Las Vegas Pops launches season with musical journey to Hawaii

Guest conductor Matt Catingub was joined by a bevy of imported talent Saturday at The Smith Center for the Las Vegas Pops Orchestra’s first offering of the season, titled “Aloha from Las Vegas.”

The conductor’s bio shows him to be artistic director and conductor of California’s Glendale Pops as well as artistic director and founder of the Hawaii Pops and the Macon (Georgia) Pops. He is a celebrated saxophonist, pianist and vocalist as well as an internationally known composer and arranger.

Catingub’s collaborator, drummer Steve Moretti, was featured prominently, as he was in April when the two last appeared with the Pops.

Moretti’s powerful presence was prominent throughout the evening. His driving rhythmic underpinning was the orchestra’s energy source.

Other featured guests were bassist Steve Jones and guitarist Jeff Peterson, both of whom displayed remarkable talent.

But let’s begin at the beginning. Before the concert Reynolds Hall’s spacious lobby was taken over by a troupe of Hawaiian dancers whose classic hula interpretations served well to set the tone for what was to come. Once the audience settled in, Moretti took the spotlight in a blistering overture featuring his drum fills.

The orchestra was amplified fully, resulting in a sound like a top-flight studio band rather than a symphony, but that’s OK — after all, it is a Pops program.

Some orchestral offerings included Don Ho’s “Sweet Someone” and “Pearly Shells,” and a sensitive rendering of Martin Denny’s beautiful “Quiet Village.” The first half was brought to a close with “Tiny Bubbles” (of course) and a rousing version of the theme from television’s “Hawaii Five-O.”

The program’s second half offered something for nearly everyone, but not all of it in keeping with the Hawaiian theme.

Catingub brought on stage the night’s guest vocalist, Amy Hanaiali’i. She is Hawaii’s top-selling female vocalist and has toured Europe, Japan and China as well as the United States and French Polynesia. It’s not difficult to see why she is in demand.

The moment she took the stage Hanaiali’i displayed a stunning and commanding presence and her singing put her in a superior category.

She began with a few Hawaiian songs of her own composition, interspersed with homespun stories about her island ancestry and more recent family. Two Hawaiian dancers added to the visual impact and then were joined by the singer’s preteen daughter, Madeline.

Nostalgia soon gave way to early season Christmas songs such as “Mary Did You Know” and “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas,” followed by a roster of jazz and standard classics including “Feels Like Home,” “Have You Ever Seen the Rain” and a heart-wrenching version of “I Remember You.”

Catingub is considered to be at the forefront of an innovative movement to push Pops into a more fun and accessible format. Saturday’s audience reception showed he’s on the right track.