Published September 24. 2026 10:59PM<\/p>\n
Allentown Symphony Pops and vocal soloist Dee Daniels will entertain with music from the \u201cGreat American Swing Book,\u201d 7:30 p.m. Sept. 26, Miller Symphony Hall, Allentown.<\/p>\n
Under the direction of conductor Dr. Andrew Kurtz, the Allentown Symphony Pops and guest vocalist Dee Daniels present entertainment from the golden age of Swing, including early Jazz, Blues and ballads.<\/p>\n
\u201cSweet Georgia Brown\u201d and \u201cBill Bailey\u201d are reminiscent of the Tin Pan Alley era, which spanned the late 18th to early 19th centuries, and includes early Jazz standards such as \u201cThere\u2019ll Be Some Changes Made\u201d (1921), \u201cI Can\u2019t Give You Anything but Love\u201d (1928) and a classic Blues tune \u201cGimme A Pigfoot\u201d (1933) by Vaudeville songwriters Coot Grant and Wesley Wilson.<\/p>\n
Increased improvisation of melodies along with expanded instrumentation and ballroom dance tempos spurred the advent of the Swing and Big Band era, which ushered in popular songs by Cole Porter, Duke Ellington, Nat King Cole, Billie Holiday, Ella Fitzgerald and songwriter Eden Ahbez.<\/p>\n
The music of the 1950s added Southern Gospel, Rural Blues and electric instrumentation to create Rhythm and Blues and Soul as heard in \u201cHallelujah I Just Love Him So\u201d (1955) and \u201cFever\u201d (1956).<\/p>\n
The advent of 1960s\u2019 rock was characterized by a combination of Rhythm and Blues, increased amplification, music distortion and a drum-heavy driving force.<\/p>\n
The original Smooth Jazz version of \u201cThat\u2019s Life\u201d (1963) performed by Mississippi-born Jazz vocalist Marion Montgomery was cool and sophisticated. The 1966 version performed by Frank Sinatra was a huge hit.<\/p>\n
From sultry ballads to finger-snapping Big Band favorites, the \u201cGreat American Swing Book\u201d captures elegance, rhythm and irresistible charm of an era that defined American music.<\/p>\n
Daniels is a Jazz vocalist who performs a mix of standards, Blues, Gospel and original compositions.<\/p>\n
Kurtz is President, CEO and Music Director of the Gulf Coast Symphony. He completed Doctoral studies in conducting at the Peabody Conservatory and is a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of the University of Virginia where he received a Master\u2019s in Music History and a Bachelor of Arts in Music and Drama.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Great American Swing Book,\u201d Allentown Symphony Pops, 7:30 p.m. Sept. 26, Miller Symphony Hall, 23 N. Sixth St., Allentown. Free tickets for those 21 and under. Tickets: at the box office; 610-432-6715; https:\/\/millersymphonyhall.org<\/p>\n
\u201cClassical View\u201d is a column about classical music concerts, conductors and performers. To request coverage, email Paul Willistein, Focus editor, pwillistein@tnonline.com<\/p>\n
CONTRIBUTED PHOTODee Daniels<\/p>\n
CONTRIBUTED PHOTODr. Andrew Kurtz<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Published September 24. 2026 10:59PM Allentown Symphony Pops and vocal soloist Dee Daniels will entertain with music from…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":293492,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[153,155,154],"class_list":["post-293491","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-bethlehem","tag-bethlehem","tag-bethlehem-headlines","tag-bethlehem-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/293491","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=293491"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/293491\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/293492"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=293491"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=293491"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=293491"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}