The swinging sounds of The Serenaders

It’s one thing to be told that a band was good. It’s another to hear it for yourself.

Among the many West Kootenay dance orchestras of the Big Band era, The Serenaders were in a class of their own. As the late W.J. Sullivan wrote in his book Growing Up in Trail BC During WW II: “In Trail in the 1940s there were dance bands and then there were dance bands. The really good ones, like the Serenaders, could play the Dorsey or the Harry James bands to a draw. They were that good.”

I agree, but judge for yourself by listening to some rare recordings below. First a bit about the band. The Serenaders formed in 1936, and although the lineup changed over the years, the mainstays included:

• Curly Salsiccioli, leader, saxophone, clarinet

• Sandy DiPasquale, drums, trumpet

• Louis Parisotto, bass, vocals, trombone, sousaphone

• Bill Perkins, piano

• Tom Taverna, drums, alto, baritone, and tenor saxophone

• George Tognotti, tenor saxophone, clarinet

• Jack Vellutini, trumpet, trombone, vocals

• George Watson, saxophone, clarinet

Other members were Lloyd Austin (trumpet), Archie Bishop (vocals), Lorne DePaolis (saxophone), Pete Guidone (saxophone, clarinet, accordion), Peter Huse, Bob King (trombone), Bob Lalonde (saxophone/clarinet), Bob McPeak, Stew McRoberts (trombone), Ernie Poscente (trumpet), Irma Salsicciolli (piano), Al Tognotti, and Raz Truant (saxophone, clarinet).

The Serenaders’ first dance job at the KP Hall on Feb. 29, 1936. From left: Jack Vellutini, Archie Bishop (standing), George Watson, Sandy DiPasquale, George Tognotti, Curly Salsicciolli, and Irma Salsiccolli. (Courtesy Terry Jesudason)

The Serenaders at the Cominco Arena, late 1940s. At back on drums, Tommy Taverna. Back row: Sandy DiPasqualie, Lloyd Austin, Lorne DePaolis, Jack Vellutini, Al Tognotti. Front row: Ernie Poscente, Bob McPeak, Peter Huse (?), George Tognotti, Bill Perkins. (Courtesy Terry Jesudason)

In the studio at CJAT. From left, Bob King, Lloyd Austin, Bob Lalonde, Sandy DiPasquale, Tom Taverna, Louis Parisotto, Bill Perkins, Jack Vellutini, Pete Guidone, and George Tognotti. (Courtesy Terry Jesudason)

Back row: Sandy DiPasquale, Lloyd Austin, Jack Vellutini, Bob King, Tommy Taverna. Front row: Pete Guidone, Bob Lalonde, George Tognotti, Louis Parisotto, Bill Perkins. (Courtesy Terry Jesudason)

Other dance bands in Trail and Rossland around the same time included the Kootenay Boys, Rhythm Kings, Scandinavian Swingtette, Harmony Swingtette, Rossland Old Timers, Rossland Ramblers, and Men of Note. All were immaculately dressed and had matching music stands.

The Serenaders played popular songs of the day and performed at many venues, including the Colombo Lodge, Italo-Canadese Hall, the Tadanac Hall, Playmor Hall at South Slocan, and Kingley’s Pavilion at Christina Lake. They also occasionally travelled further afield.

But they were best known as the house band at the KP ballroom on the second floor of the Knights of Pythias Hall in Trail — above what’s now Shopper’s Drug Mart. (The ballroom is now the Pride Gym.) They performed at dances there each Saturday from 9 p.m. to 1 a.m. CJAT regularly broadcast the show live from 9:45 p.m. to 10:15 p.m. 

The KP Hall seen in a postcard mailed in 1930, a few years before the Serenaders began performing there. A welcome banner is on the side of the building but I don’t know who all the people gathered in front were. (Greg Nesteroff collection)

Incredibly, Sandy DiPasquale’s daughter Terry Jesudason has some of those KP ballroom shows on 78 RPM acetate discs. A few years ago, Sharman King, one of the most noteworthy musicians Trail has ever produced, had those discs digitized. I’m pleased to share them here with thanks to Terry and Sharman. The shows are all from 1941 and are presented in five minute increments.

Several observations:

• These are the oldest known radio airchecks from the Kootenays and I nearly fell off my chair when Sharman told me of their existence.

• For the most part, the sound quality is very good.

• The CJAT announcer is Tom Derbyshire. In 1940, he married Margaret Middleton in Nelson, and indicated on the marriage registration that he was 27, born in Calgary, and was living in Nelson. He listed his occupation as radio announcer, so we can presume he was then working for CKLN.

By 1942, Derbyshire had enlisted in the Royal Canadian Air Force in Calgary, where he played for and coached a military basketball team. By 1947, he was with the CBC’s international service and was broadcasting NHL games weekly from the Montreal Forum to Europe. He was a senior technician with the CBC as of 1959, which is the last definitive sign of him I can find.

• Near the start of the April 5 broadcast, Derbyshire comments that they are “on our new frequency of 610 kilocycles.” CJAT had switched over to that frequency a week earlier, on March 29, 1941, from 910 AM. The station would remain there until flipping to 95.7 FM in the mid-1990s.

• When signing off for the Kootenay Broadcasting Company, which owned CJAT, Derbyshire pronounced Kootenay as “Koo-tin-ay.” Is that really how people said it in those days? Or just how broadcasters talked? Could be the latter. The narrator of a 1945 travelogue film called Kootenay West also said it like that — and also mispronounced Rossland, Nakusp, and Kaslo by drawing out their first syllables.

• The fabulous singer on these broadcasts is merely identified as Amy Lou. Her last name is not given and she’s not mentioned in any of the publicity material I’ve reviewed. Who was she? This is the great Serenaders mystery.

Terry also has acetate recordings dated June 1, 1949 with CJAT labels on them of The Serenaders performing Song of the Islands, Now is the Hour, and Garden of the Moon.

A final acetate is of unknown date, location, and song title.

Terry kindly loaned me a scrapbook of Serenaders newspaper ads, contracts, and other memorabilia that I present in a gallery below. Click to enlarge each image. Terry’s father doubled as the group’s treasurer, and among his effects was a ledger from their dance jobs in 1938.

Among the things revealed in the material above:

• The band was advertised as having 12 or 13 members.

• Holidays were a big deal for the Serenaders. They would play dances on Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, New Year’s Eve, and New Year’s Day.

• Admission to the KP Hall dances was generally 75 cents for men and free for women. But an invite to a New Year’s Day ball indicates an admission of $1.25 per couple of 25 cents for each “extra lady.”

• While there is no mention of Amy Lou in any of the ads, there is one that refers to Hazel, “the Lovely Lady of Song.”

I don’t know when the KP Hall dances ended, but the Serenaders lasted until 1966, when they morphed into the Novatones. In 1999, they became the Swingsations, who are still going.

The last two members of the Serenaders were alive until just a few years ago.

Jack Vellutini turned 100 in 2019. He said his love of music was the secret (albeit not too closely guarded) to his long and happy life. He explained that he started playing his first instrument, French horn, at the age of 10. He continued to play into his 90s, when he gave his instruments away. On his 101st birthday, he picked up a trombone again. “Just to hold it was a joy,” he said. He died in Trail on July 21, 2021.

Less than three months later, on Oct. 7, 2021, the last surviving member of the band died in Burnaby. Lorne DePaolis was 96. In addition to his time with the Serenaders, he spent a year touring Europe, where he played for Queen Wilhemina after her return to Holland in 1945. He was also tapped to fill in when trumpeter Rafael Mendez needed another musician for a performance in Trail. Mendez was so impressed that he offered DePaolis a touring gig.

With the passing of Vellutini and DePaolis went some remarkable musical history, but thanks to these amazing recordings, we can relive those days.

Below are some other photos of the band from Terry, taken in the KP Hall, without names attached. Click to enlarge them.