The Little Yough Summer Music Festival continues this Friday, July 28th featuring The Wally Gingers Orchestra. The family-friendly, free concerts are held at the Mountain Fresh Pavilion in the heart of the A&E District every Friday evening until September 1st, with a break in the schedule on Friday, August 4th. Food vendor D’s Eats will open at 6:00 PM and the performances begin at 7:00 PM.
The Wally Gingers Orchestra is a 10-piece big band that was popular throughout the northeast from the early 1940s through the 1980s with regular gigs in New York City, Chicago, Philadelphia, and Pittsburgh. Wally Gingers formed the band in the late 1930s, fought in World War II, and then returned to his home near Uniontown, PA to hit the road with his all-veteran big band. The Wally Gingers Orchestra performed thousands of gigs over 50+ years and played regularly at the Roseland Ballroom in New York City and the Sunnybrook Ballroom near Philadelphia, where his band was regularly heard around the world on ABC Radio sponsored by the U.S. Treasury Department.
Wally’s untimely death in 1990 had such an impact on the band that they decided to remove themselves from their very active playing circuit. In 2010, Wally’s daughter, Clare Copenhaver, who was Wally’s drummer for the last 15 years of his life, contacted some excellent musicians that she knew and brought back “The Big Band Sound of The Wally Gingers Orchestra” once again! The band has been delighting audiences throughout the area and is pleased to receive repeat bookings from nearly every venue we play. They perform hits by Glenn Miller, The Dorsey Brothers, Woody Herman, Count Basie, and Duke Ellington as well as many vocal numbers made famous by the likes of Frank Sinatra, Doris Day, The Ames Brothers, Nat King Cole, Bobby Darin, and more. They’ve even spiced up the repertoire with some of Michael Buble’s hits! If you love big band music, you’re sure to love The Wally Gingers Orchestra!
The Wally Gingers Orchestra has a treat for you this summer! Wally used the slogan “The Musical Gems of Wally Gingers and his Orchestra”. Clare did some digging through some of Wally’s old files and came up with some “Hidden Gems”! These original arrangements by the maestro himself have not been heard for decades! The band cannot wait to perform these “new” old arrangements for your listening pleasure! There’s more to this story, but you’ll have to come to the Little Yough Summer Music Festival on July 28th to find out the rest.
The LYSMF has funding support from the Garrett County Arts Council, the Maryland State Arts Council, and the Maryland Department of Housing and Community Development and partners with WKHJ 104.5. For additional information about the concert series please visit oaklandmd.com/ly-schedule.html.
The concert series would not be possible without the support of sponsors, donors, and volunteers. If you are interested in being a sponsor or volunteering on concert nights, please contact Nicole McCullough at 301-334-2691 or mainstreetgoba@gmail.com.
