11/18/2021
Throwback Thursday
From our current newsletter, meet the Maestro.
WHO: Clayton “Skip” Poole - Director of Client Relations
WHAT: The Musician
WHY: I’ve always loved big band and orchestral music as far back as I can remember. I was somewhat unique growing up in that my family listened to country and pop, while I listened to the recordings of Basie, Goodman, Ellington and Miller as well as symphony recordings of Beethoven, Tchaikovsky, Mozart and others. They thought I was a bit strange and, in all probability, they were probably correct. My dream was to perform this great music on the stage with the best musicians available and have an enthusiastic audience respond to it. In that sense, I’ve been a very lucky man.
HOW: I “fronted” my first band over 42 years ago at a local bandstand. Since that time, I have had the privilege of conducting and being music director of many organizations such as, The Northeast Big Band, The Clayton Poole Orchestra, The New England Wind Symphony, The New England Symphony Orchestra, The Play’rs Orchestra, The Saint Anselm College Jazz Band and, most recently, The Capital Jazz Orchestra. I have had the opportunity of appearing in concert halls all over the country and performing with many luminaries such as Mel Tormé, Cab Calloway, The Four Freshmen, Rosemary Clooney, Johnny Mathis, Dionne Warwick, Bobby Vinton, Gene Pitney, Andy Williams, The Four Tops, The Temptations, Ben E. King, Robert Goulet, Wayne Newton, to name a few.
Through it all, my goal was to entertain the audiences as best I could. My hope was that if we could transport the audience musically via an imaginary time machine back to someplace in their life that was a happy place where they could let go of their concerns of everyday life, even for only a brief moment, then we accomplished our mission. One of our annual events is our production of The Holiday POPS at the Capitol Center for the Arts. This year we will celebrate our fourteenth season on Sunday, December 22nd at 4:00pm. We hope to see you there!!