Swinging and Singing

It’s time to get all jazzed up and into the swing of things as The Richard Reiter Swing Band brings the sounds of big band music to Princeton this afternoon (Saturday, July 16) for a summer concert.

Songs made famous by the likes of Benny Goodman and Glenn Miller will fill the air when Reiter’s group takes stage at Palmer Square on July 16. The band features Reiter playing clarinet and sax, lead singer Tricia Slafta, Bob Quaranta on piano, Bob Funesti on bass and Matt Patuto on drums.

“It’s not a big band, it’s a swing band playing big band music,” Reiter says.

Reiter is 64 years and grew up listening to all kinds of music, rock ‘n’ roll, swing and modern jazz. After becoming a professional musician, he got very close to the great big band musicians.

“I was playing with people who played with Benny Goodman and Artie Shaw and so forth,” he says. “I was really getting trained by working with these musicians. So I was very familiar with the music, but I also straddle rock and roll, and jazz-rock and all that.”

He built a successful career, writing music for television movies, recording and performing original music and even winning an Emmy. In the 1980s, he got a gig playing swing music, along with singer Tricia Slafta. And to say he liked Slafta’s voice is something of an understatement.

“She was an amazing singer,” he says. “So I took a leap because I realized, these concerts I was doing, I saw in the audience a lot of older people. (And I knew) they would really love swing music, and I loved the music, and it would get me a lot more work.”

That plan has worked because he and Slafta have been playing together for 25 years. Reiter designed the band around Slafta, and that was a risky move because making another musician a vital component to a band can make things complicated, particularly bookings if there are scheduling conflicts.

“Whenever you get your next performance, you may find half the people are tied up doing other things,” he says. “So here I was taking a risk making it a band built around Tricia.”

But things have worked out because Slafta, he says, wasn’t looking to become famous and wanted to stay close to home to raise a family.

“She happens to be one of the best singers in the whole area,” he says. “Well, to me, the whole country, I just think she’s amazing.”

Some of the songs Reiter and his group will play include George Gershwin’s “Summertime” and “Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy.” Another favorite is “Sing, Sing, Sing (With a Swing),” which was written by Louis Prima and made famous by Benny Goodman. That number is a workout even for a large ensemble, but Reiter says his musicians are up to the solos that define it.

“Sing, Sing, Sing (With a Swing)” holds special memories for Reiter because he performed the clarinet solo from it on stage in the 1970s musical “Dancin’.” 

“I had to memorize Benny Goodman’s solo and play it, a big feature solo on stage,” Reiter says. “I was kind of like a star without being a star.”

Reiter also brings some interesting twists to some of the songs, including an arrangement of the Gershwin classic “I Got Rhythm.” The chord progressions on the song are the basis for many bebop songs include “Oleo” by Sonny Rollins. During concerts, Reiter plays “Oleo,” while Slafta sings Ira Gershwin’s lyrics.

“I feel like I’m the first person to combine the two,” Reiter says. “I’m always joking, 'If someone else did this, I don’t want to know.' I want to pretend I’m the first.”

Playing this music for so long has only deepened Reiter’s love of it.

“You have the melodies, they speak for themselves and they’re just amazing,” he says. “But then the harmonies, the chords, people probably take that for granted. They see somebody playing the piano and think, OK, there’s the harmony.

“But it creates another world because a lot of what we do, of course, is improvising, the solos and things we play while she’s singing the melodies is a whole other dimension. I’ve played these songs for 45 years… and I never get tired of them, never. The melodies are so incredible and the harmonies are so incredible that you can keep the depth of the material.”

The Richard Reiter Swing Band will perform on the Green at Palmer Square in Princeton today, Saturday, July 16, from 2 to 4 p.m. Bring a blanket or lawn chair. The concert is part of Palmer Square’s Summer Music Series.

Other concerts in the series include Chuck Schaeffer (country) on July 23; Sandy Zio (originals and eclectic covers) on July 30; The Kootz (indie rock originals and covers) on Aug. 6; The Alice Project (covers and originals) on Aug. 13; the Erick Mintel Quartet (jazz) on Aug. 20 and BD Lenz (jazz) on Aug. 27. Concerts are free. For information, visit www.palmersquare.com.