Mac Frampton, The Hollywood Hills Orchestra to bring ‘When Music Was Music’ to State Theatre
In the late 1960s, Mac Frampton was participating in the renowned Van Cliburn International Piano Competition, held every four years in Fort Worth, Texas, when he decided to pass time by playing some pop arrangements. “Mr. Cliburn heard me cutting up,’ Frampton recalled.
Cliburn told Frampton that he was trying to enter an extremely competitive world of classical music when he would do better by choosing one in popular music.
“You do that stuff better than anyone I’ve heard,’ Frampton remembered Cliburn telling him. “I was planning to do that anyway, but this was an affirmation.’
Frampton, a pastor’s son from South Carolina, started playing the piano as a child. He earned a bachelor’s degree from Erskine College in South Carolina and then a master’s degree and doctorate from Cincinnati Conservancy before entering the prestigious Van Cliburn competition.
Now working as a professional, Frampton started with a mixture of dates as a solo pianist and with a trio called the Mac Frampton Triumumvirate. By 1973, he was working full-time in the music business.
“This is my 30th anniversary,’ Frampton said in a recent interview to his Atlanta office. “It never stopped for me. The key is to evolve constantly and re-invent myself. If you stay stagnant, you’re yesterday’s stuff. …I just keep coming up with new ideas.’
Since 1996, Frampton has been performing with The Hollywood Hills Orchestra.
They will bring their show “When Music Was Music: A Tribute to the Greatest Generation’ to the State Theatre Center for the Arts in Uniontown at 8 p.m. Saturday, May 3.
Frampton noted this is the orchestra’s third appearance in Uniontown. They played the State Theatre twice before in 1998.
“We must not have hit too many wrong notes,’ he teased.
The show the orchestra will present in May is a tribute to the great songs of the 1940s, Frampton explained, with a few tunes from the early 1950s and the 1930s added.
“You had to write beautiful music, and you had to write beautiful lyrics,’ Frampton noted of those times.
Although reluctant to divulge the orchestra’s entire program, Frampton shared some information on what the show will offer in Uniontown.
“We do a terrific medley of songs about trains. The train was the chief mode of travel then. Everybody went where they wanted to go on a train,’ Frampton said.
The segment is called “Choo Choo Cheer.’ But Frampton isn’t naming any of the songs, saying, “I’ll leave that to their imaginations. Anybody who remembers the ’40s knows them.’
The orchestra also does a segment called “Havana Living,’ which highlights songs from south of the border.
“Cuba was such a favorite spot for people to go and vacation in the ’40s,’ Frampton said, revealing this medley will include such songs as “Frenesi’ and “Brazil.’
Trumpet player Cecil Welch will perform a tribute to the great trumpet players of the 1940s, including Harry James by playing his “Ciri Biri Bin.’
The orchestra also does a segment called “Hits from the Classics’ that includes popular songs that were taken from classical music. It includes “Tonight We Love’ from Tchaikovsky, “Full Moon and Empty Arms’ from Rachmaninoff and “I’m Always Chasing Rainbows’ from Chopin.
“A lot of this happened in the ’40s. The melody was borrowed from classical music and somebody wrote the lyrics,’ Frampton said.
The show will also feature a brief tribute to movie music and end with a segment called “Juke Box Saturday Night,’ which includes a potpourri of different singers, everything from Frank Sinatra to The Andrews Singers.
“It’s a very upbeat show,’ said Frampton, who noted the orchestra will be accompanied by the South City Voices, including soprano Heather Jones, alto Becky Windham, tenor Derk Simonson and bass Don Discenza.
The show also features solos by Welch on trumpet and Frampton on piano. Frampton noted that Welch traveled 20 years with the Henry Mancini Orchestra as a solo trumpet player. Mancini was from nearby Aliquippa.
Frampton and the Hollywood Hills Orchestra is so popular with audiences that most of their work is return engagements.
“Every year we book four or five new dates and then we usually book return dates for them,’ he said. “They want us back.’
Frampton attributes that success to interesting arrangements. He also performs six different shows with the orchestra.
Besides “When Music Was Music,’ they include “Oh, Henry!’ which celebrates the music of Mancini; “Romancing The Movies,’ a tour of movie music; “An American Portrait,’ a show of patriotic songs; “Concert Grand!’ which features the grand piano in keyboard classics; and “Heart & Soul,’ devoted to music of the ’50s.’
Frampton, who also plays as a soloist and with a small rhythm section, has performed more than 3,000 concerts in his professional career.
Asked what he likes about music, Frampton said, “For me, music is its own language. It’s a non-verbal means of saying how you feel. Whenever you go, people understand it: anger, joy, peace.
“All those things come in loud and clear whether you’re playing for a Japanese audience, an Iraqi audience or an American audience,” he continued.
“I find it the ultimate communication,” he said.
For ticket information, call the State Theatre box office at 724-439-1360.