When Billy Joel married Christie Brinkley, the Piano Man turned to the Lester Lanin Orchestra to provide the music. The same held true for Prince Charles and Princess Di.
Neither marriage lasted, we know, but the Lester Lanin Orchestra remains a force on the world”™s stages, playing 70 to 100 gigs per year under the musical direction of Yonkers resident Spencer Bruno.
To remain relevant for a decade in entertainment is a rare feat. The Lester Lanin Orchestra has been in the limelight since 1927 when a young Lester Lanin, who died at 97 in 2004, began playing parties with a small ensemble. In 1930, Lanin played a gala hosted by socialite Barbara Hutton that garnered reams of press coverage and the band never looked back.
Success in the Hoover administration would still carry some weight if all anyone wanted to hear was the soundtrack from “The Jazz Singer.” At various points, the Dorseys, Frank Sinatra, the Beatles and a few representatives of the Motown sound demanded, and got, the orchestra”™s attention. “Contemporary music is very much in demand,” Bruno said. “That”™s why we do top-40; you have to adapt.”
Anyone who has been to the sort of affair where women”™s dresses sweep the floor and the tuxedo lapels could cut your finger knows the attendees are only pretending to be staid until Lester Lanin cranks up “Mony Mony” and its admonition to “Shoot ”™em down, turn around, come on Mony” or James Brown”™s “I Feel Good.” That”™s when the red Lester Lanin party hats come out. To bring the crowd down to earth and perhaps instill a bit of romance in the evening, Louis Armstrong”™s “What a Wonderful World” promises a slow dance and perhaps a long kiss: “I see skies of blue, clouds of white. Bright blessed days, dark sacred nights.” Whatever the song, the Lester Lanin credo ”“ “The Gold Standard for Party Music” ”“ rules the day.
And whatever the song, Bruno writes the horn arrangements: “I like songs with melodic parts I can write a horn line for,” he said. “I listen to everything. When I hear something that”™s good, it”™s good no matter what it is. And that includes Top-40.”
Proms used to be part of the Lester Lanin calendar, but lately, Bruno said, the kids are choosing DJs. Probably no orchestra in the world has yet incorporated Death Cab for Cutie”™s latest into its playlist, something DJs can do at the whim of a download. Â
But, said Bruno, “We are the high-society band that all the others emulate.”
Bruno”™s bona fides include playing clarinet, flute and saxophone for the Yale and New Haven symphony orchestras, for Paul Anka, Natalie Cole and Steve Lawrence and Eydie Gorme.
It costs more, as you”™d expect, to contract the Lester Lanin Orchestra for a San Francisco gig, which the band is scheduled to play this month, but, “In Westchester, we can charge the going rate.”
Bruno”™s wife is Alice Ryan-Bruno. They have two daughters, Marissa, who was just married, and Megan
Bruno went to Mount Vernon High School and then studied music at the Juilliard Academy, the New York College of Music and at NYU where he earned bachelor”™s and master”™s degrees in music and music education. He taught for years in the Yonkers Public Schools, beginning in 1970, including as director of the All-City Band. He retired from the classroom in 2002.
Bruno sees a link between his music and his after-hours passion, sailing. He is certified by the Coast Guard to captain oceangoing vessels up to 100 feet long and owns a Dutch sailboat he describes as “heavy, solid and slow.”
“Like music, the way you sail a boat has an artistic side and a technical side,” he said. He enjoys the fluid nature of sailing and said, “To this day, when I work on a boat I am very interested in the engineering and mechanical aspects of maintaining and running the boat.”
His tie, he pointed out, is emblazoned with the flag of the Huguenot Yacht Club, where he sails. Not surprisingly, the Lester Lanin Orchestra is popular at clubs around the arc of the Sound from Westchester County into Connecticut”™s Fairfield County.
When he spoke earlier this month, the winter of 2008-2009 was holding on for dear life. Through it all, Bruno stays on the water. Every Sunday all winter he sails 10-foot dinghies. “I”™m sharpening my skills and really getting up there and starting to place.”
