About the Los Alamos Big Band
The Los Alamos Big Band is a 16-instrument 1940s Glenn Miller-style swing band. The Band plays fabulous dance band-era music for public events, weddings, conventions, fund raisers, and more.
Music was very important to the scientists, engineers, support staff, military, and families who came to Los Alamos during WWII and the Manhattan Project--and big band was the pop music of their day.
Big Band began in Los Alamos in late 1944 with The Keynotes that played for dances every Saturday night in Theater No. 2 in downtown Los Alamos. This band played together for about four years. Around 1948, one of The Keynotes trumpeters, Ed Macmann (who until 2017 still played with the current Big Band at age 98), had a smaller combo that kept the name The Keynotes, who played at the Gold Club and for the Civic and Non-Commissioned Officer (NCO) clubs. During the 1950s, 60s, and 70s, about twice a year someone would ask Ed to get a Big Band together to play for events like the annual Harvest Moon Ball.
The current Los Alamos Big Band has been playing at dances throughout Northern New Mexico since 1984 under the direction of Jan McDonald, who joined the LA All-Stars in 1963 and for many years was the band director at Los Alamos High School. The band features the danceable music of the Big Band Era such as “In The Mood,” “String of Pearls,” “Sing, Sing, Sing,” and “Moonlight Serenade." We also play other dance music such as “New York, New York,” latin numbers like “Besame Mucho” and “Guantanamera,” and even “Rock Around the Clock.”
We currently feature vocalists Joy Reynolds and Grace Willerton on a variety of numbers such as “Moon River,” “Sentimental Journey,” and “That's All.” It even happens from time to time that one of our instrumentalists picks up the microphone for a song as well.
The most recent Los Alamos Big Band started when Dick Souder retired from Chrysler in Michigan and started working at the Los Alamos National Laboratory. Dick headed a Big Band in the Detroit area called The Executives. His only regret about coming to the Land of Enchantment was that he missed his Big Band. Skeptics said that a semi-professional Big Band could not survive in a small town like Los Alamos, but Dick teamed with Jan McDonald and later Ralph Bennorth to organize the band and start playing at dances around the area. Each year the Los Alamos Big Band gives the “Souder-Bennorth Memorial Scholarship” in memory of Dick and Ralph to a worthy high school student from Los Alamos or Espanola. Many of these students have gone on to become music educators and professional musicians.
The band has always had a drum, bass, piano, 4 trumpets, 4 trombones, and 5 saxophones who also double on flute and clarinet for the full classic Big Band sound. Although about half the band members work in Los Alamos, our membership comes from Santa Fe, the Espanola Valley, and Las Vegas as well. Many of the band members have music degrees. Others have technical degrees. We have physicists, a physician, and engineers in addition to our members who have made music their living.
Throughout the years the band has played for numerous dances, county festivals, weddings (receptions and ceremonies), retirements, Los Alamos National Lab events, conventions, and a few memorial services. One memorable wedding was in Mora, New Mexico, where the bride and groom rode off to the wedding cottage on horseback to the sound of the band. We have played gigs from Farmington to Taos to Belen and many locations in between. But most gigs have been in Los Alamos, particularly Gordon’s Summer Concert series, the Los Alamos County Fair and Rodeo, and several dances each year at the IHM Parish Hall.
Availability
The Los Alamos Big Band may be booked for your event by contacting us at [email protected]
The cost of a three hour job generally is competitive with DJs or other acts so why hire a combo or something less than a full Big Band? Prices for Santa Fe, Albuquerque, and elsewhere add a mileage charge. Special consideration is made for charitable fundraisers.
The Los Alamos Big Band is a 16-instrument 1940s Glenn Miller-style swing band. The Band plays fabulous dance band-era music for public events, weddings, conventions, fund raisers, and more.
Music was very important to the scientists, engineers, support staff, military, and families who came to Los Alamos during WWII and the Manhattan Project--and big band was the pop music of their day.
Big Band began in Los Alamos in late 1944 with The Keynotes that played for dances every Saturday night in Theater No. 2 in downtown Los Alamos. This band played together for about four years. Around 1948, one of The Keynotes trumpeters, Ed Macmann (who until 2017 still played with the current Big Band at age 98), had a smaller combo that kept the name The Keynotes, who played at the Gold Club and for the Civic and Non-Commissioned Officer (NCO) clubs. During the 1950s, 60s, and 70s, about twice a year someone would ask Ed to get a Big Band together to play for events like the annual Harvest Moon Ball.
The current Los Alamos Big Band has been playing at dances throughout Northern New Mexico since 1984 under the direction of Jan McDonald, who joined the LA All-Stars in 1963 and for many years was the band director at Los Alamos High School. The band features the danceable music of the Big Band Era such as “In The Mood,” “String of Pearls,” “Sing, Sing, Sing,” and “Moonlight Serenade." We also play other dance music such as “New York, New York,” latin numbers like “Besame Mucho” and “Guantanamera,” and even “Rock Around the Clock.”
We currently feature vocalists Joy Reynolds and Grace Willerton on a variety of numbers such as “Moon River,” “Sentimental Journey,” and “That's All.” It even happens from time to time that one of our instrumentalists picks up the microphone for a song as well.
The most recent Los Alamos Big Band started when Dick Souder retired from Chrysler in Michigan and started working at the Los Alamos National Laboratory. Dick headed a Big Band in the Detroit area called The Executives. His only regret about coming to the Land of Enchantment was that he missed his Big Band. Skeptics said that a semi-professional Big Band could not survive in a small town like Los Alamos, but Dick teamed with Jan McDonald and later Ralph Bennorth to organize the band and start playing at dances around the area. Each year the Los Alamos Big Band gives the “Souder-Bennorth Memorial Scholarship” in memory of Dick and Ralph to a worthy high school student from Los Alamos or Espanola. Many of these students have gone on to become music educators and professional musicians.
The band has always had a drum, bass, piano, 4 trumpets, 4 trombones, and 5 saxophones who also double on flute and clarinet for the full classic Big Band sound. Although about half the band members work in Los Alamos, our membership comes from Santa Fe, the Espanola Valley, and Las Vegas as well. Many of the band members have music degrees. Others have technical degrees. We have physicists, a physician, and engineers in addition to our members who have made music their living.
Throughout the years the band has played for numerous dances, county festivals, weddings (receptions and ceremonies), retirements, Los Alamos National Lab events, conventions, and a few memorial services. One memorable wedding was in Mora, New Mexico, where the bride and groom rode off to the wedding cottage on horseback to the sound of the band. We have played gigs from Farmington to Taos to Belen and many locations in between. But most gigs have been in Los Alamos, particularly Gordon’s Summer Concert series, the Los Alamos County Fair and Rodeo, and several dances each year at the IHM Parish Hall.
Availability
The Los Alamos Big Band may be booked for your event by contacting us at [email protected]
The cost of a three hour job generally is competitive with DJs or other acts so why hire a combo or something less than a full Big Band? Prices for Santa Fe, Albuquerque, and elsewhere add a mileage charge. Special consideration is made for charitable fundraisers.
