Hanover blasts to the past with Platters, Harry James.

Byline: Peter Landsdowne

COLUMN: MUSIC REVIEW

WORCESTER - Close to 500 music fans got a chance to bask in nostalgia Saturday night at The Hanover Theatre for the Performing Arts as the Harry James Orchestra took the crowd for a trip back in time to the swing era. The latest incarnation of The Platters, one of the most successful doo-wop groups of the early 1950s, also performed, getting the nostalgiafest in gear with a well-received opening set.

Trumpeter Harry James was one of the most popular members of Benny Goodman's classic swing band in the 1930s. James was in his early 20s when he formed his own big band in 1939 and started churning out the hits. By 1942, James' orchestra was the reigning big band in America and took a back seat to no one, including Goodman, Glenn Miller and the Dorsey brothers. James led the band up until his death in 1983 at the age of 67. Fred Radke, James' last lead trumpeter, took over the leadership of the band in 1989.

Trumpeter Radke emerged from stage left to the strains of Benny Goodman's "Don't Be That Way," a brief nod to James' stint with Goodman, before a segue into "Ciriciribin," one of James' many hits. What followed was a heartfelt tribute to the late trumpeter, with a special nod to the many musical contributions he made to American popular music during World War II.

Trumpeter Radke did his James thing on a tender version of the ballad, "You'll Never Know," gracing the standard with the fat sound and the wide vibrato that served as the late trumpeter's hallmarks. Radke explained that James was once married to the actress Betty Grable, and usually had her in mind when he played this song. A typical big band of three trumpeters, two trombonists, four saxophonists, and a pianist, bassist and drummer backed up Radke with aplomb on this and all of the other selections in the set.

James was a big fan of other big band leaders and often paid tribute to them in one form or another. Thus, Ernie Wilkins' arrangement of Frank Foster's "Shiny Stockings" deftly mirrored Foster's arrangement of the same tune for Count Basie's band, while an outing on "Take the A Train," Duke Ellington's theme song, paid tribute to that leader. Trumpeter Radke sounded fine on both tunes and played some juicy James-influenced jazz trumpet solos on each selection.

Fans of James' original instrumentals weren't left out, as Radke went way back to 1942 for "James Session," which the original Harry James Orchestra first played in the movie "Private Buckaroo" from the same year. Drummer Nick Caputo got the instrumental percolating with some deft tom-tom work before Radke chimed in with yet another James-inspired trumpet solo. The band countered with some impeccably played call-and-response patterns before Radke capped off the tune with a long high note.

James had the knack of hiring unknown singers and turning them into stars, something he did with a young singer from New Jersey whom he wanted to call Frankie Satin. Frank Sinatra said no to that stage name even as he recorded his first hits with the James band. Curiously, Radke didn't make much of the James-Sinatra connection and instead focused on the many hits that vocalists such as Helen Forrest recorded with the James band.

With New York-based singer Barbara Rosene handling the vocals, Radke led the band through some of James' greatest hits, punctuating the proceedings with his own wailing trumpet solos. The crowd responded positively to Ms. Rosene's singing on ballads ranging from "I Had the Craziest Dream" to "I Cried for You," and stayed in a receptive mood for her singing on perkier stuff such as "I Don't Want to Walk Without You" and "I've Heard That Song Before."

The band did some of its best playing on a set-ending "Two O'Clock Jump," the James band's theme song and an out-and-out tribute to Count Basie's "One O'Clock Jump." The band's brass and reed sections contributed some lively call-and-response riffs, Ted Casher played a honking and stomping tenor saxophone solo, and Radke soared into his trumpet's upper register before drummer Caputo ended the romp with a crashing and bashing drum solo that garnered a standing ovation from an appreciative crowd.

The latest incarnation of The Platters (singers Sam White, Larry Hines, and Sonya Ruggles backing up lead singer Wendell Noble) almost stole the show with a dynamic opening set that combined certifiable Platters hits with material by other early rock pioneers such as Jackie Wilson ("Higher and Higher") and The Shirelles ("Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow"). Surely doo-wop fans know by now that this group isn't the original Platters from the early 1950s, but that fact simply didn't matter to Saturday night's crowd. Lead singer Noble was in particularly fine fettle, easily venturing into the falsetto range on such certifiable Platters hits as "Only You," "Twilight Time" and "Smoke Gets in Your Eyes," as the other three singers backed him with seamless harmonies full of the doo-wahs, doo-wees and similar vocalizations that characterized early doo-wop. Surprisingly, the group scored a standing ovation of its own on a non-Platters hit, a cover of the early rock anthem "Shake, Rattle and Roll."

ART: PHOTO

CUTLINE: The Platters get the audience warmed up Saturday night.

PHOTOG: STEVE LANAVA