Starlighters Big Band is dream come true for Rossville man
This is an article about Jay Seals. I think it is probably from June 1996, in the Danville Commercial-News, written by Larry Smith.
Starlighters Big Band is dream come true for Rossville man
At large
Larry Smith
The sound captured Jay Seals more than 50 years ago, and its grip on him remains strong.
Seals loves nothing more than to grab his saxophone and lead The Starlighters Big Band in a rendition of “Moonlight Serenade” or “Sleepy Town Train.”
The big band sound caught Seals’ attention as a high school student in Rossville.
“I started studying saxophone in September 1938,” Seals said during a recent telephone interview. “About 1940, I started studying arranging and singing.”
Those 58 years of study have paid off. At 2 p.m. Saturday, June 22, Seals will lead The Starlighters Big Band in its Tribute to Glenn Miller during the annual Arts in the Parks at Danville’s Lincoln Park.
Seals – now 75 – made music his career, although not quite the way he had first planned during those high school days.
World War II interrupted his plan, but not his music. He served in North Africa and Italy as a member of the band at the 3rd General Hospital. The surviving band members stay in touch and even gather for a reunion every other year in Louisville, Ky.
After the war, Seals thought about starting a big band in this area, but competition was tough.
“I got out of the Army in 1946,” he said. “I wanted to start a band but there were already seven or eight big bands going in Champaign.”
Instead, Seals moved to Chicago, where he played sax and wrote arrangements for The Mel Parker Orchestra. He also wrote arrangements for songwriters who could come up a melody, but didn’t know how to put the notes down on paper. He stayed with it until 967, when he retumed to Rossville to help his ailing father in his electrician’s business. He’s stayed in his hometown – “I’ve lived here since I was 4 months old” – ever since.
But he oould never get rid of the itch to start his own band. In November 1991, he started to put together some people who shared his love of the big band sound. In no time, The Starlighters were born.
The band has about 16 members, depending on who’s available. “Anything less than 12,Ó Seals said, “sounds like what it is: A small band trying to play big band music.’
The band members, who range in age from the early 30s to Seals’ 75, get together every couple of months to rehearse. Members come from area communities such as Danville, Catlin, Chrisman and even Mt. Zion, over by Decatur.
Their specialty is Glenn Miller’s music. Visitors to Arts in the Park will hear “Moonlight Serenade,” “Tuxedo Junction,” “In The Mood,” “That Old Black Magic,” and “Pennsylvania 6-5000″ among the 15 or so songs The Starlighters will play. The arrangements will be “right off the records,” Seals said.
Some of the arrangements will be by Seals, who said he has arranged 75 or 80 selections himself.
Seals invites everyone to bring their lawn chairs and visit Lincoln Park to share his love of the big band sound.
“Next to a good church hymn,” he said, “I think a big band is the best sound you can get.”
Larry Smith is editorial page editor for the Commercial-News. Call him at 477-5184 or (400) 410-1511. Fax comments to 446-6648.
