HERMANTOWN — If you visit the AAD Shrine Events and Meeting Center on the right Tuesday night once a month, you'll hear a variety of live music pouring out the front door.
You might hear "Moonlight Serenade" by Glenn Miller right next to "California Dreaming" by The Mamas and the Papas next to "At the Hop" by Danny and the Juniors, or a swinging version of "The First Noel." And if you open the door and walk inside, you'll find people taking to the dance floor in pairs.
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The Blue Water Big Band is a group of 13 (sometimes more) musicians who play everything from standard big band music to anything that makes people dance.
According to band member Mary Hallsten, playing music for dancers is one of their specialties. For the past eight years, the band has played once a month at the Shrine building for a group of 40-plus dancers and listeners.
"We play to what they dance to," Hallsten said. "We try to keep a good variety of things. We have over 200 charts and pieces that we can play together. We even have songs we play depending on if people we know are here to dance to them."
The band started as part of the late Jim Melde's Big Band in the late 1990s. Melde was the band director at Proctor High School for over 30 years and curated his own big band to play for special events. The band continued to play in his honor after he died in 2002. The Blue Water Big Band formed from a subsection of the Melde band and started rehearsing together in 2012.
"We just wanted to keep going," said Carol Holm, a member of the Blue Water Big Band. "We wanted to continue to play together, and the people who were running the Melde band were retiring, so we started our own."
The band's name comes from Lake Superior, though not all the members live in the Twin Ports. Some members drive from as far as Two Harbors and Little Falls, Minnesota, and Hayward, Wisconsin, to play with the band once a month or more. Hallsten and Holm said it's the love of playing music together that keeps them coming back.
"We love playing music together," Holm said. "Playing music on a saxophone by yourself is not a lot of fun, I can guarantee you. But playing together and seeing people get up and dance? That's a lot of fun."
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"We're a family, a band family," Hallsten said. "And we act like a family, too, sometimes."
For Mary Hallsten, being a family is also very literal as her husband, Jerry Hallsten, serves as the band's announcer and occasional vocalist, and her daughter, Kelli, plays saxophone. In between songs, Jerry Hallsten shares fun facts and tidbits about the songs.
"Every so often, I go digging again and bring a couple of new nuggets," Jerry Hallsten said. "I also used to be the sound guy for the band, but this band doesn't need to be mic'd. When they say that they're a big band, they really mean it."
The band also takes their show to bars, pubs and events when hired or requested. Mary Hallsten said they'll go through their music selections and play to the crowd they're anticipating. Sometimes, they can surprise a crowd by being able to take a request.
"One of our favorite gigs was down at the Portage Bar in Cable, Wisconsin," Mary Hallsten said. "Towards the end of our gig, this guy comes up and, of course, yells, 'Free Bird!' I think we surprised him when we actually started to play it. Have you ever heard a big band play 'Free Bird?' It's something to behold."
The band has its fans, some of whom live up on the Iron Range but are willing to travel down once a month to catch the show at the Shrine.
"My friend, Dave, and I went to see a big band dance event in Dubuque, Iowa, this year," said Steve Grillo, one of the band's Iron Range fans. "I'm not kidding when I say that these guys right here in Hermantown, they're better. They're just more fun, and they play songs you can dance to."
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Another member of the Iron Range fan contingent, Pat Honkola, agreed on the band's rare quality.
"Where else can you find this? It's well worth the drive down," Honkola said.
If you go
- What: Blue Water Big Band monthly dance
- When: Jan. 21, 6:30-9 p.m.
- Where: AAD Shrine Meeting and Event Center, 5152 Miller Trunk Highway, Hermantown
- Cost: $8 at door, cash only
- More info: "Blue Water Big Band - Duluth" on Facebook
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