On Friday, Oct. 3, the fun and thrill of the Big Band era comes alive at the Chestnut Hill Community Association’s 2025 Fall Frolic, “A Night to Remember.”
The theme of the evening is swing music, and rising jazz artist Jack Saint Clair, a Chestnut Hill native, will bring the genre’s bouncy rhythms to the Philadelphia Cricket Club with his Jack Saint Clair Orchestra.
Saint Clair’s entry into music performance began as a member of the band at Our Mother of Consolation School in Chestnut Hill. A saxophonist and arranger, Saint Clair said he is eager to bring the electricity of big band music to his neighborhood.
Gaining popularity in the 1930s and ‘40s, big band jazz is characterized by large ensemble orchestras, a powerful brass-heavy sound, and swinging rhythm. Its music is engineered to get dance floors hopping and, in Saint Clair’s opinion, it’s best when experienced live.
“The enduring appeal of big band for me is the sheer physical thrill of experiencing the live sound,” Saint Clair said. “The energy and sound created by a group of 16 musicians hitting a big chord together never fails to give me chills. It’s better than 16 shots of espresso.”
Saint Clair would know. He began playing at premier jazz venues such as Chris’ Jazz Café when he was 18. Now 30, he has composed music for the likes of the Temple University Jazz Orchestra, the Jazz Orchestra of Philadelphia, and the Dutch Concert Big Band.
“I’m obsessed with the lore of the old Duke Ellington Orchestra.” Saint Clair said. “His band was a group of eccentric personalities and unique personal sounds which he blended into a colorful tapestry of sound.”
The same can easily be said of the Jack Saint Clair Orchestra. Whether playing as a quintet or as a full, 17-piece band, as the band recently did at a concert at Spruce Street Harbor Park, there is a fluidity to their improvisation, which allows each performer to stand out. At the Fall Frolic, the Jack Saint Clair Orchestra will take the stage as a 10-piece ensemble with a vocalist, well-suited to the ballroom at the event’s venue, the Philadelphia Cricket Club.
For Saint Clair, there’s a unique joy in playing in his hometown. In 2021, the Jack Saint Clair Orchestra performed at the Chestnut Hill Community Association’s Pastorius Park concert series, which Saint Clair recalled fondly. “One of my favorite performances of recent memory was bringing the band to perform ... the audience was full of familiar faces, from neighbors to the parishioners of my old neighborhood parish of Our Mother of Consolation.”
Four years later, Saint Clair is looking forward to getting the neighbors from his old stomping grounds onto the dance floor.
Fall Frolic, Friday, Oct. 3, 6:30-9:30 p.m. at the Philadelphia Cricket Club, 415 W. Willow Grove Ave. Tickets are $125 each and available for purchase at chestnuthill.org.
The Chestnut Hill Community Association would like to thank the following sponsors for their support: Temple Health – Chestnut Hill Hospital, Merrill Lynch – Nottingham, Walsh, Goodman & Associates, Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine, Chestnut Hill Community Fund, Chestnut Hill College, and Team Whetzel Real Estate.
Will Standish is membership and administration coordinator at the Chestnut Hill Community Association. He can be reached at Will@chestnuthill.org.
