The patriotic salute through song is a jazz, doo-wop and barbershop benefit concert honoring veterans of all wars.
LAGUNA WOODS — When Ernest Leard began his 24 years of service with the Navy, it started with the Vietnam War. He would make two off-coast deployments from the U. S. Hancock, support combat troops with airstrikes and eventually retire as a commander.
With a cappella barbershop harmonies playing on repeat in his head — reinforced by his mother’s self-taught talent sung around the house — he left for war. When he came back, it was to strum-heavy folk music, protesting his overseas efforts.
“The music that came back with me was about how the government was falling apart, how people weren’t sure what was going to happen to the country. It was all just turmoil,” the Vietnam veteran said. “I’ve always seen music as something you could turn to and listen to in order to get away from that feeling.”
Regardless, Leard still carries a tune.
Leard will be taking part in a patriotic salute through song on Saturday, Nov. 10 in “Rockin with the Vets,” a jazz, doo-wop and barbershop benefit concert honoring veterans of all wars.
“We chose these genres because we’ve selected music from each of the war eras — from World War II to the present — rather than just settle for the standard patriotic stuff that everybody would normally hear or see around this time of year,” program director and conductor Douglas Custance said. “These are songs that (soldiers) would have known and heard when they were serving.”
Barbershop, along with swing and big-band, died in the war. The country was forever changed — even its sound.
Leard’s first order of business was signing up for choir classes within the Village, supplemented with those offered at Saddleback College Emeritus Institute.
“I’ve gone back to an old love,” Leard said, one that still gives him goosebumps every time he hears “that perfect chord” of harmonies blended as one.
The loud, clashing symbols and brass band standard has tired Custance, a Saddleback College Emeritus Institute professor who teaches a variety of musicianship and music appreciation classes on campus and around the Village.
Instead, he’s opted for throwback tunes to serve as a tribute to the times.
“Frankly, I think (everyone is) quite overloaded with patriotic stuff on a patriotic day,” he said with the audience in mind. “I certainly am.”
The program will feature a four-month-old, 15-member group “The California Jazz Project,” the “Melody Makers,” a 50-member, mixed-gender barbershop chorus, an octet “Eight is Enough” as well as other small group ensembles and solo performances.
One of those ensembles includes a mother-son duet, Custance said.
“They just have the greatest sound together because they have the same musical gene pool.”
Focusing on veteran-centric themes, Custance said, many of the songs lyrically drive home a soldier’s wartime plight of the heartache that comes with being away from family and the tragedies of losing friends, lovers and time.
Performing in three groups for the event, Village resident Barbara Frink is most excited for the barbershop numbers.
“It’s just comfortable, wonderfully warm, all-American music,” she said, naming earworms like Doris Day’s GI favorite “Sentimental Journey” and the 1954 hit “Goodnite, Sweetheart, Goodnite.” “They’re the kind of tunes that you want to sing and hum along to.”
Traditionally, barbershop groups are all-male quartets, however, Custance has been allowing women into his group for 12 years.
“We were ahead of the curve on that,” he said with pride.
Just this summer, a leading barbershop singers organization, the Barbershop Harmony Society, made history in opening its membership to women after 80 years of gender exclusivity. At the time of establishment, the society was strictly an all-white, men-only club, despite the African-American roots quintessential to the genre. It wasn’t until 1963 that the civil rights movement inspired a change in policy — to admit people of color.
“The excitement for me is the quality of the barbershop chorus right now. They are as good as any chorus I’ve heard or been involved in,” Custance said. “They know their stuff, and they know they know their stuff. It’s going to blow the roof off the auditorium.”
Over the 39 years he has worked with veteran benefit groups, Custance estimated this to be his 150th event on Village grounds and that his teams’ overall efforts have totaled to about $45,000 worth in charity. This year, net proceeds will be donated to the Wounded Warriors Project.
“This is the music that was special to veterans and this show is to honor them,” Custance said. “I want people to leave having had a great time, with an increased desire to step up and help in any way they can.”
What: “Rockin with the Vets” benefit concert
When: 7 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 10
Where: Laguna Woods Village Performing Arts Center
Tickets: $5 to $15, available at the Performing Arts Center box office, 949-597-4288
Information: Call Barbara Frink at 713-858-9499 or babsfrink@gmail.com
Note: For Laguna Woods Village residents and their guests only
