Main Street Live ends Friday with Big Band Sound
The Main Street Live Concert Series wraps up Friday night with the tunes of O.J. Cummins’ Big Band Sound on the West Lawn of Security Federal at 7 p.m.
The Big Band Sound is a 21-piece swing band. The group plays an average of 18 private and public performances throughout the year. These performances include monthly engagements on the second Saturday of every month at the Fairfield Glade Civic Center in Fairfield Glade, Tenn.
Cummins not only founded the group in 1996 but is also currently the band leader. “Music has always been an avocation, not a vocation with me,” Cummins said when asked about his music career.
The program will include 36 musical items with such favorites as “Taste Of Honey,” “Summertime,” “Stompin’ At The Savoy,” “New York, New York,” “That’s Life” and “It Don’t Mean A Thing, If It Ain’t Got That Swing.”
Along with the swing band, singers Lloyd Holt of Cookeville and Wanda Hepburn of Crossville will narrate the program and sing 12 tunes throughout the show.
In late July, Cummins also had the chance to bring his smaller group The Four Horns to the Main Street Live concert series. This concert consisted of contemporary jazz selections.
“My 4-horns, hi-tech group recently played at McMinnville for the Main Street organization and the people really enjoyed my kind of music,” Cummins said. “They will really get a treat to hear and dance to the big band sound orchestra.”
Within the 21-piece band, there is only one McMinnville native to play in the group. This member is trumpeter Mike Chilcutt. Chilcutt, a retired band director, also plays trumpet in The Four Horns.
Aside from playing piano and creating the group The Big Band Sound, Cummins also arranges music and plays many other instruments such as the drums, clarinet and tenor saxophone. He has also played in many other groups throughout his 55-year stint and created groups such as the Ohio Jazz Society, a 20-piece orchestra, in Dayton in 1970. “Life would really be dull without music,” Cummins said.
More information on Cummins and The Big Band Sound can be seen on their Web site at www.bigbandsound.org.
O.J. Cummins’ Big Band Sound will take the stage Friday night at 7 p.m. at the West Lawn of Security Federal. The event is free and sponsored by Ben Lomand TV, Clear Channel Radio and the Southern Standard, your source for local news.