Dancing with Del Courtney thought he was retiring for the last time eight years ago. Courtney was 83 when he stepped down after 15 years of big-band "tea dances" in the Monarch Room at the Royal, and his final Monarch Room "tea dance" was mourned as the end of an era.
Del Courtney
The legendary band leader
By John Berger
charms the swing set Sundays
at the Blue Tropix
Star-BulletinCourtney was sure his musical career was over in 1993, but then he'd also thought of himself as "retired" in 1978 when he settled in Hawaii after 19 years as the Oakland Raiders' musical director. Then "touch dancing" became so popular, someone suggested that he put a band together and revive the "tea dance" tradition at the Royal. Courtney decided retirement could wait.
What was called "touch dancing" in the '70s is now known to a new generation as "swing," and Courtney has returned to the bandstand once again. Courtney is now 90, but age is nothing but a number as the veteran big-band leader and the Y2K1 version of the Del Courtney Orchestra play at the Blue Tropix on Kapiolani Boulevard.
"As far as I'm concerned, it's as if I never retired," Courtney said. "The same people want to hear the same tunes. They come up and talk to you at the bandstand just as they used to do. It's pretty much the same, but I think the band I have now is better than the one I had at the Royal. This band really swings."
Courtney takes the Blue Tropix stage on the first Sunday afternoon of the month. He's been drawing capacity crowds since he opened in March and is going as strong as ever. Courtney is also embarking on new projects. He recently finished a book of memoirs that he calls "Hey! The Band's Too Loud.""People used to come to me from California to New York, every place we played, and we did play every major hotel in the United States, and they'd say, 'Hey, the band's too loud.' I got so sick and tired of hearing that that when the book thing came along, I thought it would be a catchy title. If the book is a success and I write a second book, the title will be 'Hey! The Band's Still Too Loud.'"
Courtney spent about eight months distilling his favorite memories and anecdotes of life as a band leader, working in television and radio, and the years with Al Davis' Oakland Raiders organization. For instance, Courtney not only helped launch "Hawaii Calls" during an engagement at the Alexander Young Hotel in the '30s, but also became part of Hawaiian hapa-haole music history when his sunburned stomach provided the inspiration for R. Alex Anderson's "My Little Red Opu."
The book also will include a foreword by Dave Brubeck and another by John Madden.
Courtney cautions that "Hey! The Band's Too Loud" should be considered the "working title" of the book at the moment. He says several publishers are interested, but the title could change by the time all the details are finalized.
There's no question, however, that the monthly Blue Tropix dance concerts are big events for fans of authentic big-band music. Courtney is one of the last living links to the original big-band scene of the '30s and certainly the last of the original big-band leaders still working.
"We were there with Jimmy Dorsey and Tommy Dorsey and Glenn Miller and Benny Goodman and all those guys," he said. "We were right in the middle of it. Now we're trying to keep live big-band music going, and I'm very thrilled and happy about the whole thing."
He speaks with pride of the musicians who make up his current band. The roster includes Noel Okimoto on drums, Gabe Baltazar leading the reed section, and Mike Morita on trumpet. Many of them were with Courtney at the Monarch Room. Jimmy Borges is the band's vocalist.
Courtney has also been featuring guests. Shari Lynn was Borges' co-star last month but won't be there this Sunday because she's appearing in Manoa Valley Theatre's production of "Grace & Glorie." Other guests last month included 7-year-old Gabby Feola, who sang "For As Long As We Live" with her mother, Katherine Buckner. Art Todd sat in on banjo, and Lyle Ritz manned the acoustic bass.
Todd and singer/songwriter Fred Jones are expected to perform again this weekend. Sydette, the diminutive dynamo long featured with John Norris' band, is scheduled to join Borges and the band in July and August.
Youthful swing mavens Jennifer and Matthew Wong are among the regulars who show up to show off their dazzling dance routines to Courtney's arrangements. Laine Yoshioka, star of Ron Bright's recent production of "Nunsense II: The Second Coming," has also been dropping in. Retro pop singer Joe Kingston was also there last month, joined by his parents, Earll and Maxine Hong Kingston (actor and renowned author respectively), following their work-in-progress production of "We Meet at Appomattox" with Sam Polson at the Yellow Brick Theatre.
Courtney says he sees more "young people" in the crowd these days.
"To see the young crowd mixing in with the older crowd is quite a treat. The people we used to draw were the people who liked the big-band music and grown up with it. Now we're finding the kids are liking it at the Tropix. It's quite a treat for me to have an appeal to young people."
Go early. The room is usually full before Courtney takes the stage.
"They talked me into it," Courtney says of the fans who convinced him to come out of retirement at 90.
"I'd retired and thought that was it, but now I'm back leading the band, and it feels like I never retired. I think it could go into the Guiness Book because I'm the only band leader at age 90 still working," he said. "There isn't another one in the country that I know of."
Who: Del Courtney On stage
Where: Blue Tropix, 1700 Kapiolani Blvd.
When: 4 to 7 p.m. Sunday
Admission: $5; valet parking only
Call: 944-0001
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