Spitfire Band

ARTICLE CONTENTS:  |  Bibliography  |  Links to Other Sites
Spitfire Band. Toronto dance band, formed in 1981 as a studio orchestra by the singer Jackie Rae, with the trumpeter Mickey Erbe as music director and arranger and the trombonist Laurie Bower as vocal arranger. With the success of its first LPs, The Spitfire Band (RCA KKL1-0432) and Flight II (RCA KKL1-0449), it began to perform publicly in 1982, making its debut in St Catharines, Ont, and giving the first of many concerts at Ontario Place. Rae has served as featured vocalist and master of ceremonies, and Erbe as bandleader. After a Christmas album that year, Home for the Holidays (RCA EP-102), it had LPs issued 1983-5 by Columbia (Flight III, PCC-80008; A Sentimental Journey, PCC-80097; In Flight, PCC-80106) and later by Attic (Swings Down Broadway, LAT-1230; Swinging the Movies, LAT-1234). A compilation, The Make Believe Ballroom (Qual RSPD-205), was issued in 1990.

Other public engagements have included many fund-raising events, performances at the CNE Bandshell, Roy Thomson Hall, the NAC, Lincoln Center (New York), and several appearances, as well as a residency 1988-9, at the Imperial Room of Toronto's Royal York Hotel. Initially the band's repertoire comprised Erbe's updates of swing-era classics ('Marie,' 'Tuxedo Junction,' 'In the Mood,' 'Pennsylvania 6-5000,' 'I'll Never Smile Again', etc) but came on record to include movie and Broadway themes, and other pop material. Personnel is not listed on the band's LPs but has included musicians from Toronto's jazz and studio circles - eg, trumpeters Arnie Chycoski, John MacLeod, and Dave Woods, saxophonists Bob D'Angelis, Steve Lederer, and Jack Zaza, and trombonists Bower and Bob Livingston.


Bibliography

Grealis, Walt. 'Spitfire Band becomes nostalgic giant,' RPM, 16 Oct 1982

Miller, Mark. 'The Spitfire Band wings its way to musical success,' Toronto Globe and Mail, 25 Oct 1982

Miller, Jack. 'Former Spitfire air ace now time-machine hotshot,' Toronto Star, 26 Oct 1982


Links to Other Sites
John MacLeod
A profile of Canadian jazz musician John MacLeod from the Faculty of Music, University of Toronto.

Spitfire Band
Listen to audio clips featuring the swinging sound of the Spitfire Band. An ARB Productions website.

0
0
Absolutely free, with over 40,000 articles in French and English, The Canadian Encyclopedia is the ultimate online resource for all things Canadian, from history, sports, arts, science, technology, and much, much more. Get started at www.TheCanadianEncyclopedia.com
Feature Articles
Shawnadithit: Last of the Beothuk

Shawnadithit grew anxious waiting for her uncle, Longnon, to return to camp at the junction of Badger Brook and the Exploits River, deep in the wilds of Newfoundland...

INSIDE TCE

Gallery
Browse the rich visual resources of The Canadian Encyclopedia through thematic galleries of Canadian Art, History, Nature, People, and Science and Technology.
Interactive Resources
Illustrations, lively text, animations, sounds and games help make learning about Canadian history, art, geography, architecture and other topics entertaining as well as informative.
Canucklehead
The ultimate test of your knowledge of Canada, trivial and otherwise. You can choose from more than 60 dynamic quizzes with visual or text clues. Your scores depend on the speed with which you answer and the number of clues you need. Results are sent to you by email and high scores are posted on the site.
Timeline
This unique resource includes more than 6000 events from Canadian and world history. It can be searched by era, subject, keyword or date. To find out what happened on your birthday, select the month and day of your birth.
100 Greatest Events
This selection of the 100 "greatest" events in Canadian history was made by editor in chief James H. Marsh to draw attention to events that have left an indelible memory in the minds of later generations.