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ABOUT US
The Westwood Swing Band exemplifies the hard-driving sounds of big bands of the swing era. Its 15 instrumentalists and 2 female vocalists perform from the repertoires of such noteworthy artists as Duke Ellington, Count Basie, and Artie Shaw. Keeping up with audience preferences, the band also performs Top 40 hits from the '60's and 70's, i.e. James Brown and Stevie Wonder. The band’s members, many of whom are professional or semi-professional musicians, are capable of offering up solos and ensemble play that reflect both virtuosity and feeling.
The roots of the band began in the mid-1980’s, when Mark Rogers assembled a few musicians interested in playing jazz together. Initially this was a seven-piece combo with ever-changing membership. In 1992 the band solidified into an ongoing enterprise under the "Westwood Swing Band" banner, as Mark, its director, had in the meantime moved to the town of Westwood, Mass. Three of today’s band’s members have played with the band for 20 years.
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The band is a popular attraction in town-hosted summer concert series, at dances focusing on swing / Lindy hop, galas, private functions, and fundraisers. Performances are usually within a 70-mile radius of Boston.
The WSB has two new vocalists, Maria Carlson and Remi Sylla, where each brings their own individual inter-pretation to their renditions of popular tunes. They also get together to perform duets that are real crowd-pleasers.
Maria has been performing various vocal genres in a semi-professional setting for many years. She brings great enthusiasm to performing both pop hits and swing favorites.
Remi, a college student, joins the band for summer engagements. She puts her own stamp on the "oldies" that are in the band's repertoire.
