, they had not been sure what the evening would be like but said, "This has been a night to remember."

Organiser Cliff Derry said, "This has been a fantastic evening and we hope to be able to do this again next year."
The proceeds for the evening were all being presented to the Tri-Area Medical Centre. The Kiwanis made a donation to the fund-raising committee in the amount of $5,000 during the evening.

Well-known musician and businessman dies at 82

Posted By By Luke Hendry

Bruce Parsons was part businessman, part musician, but entirely a people person.

Mr. Parsons died Friday night at his Belleville home, just one week after his 82nd birthday.

"He was Mr. Personality," said Margaret Wiggins, whose late husband Stan spent many years playing trumpet with Mr. Parsons in the Belleville-based Commodores' Orchestra.

"He was wonderful. He was like a dad to me," niece Gail Rollins of Belleville said Monday.

Mr. Parsons was a city native who about 50 years ago founded Parsons Cleaners and Launderers.

"He was a great man to work for," bookkeeper Joyce Fish said Monday. "He was very easy-going, very generous. He was well-loved by his staff."

She noted some staff have worked there for decades, but were too upset Monday to comment.

"He enjoyed working; he enjoyed his music," Rollins said.

Mr. Parsons wife Ellen, known better as Betty, died in 2005. They were married 57 years.

"They were a pair that don't come along every day," Rollins said. "They thoroughly enjoyed people. "The light was always on in the window for anybody."

Rollins said even when she dropped in to see him at his shop, "he always had time; always had a kiss and a hug when I went in."

Mr. Parsons began playing trumpet while still in elementary school. It was there that he met Stan Wiggins; both learned trumpet from teacher Alf Cooper.

Though he was also a golfer and curler, Mr. Parsons was a dedicated, busy musician. In addition to the Commodores' Orchestra, he played in such bands as the Men of Note, Quinte Living Centre band, Quinte Brass, 8 Wing Concert Band and the Concert Brass.

"Bruce was really enthusiastic and passionate about music, especially with young people," friend Margaret Wiggins said.

Mr. Parsons taught private trumpet lessons in his home.

One of his students, Blair Yarranton, would eventually play with him in the Commodores' lineup.

"He was really thrilled when young people progressed at it," Wiggins said.

"He was a very generous, friendly soul. He was always very positive. After Stan died he was up to see me quite a few times, because he felt the loss like I did. Very thoughtful."

John Mitchell, the eldest Commodore, first met Mr. Parsons around 1940.

"He was playing trumpet and I was starting on the saxophone, and we got to know each other," Mitchell said Monday.

"He was always happy, never worrying about anything," Mitchell said.

Andy Sparling, the Commodores' leader, speaks reverently of Mr. Parsons.

"The buzz in the music community over his loss is incredible," said Sparling, who knew Mr. Parsons for about 21 years. "He got a chance in the last two or three years to play lead trumpet in the Commodores, and he loved that."

"Bruce was 82 going on 20. He was the most open-minded elderly person I ever met. Always interested in learning. I've never known anyone like him for being so good-hearted and open to ideas."

Sparling said Mr. Parsons' love of learning showed itself whether he was talking about a science report he'd read in a magazine or a piece of music.

"He was never old, ever," Sparling said. "I always marvelled at his ability to stay young."

Fellow musician John Mitchell summarized Mr. Parsons and his life simply.

"He loved everybody and everybody loved him, and that's the main thing."

Bruce Parsons' wake will be held from 6 -9 p.m. Wednesday at Steele Funeral Home, 30 Moira St. W. The funeral service by Padre Sid Horne is slated for 11 a.m. Thursday. A reception at Bay of Quinte Yacht Club follows.

lhendry@intelligencer.ca

Orchestra celebrates 80th anniversary

Posted By LUKE HENDRY, THE INTELLIGENCER

There are bands with staying power, and then there is the Commodores' Orchestra.

This year the Belleville big band is celebrating its 80th anniversary and will perform two public concerts this month; the first is Sunday in Belleville.

"Each year we think, 'Oh, God, is this going to be the last one?' And something comes along to keep us playing," said Andy Sparling, the trombone player who recently replaced Doug Aselstine as the band's leader. Aselstine remains with the group on first tenor sax.

The orchestra's main audience has aged and the band now plays only about seven gigs a year, but Sparling said fans still want to hear the big-band sound.

It was 1928 when the orchestra played its first gig at the opening of the Bay of Quinte Country Club. Sparling said it began as "a very sweet dancing band."

"Once the war came and the big band era got going, it took on more of a swing feel. The tastes changed and the kids got involved. It was hugely popular with the teenagers in the 1930s and early '40s."

The Commodores became one of the area's most popular musical acts, playing the day's biggest hits to packed crowds of dancing youth.

"Jazz was the same as popular music, and it's never been that way since," said Sparling.

Belleville's John Mitchell was an ex-soldier who sat in with the orchestra during its concerts at Queen's University in Kingston. In 1946, he became a regular Commodore.

"We were just like a family. We didn't mix socially together too much, but the band was part of our life. We had to work together and enjoy it."

Mitchell said the band was a mix of younger and older players -- though nobody had yet reached middle age.

"The oldest at that time was around 40 years old -- Frank Howard," Mitchell said. The youngest was Aselstine, who at age 14 joined the band.

"We had a lot of friends. Young people used to come to the dance nearly every night if we played," Mitchell said.

"We played Tuesday, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday nights every week. We rehearsed Sunday mornings from 10 until whenever we stopped, probably around 1.

"We had our own hall and we stayed there."

That hall was Club Commodore,

a building on the grounds of what is now the Quinte Bay Gymnastics Club on the northeast corner of Bridge and Sidney streets.

Concerts there could draw about 400 people, he said.

"New Year's Eve it would be sold out. People'd be phoning, wanting tickets, and we couldn't give them to them. They'd be mad."

For a while, musicians came from Peterborough to Kingston to Cobourg to play as Commodores.

"We've made a conscious decision in the last few years to keep more local players so we can rehearse regularly," Sparling said. They now practise monthly.

Many players remained in the orchestra for years, even decades. Sparling said one trumpeter who led the band was crucial to its survival.

"Stan Wiggins kept this thing going for so long until his death in 2003," said Sparling.

Wiggins was both a talented musician and a bandleader whose extensive list of contacts meant the band always had somewhere to play.

"It was really impossible to replace him," Sparling said.

Today the band's youngsters are in their 30s, but Sparling said it's becoming more difficult to find new members.

"Music programs have taken such a hit in the high schools that we're not sure where the horn players are coming from to replace us," he said. "You just don't see the music programs with that kind of scope and depth."

Though a few still provide the experience necessary to join a band such as the Commodores, he said, students tend to end up in modern jazz programs or other post-secondary courses that don't offer the style of music played by the Commodores.

There is also a lack of stars playing the instruments used in the orchestra, he said. In the 1970s, for example, bands such as Lighthouse kept horn sections popular. "You don't see horn players that

kids can emulate anymore." The current orchestra has 17

members, including vocalist JoAnne Conley. Belleville saxophonist Dan Bone will also sit in with the band at this Sunday's show.

Sparling said audiences at this month's concerts can expect to hear plenty of big-band hits plus newer material.

"We'll be playing the true old standards -- In the Mood, Sentimental Journey, Begin the Beguine, Satin Doll -- plus we're going to be venturing into some of the new brass rock stuff that Buddy Rich did in the '60s and we have some songs from the '70s."

Sunday's performance is part of the Belleville Lions Club's Concerts on the Bay series and runs from 6:30-8:30 p. m. at the West Zwicks Island Park bandshell.

The band also performs Sunday, July 20 at 6:30 p. m. at Trenton's Ted Snider Stage.

Posted By LUKE HENDRY, THE INTELLIGENCER

Few 90-year-olds can swing like John Mitchell.



Since 1946, the city native and saxophonist has been a regular member of the Commodores' Orchestra.

This year the city's favourite big band turns 80, and this December, Mitchell turns 91. Mitchell also practises weekly with Trenton's 8 Wing Concert Band, and when the Commodores perform at 6:30 p. m. July 20 at Trenton's Centennial Park, he and his sax will be there.

"When I feel I'm not doing what I should be able to do, I'll quit," Mitchell said in an interview in his kitchen.

But after about 70 years of playing, he's not quite ready to stop.

Mitchell said his parents weren't musical, but his sister, Dorothy, "was a natural on the piano" and for years played in the Salvation Army band.
Around 1937, John decided to return to school to take a technical course. While at Belleville Collegiate Institute and Vocational School, he also started learning music, starting on soprano saxophone.

"I just wanted to play some kind of instrument," he said. "That's what they gave me. Once you get the feeling for swing music it just takes over, and when you're in a band you're just like a family. You have to work together so closely.

"You sure make a lot of friends through music."

He saved $35 from his summer job; it was enough to buy an alto sax from a Toronto pawn shop. Eventually he could play both saxes and clarinet.
"Five or six of us would come home to practise," he recalled. "My mother said, 'I know where they are; I know know what they're doing ... I don't mind a bit.' She was very good to us. Some families were the same."
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When war came, he joined the army's Royal Canadian Corps of Signals and served in Kingston from 1940 to 1946. The unit had its own band.

"They broke the band up several times to go overseas but I was always underweight and they wouldn't take me," he said.

Upon leaving the army, Mitchell was still playing, and joined the Commodores officially.

Mitchell and a few bandmates winterized a building on the city's fairgrounds and the band had a new home: Club Commodore. In the early post-war years they played to crowds of hundreds of young people, often four nights a week.

"We always kept too big a band to make any money," he said with a chuckle, but added it was still a good part-time job.

The club also brought in bigger- name bands such as that led by Toronto's Mark Kenney, who had a national profile.

But to Mitchell's disappointment, the swing craze didn't last.

"The kids started getting married and raising families. It was starting to be the end of the dance hall business.

"I always hoped the kids would come back to dance to big-band swing music, but they haven't, and I don't think they ever will now.

"From 1965 it's been just come and go, but we always manage to keep going."

He said Commodores leader Jimmy Cathcart "kept the band going in the lean years."

Mitchell worked at Belleville's Northern Electric, now Nortel, for 30 years. There he met his wife, Merle.

After retiring they spent 17 years in Florida, where Mitchell played in a community band and had a stint in a college dance band. But when the Mitchells returned to Canada, John went back to the Commodores.
"There's no stopping him," Merle said with a smile. "I wouldn't stop him anyway. I love music too."

Andy Sparling, the Commodores' new leader, is almost baffled when asked to describe Mitchell.

"The guy can still bring it. It's unbelievable," said Sparling. "He's the heart of the band. He's in the band because he deserves to be. I've never seen anything like it.

"You would think he was 20 years old or 30 years old because of the power," said Sparling.

Ron Jeffery plays first (lead) alto sax in the 8 Wing band; Mitchell plays second alto.

"No question about it, the vibrato sound that John has is uniquely a Commodore sound," said Jeffery. "If you hear any of their tapes or CDs, it comes right through, and it's a nice sweet sound.

"I don't think there's a musician in the area that can say anything bad about him," said Jeffery. "He can outblow anybody, and he does it with ease."
But the humble Mitchell down-plays his abilities.

"I wouldn't say that," he said. "To play it with a nice tone and everything takes a lot of practice, that's all."

When Mitchell turned 80, he and Jeffery made a deal: upon his 90th birthday, Mitchell would switch to playing first alto.

"When I got to 90, we decided to change it to 100," Mitchell said with a mischievous smile. "So I'm still waiting."