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<< Previous   of   Next >> Michael O’Leary / The Herald  (click to enlarge) Cascade High School Del Sonics singers (from left) Andy Estrada, Barb Sennet-Wilson and Wendy Worrall Redal joined others rehearsing for a Saturday afternoon reunion concert at Soundview School in Lynnwood. (click to enlarge) Cascade High School Del Sonics members (from left) Linda Brearley, Laura Louks, Shelley Hansen-Wetzel and Marianne Saunders rehearse. Courtesy Photo  (click to enlarge) The Del Sonics was Cascade High School's vocal jazz choir in the 1970s and '80s. They're pictured here in a photograph from the school's 1979 yearbook. Courtesy Photo  (click to enlarge) Cascade High School’s Del Sonics vocal jazz choir visit then-Gov. Dan Evans in his office in Olympia in 1975. Michael O'Leary / The Herald  (click to enlarge) Cascade High School Del Sonics members Barb Sennet-Wilson (left) Wendy Worrall Redal (center) and Linda Brearley (right) rehearse with other members for a Saturday afternoon reunion concert at Soundview School in Lynnwood. (click to enlarge) Ken Kraintz, former director of the Del Sonics.   ADVERTISEMENT   CONTACT THE HERALD Robert Frank, City Editor frank@heraldnet.com   Published: Sunday, August 23, 2009 Cascade High School jazz group Del Sonics reunites in song By Julie Muhlstein Herald Columnist It was the 1970s, the heyday of what’s now classic rock. At Everett’s Cascade High School, another sound reigned supreme, the jazzy vocals of the Del Sonics. With its retro-cool name and singers chosen by audition for the school’s elite jazz choir, the group was too good to stay on campus. Directed by Ken Kraintz, the Del Sonics performed for Everett civic groups. Choir members met then-Gov. Dan Evans in Olympia. They won a coveted invitation to a Chicago conference of the International Association of Jazz Educators. “It was considered a very prestigious group, a big deal,” said Wendy Worrall Redal, a 1979 graduate of Cascade and for three years a Del Sonics member. Redal lives in Boulder, Colo., but was back in Snohomish County for her 30th high school reunion this weekend. A high point of her trip was a smaller reunion, the chance to sing again with the Del Sonics. Last week, Redal could hardly wait for a private concert Saturday afternoon with former choir members at Soundview School in Lynnwood. For weeks, she’d been tracking down former members and checking a Del Sonics page on Facebook. The show’s audience was to be mostly friends and family. Kraintz now co-owns Sound Music Publications, an Edmonds-based music publishing business. The former choir director was as excited for the get-together as his long-ago students. “We picked out six pieces of singable music. Some of them have been singing, some have gone on with life,” the 67-year-old Kraintz said Friday. “It’s going to be fun.” Among Saturday’s selections were to be “Down at Smoky Joe’s,” a Kraintz original, and the jazz classic “Route 66.” Todd Hymas, a 1980 Cascade graduate, said the Del Sonics did nothing less than change his life. He’s now a Seattle-based jazz singer whose CD, “I’ll Just Close My Eyes,” just came out. The first time he heard the Del Sonics, Hymas was just a kid at Everett’s Eisenhower Middle School. “I immediately joined the choir,” he said. The following year, as a Cascade freshman, he auditioned and earned a place with the Del Sonics, which had about 20 singers. Kraintz, who served as Everett School District’s fine art supervisor, directed the Del Sonics from 1971 to 1983. “He was a great teacher,” said Allen Hartley, a former choir member who also played Cascade football. “He was very patient and got the best out of you. I was an average singer, but he would find my strengths. He’s a guy — think of ‘Mr. Holland’s Opus’ — what an effect he had.” Hartley, of Mount Vernon, has worked in the restaurant business. Like Hymas, other former Del Sonics members have music careers. “A couple of them are writing music in Hollywood, for movies,” Kraintz said. One of those is Lenny Moore, whose composing and orchestration credits include films, video games, commercials and CDs. Kraintz witnessed the evolution of talent. “Kids develop right before your eyes. My goodness, the growth I would see,” he said. “Most of them did not go on into music, but their appreciation of it is sky-high.” Mark Pederson is a former Del Sonics member and a retired Washington State Patrol trooper. The 1975 Cascade graduate used vocal skills learned from Kraintz as a singer at weddings and memorial events. “Ken had a magical way of motivating people,” Pederson said. “I never heard him yell the whole time — and this was the 1970s, with kids and behavior. A lot was going on.” For Redal, the Del Sonics reunion is about the future as well as the past. She has a 15-year-old who plays trombone. A few years ago, when her son was in seventh grade, Redal said she sat in the audience as he played in a Colorado music festival. The song was Chuck Magione’s “Land of Make Believe.” “That piece I so associated with that era. It took me straight back to 1976,” Redal said. “We were all in the Del Sonics and loved Chuck Magione. I started to cry. I thought of the group.” That experience planted the seed for a Del Sonics reunion. “I wanted to get in touch with Ken Kraintz and let him know he’s still part of my mind and my heart,” she said. “That legacy is living on in my son.” Julie Muhlstein: 425-339-3460, muhlstein@heraldnet.com. READER COMMENTS Be the first to comment. You must be a registered user and verify your e-mail address to post comments to blogs or articles on HeraldNet. To register, click here. To read other terms and conditions, click here. Log out

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