AC Swing carries on tradition

NEW BREMEN - The sounds of big band music made popular by Glenn Miller and other past band leaders will fill the air Sunday night at the Crown Pavilion as the AC Swing band puts the audience in the mood for a good time.

AC Swing will wrap up the season for the Golden Triangle Summer Concert Series with a free concert set to begin at 6:30 p.m. The pavilion is located on Plum Street, just west of state Route 66.

The day's events will also feature a community picnic coordinated by New Bremen churches. The free meal will begin at 5:30 p.m. A bouncy gym and games will be available for children. The meal and concert are open to the public.

AC Swing is under the direction of Scott Kuenning, 59, of New Bremen, who has been with the band since it began in 1996.

Kuenning, whose wife, Linda, and son, Rob, also play in the 20-member band, said he has been captivated by big band music since he was in high school.

"I've always been partial to the Glenn Miller Orchestra," Kuenning said, with the late band leader's "In the Mood" being one of his favorites.

"I don't care who you are or how old you are, you cannot help but to like 'In the Mood,' " he said.

"There have been a lot of good big bands," Kuenning said. "Second to him (Miller) would be the slow ballads of Duke Ellington."

The rich sound of the big bands from the 1930s and '40s stands apart from the music that has followed in decades since, according to Kuenning.

"You can take a guitar and drum and make a song, but if you have 20 horns playing in harmony, that's music," Kuenning said. "Unfortunately, it's almost a thing of the past," he said of big band music.

Kuenning said members of AC Swing, a dozen of whom have been with the band since its inception, are committed to continuing the big band legacy.

"We all play for the same exact reason, we love music. It's not about the money. None of the band members get paid," he said.

Kuenning noted the band does get paid for performing at various civic events, dances, weddings or private parties, but "that money goes into a kitty." He said the money is used to pay for expenses. "A couple times a year I'll give them (band members) a hundred bucks for gas."

The band, which has members from a number of area communities, performs about seven to 10 times year, according to Kuenning.

In addition to the instrumental sounds, AC Swing also has vocalists. Sue Backs performs the female vocals, while Kuenning handles the male vocals.

Kuenning said he has added some Frank Sinatra songs to the band's playlist in recent years.

While most of the band's music is drawn from the golden era, Kuenning said they also play a few more modern numbers from artists such as Elvis Presley and The Beatles.

"The last couple of years we have started to pull in some of the music from Elvis from the 1960s," he said, adding that the band also plays the rock classic "Stairway to Heaven."

"If someone had told me a few years ago that I would play Led Zeppelin, I would have said 'I don't think so,' " he said.

As a new touch for the year's closing concert, a community choir has been organized to sing while backed up by the band.

Playing at the Crown Pavilion is special for the band members, because the pavilion was previously located in Russells Point, where the top-notch big bands had performed in the 1930s and '40s, Kuenning said.

A lasting memory for Kuenning was playing in the late 1990s at the Eldora Ballroom, which also was a popular venue for the big bands during the glory days.

In addition to enjoying preserving big band music, Kuenning said another reward for band members is the heartfelt response of many audience members.

"To this day, we never play a concert when we don't have someone come up to me and thank me (for playing big-band music)," he said. "For years, I would have World War II veterans come up to me after we played and grab me by the arm and 'thank you, this music got me through some of the hardest times of my life.' "