Shout Section Big Band combines swing-era songs with retrofitted modern hits
Some of the musicians may change for each performance but one thing that remains the same with Shout Section Big Band is its popularity with fans of jazz.
The professional jazz group performs April 3 at Roxy Lockport in Lockport, Illinois, and April 7 for PortageLIVE! at Woodland Park Community Center’s Oakwood Hall in Portage, Indiana.
“We’re going to primarily play the higher-energy swing music of the 1930s and ‘40s by artists like Count Basie, Duke Ellington and Ella Fitzgerald,” said Brett Dean, director of Shout Section Big Band.
“I always like ‘Take the “A” Train’ because there’s such a unique pedigree to that song written by Billy Strayhorn.
The version we play was created by Ernie Wilkins, the arranger for Count Basie and Harry James.
“Big band music is fun music. It’s the music that got our country through the Great Depression and World War II. There’s a reason for that. It’s so upbeat and has a vitality to it.”
Shout Section Big Band also adapts modern songs.
“It’s impossible not to want to dance when you hear this music,” said Dean, a native of Beecher, Illinois, who now lives in St. Charles, Illinois.
“People will like the authentic music we play and some of the modern hits retrofitted to sound like they come from that period. For example, we do Meghan Trainor’s ‘All About That Bass’ and retro arrange it to sound like it comes from the 1940s.
“We’ve got some songs by Huey Lewis and Queen that we’ve retro arranged to sound like they would fit in with Count Basie and Duke Ellington.”
Shout Section Big Band’s creativity led to one of its recordings being featured on Season 8 of “The Vampire Diaries” in the 2016 episode “The Next Time I Hurt Somebody, It Could Be You.”
“They were looking for a particular arrangement of ‘Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas’ that was hard to find. They discovered through the internet that we had that arrangement. They asked if they could use our recording of it. We jumped at that and thought it would be great,” Dean said.
“There’s a flashback that starts the episode. Right when they cut to present day the characters are all preparing for a Christmas party and you can hear our music clear as day. There’s not much going on over the top of it.”
Shout Section Big Band, which performed for a crowd of swing dancers in 2019 at Fountain Square Theatre in Indianapolis, began in 2007 after Dean completed graduate school at Illinois Wesleyan University in Bloomington, Illinois.
“At the time we were mostly teachers. We wanted to basically practice what we preach. We wanted to continue to play, continue to try to get better and continue to try to reach the next level,” said Dean, who plays trumpet.
“Over time original members moved on. Word-of-mouth filled in empty positions. The band kept getting better and better to the point where today probably only a third of us are teachers. The rest are pro musicians or have other careers.
“What’s really important to me is to find musicians who are also good people and fun to work with.”
Musicians from the Chicagoland and the Region are part of Shout Section Big Band.
“They’re some of the top swing and big band musicians. I always learn a little bit each time playing with them,” he said.
“There’s something for everyone. You’re going to hear classic big band music. You’re going to hear our trademark retro arrangements that are pretty much exclusive to our band. We make it all work in a big band format.”
Shout Section Big Band, which Dean said has played at University of Notre Dame yearly since approximately 2013, released “Lead the Way” in September.
The 14-track album, which was completed with sound engineers Jake Bronson and Fred Breitberg, combines in-studio recordings with work done remotely and sent via email.
“I was blown away at the result. It sounds like we were all present in the same room together recording this,” Dean said.
“I don’t think it’s possible to tell the difference between live performance and what we all did with 15 of us sending these tracks in separately and assembling it after the fact. It turned out great.”