On March 1, 1967, over 41 years ago, the Don Burns Orchestra was formed to perform, promote, and sustain the "great music of the Big Band" era. Originally starting with only 11 pieces, it wasn't long before the band had grown to its present size of 17 musicians and 2 vocalists.
"I couldn't get that "true" Big Band sound without having the full instrumentation of the arrangements," Don would say.
Within the first year the band was performing at dances throughout the tri-county area. Musically, the band was quite good but something seemed to be missing, so more choreography, more original music and a female vocalist were added. The band got better and better as time went on and even starting doing several "live" radio broadcasts.
In the early 1990's, we added a new male and female vocalist, a vocal team, and with their talents, we could really increase our versatality. During 1996, we expanded even more by adding our vocal quartet, the Sunrise Serenaders, (a la Modernaries), enabling us to bring the "complete" musical package to public. Our success, Don says, is due to having "great arrangements and great people." Without the dedication and talent of each member of the band, none of this re-creation would have been possible.
