Westwood Summer Concert Series Wraps up July 4th Weekend

Westwood residents were treated to an evening of swing music Monday night to conclude July 4th weekend.

Festivities started at 6:30 p.m. at the Westwood Senior Center, as families gathered together to relax on blankets and enjoy the soothing tunes of the Westwood Community Swing Band.

For more than 20 years, the brass band and its female vocalist, have blown life into the big band style.

One of the songs of the evening was "Body and Soul," a song originally written by Edward Heyman, Robert Sour, Frank Eyton and Johnny Green in 1930, and since then has been played by the likes of Ella Fitzgerald, Billie Holiday, Carly Simon and Frank Sinatra. One of the more popular renditions, though, was recorded by Coleman Hawkins in 1939.

The band also played renditions of Doris Day's "It's Magic," as well as "Fly Me to the Moon," written by Bart Howard in 1954. 

But the group also whippd up a few original, such as "Cafe True Blue," written by the swing band's own saxophone player, Mike Greenfield.

Several members of the band brought their own solos to the foreground during the evening, from Eddie Russo on the tenor sax, to Sarah Russo on the keyboard, to Wayne Carlson on the trumpet.

Residents who might have missed Monday's performance should not fret, however. Next week's event will welcome a performance by "Overboard," a male a cappella group known for their wide variety of vocal renditions of popular classics. The show will also be held at the Senior Center at 6:30 PM on Monday, July 12.

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