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Montclair Women’s Big Band, Ellen Seeling Director featuring Linda Tillery & Allison MillerWednesday, November 8 • 8pmGreat American Music Hall
"The sight of 17 women swinging is a powerful thing." Program NotesThe first “Ladies Orchestra” was formed in Massachusetts in 1884, but it wasn’t until World War II that legions of women got the opportunity to display their instrumental prowess as the country’s men went off to battle. Under the direction of renowned bandleader Ellen Seeling, the long tradition of women’s big bands continues in the airtight musicianship and irresistible swing of the Montclair Women’s Big Band.
Seeling formed the band with producer Barbara Price in 1998 to give the Bay Area’s talented stock of female musicians a platform to show off their chops. The group features a repertoire of classic blues and jazz standards that provides plenty of room for its talented soloists, and plenty of opportunity for the audience to test out their dancing shoes. The MWBB has found a happy home—and sponsor—at the Montclair Women’s Cultural Arts Club in Oakland.
Tonight’s show features three special guests, all featured on the MWBB’s 2005 debut CD: Linda Tillery, Allison Miller and jazz and blues vocalist Pamela Rose, praised by the late Phil Elwood (see tribute, page 6) for her “sexy, soulful swing.” San Francisco native Tillery is a versatile vocalist who has worked with Bobby McFerrin, Boz Skaggs, and the Turtle Island String Quartet. She is also a talented session drummer and student of African-American roots music. Miller is a powerhouse percussionist, “the perfect composite, brawny and swinging where high-voltage propulsion was the appropriate choice, infinitely subtle with accents and timbres where sound and texture were demanded” (Los Angeles Times).
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