When the Homer High School Jazz Band plays its Spring Swing concert tonight at 7 p.m. on the Mariner Theatre stage, they’ll be bringing back a sound familiar to the Greatest Generation — and now revived by their grandchildren.

The big band sound popularized in the 1930s and 1940s by musicians like Glenn Miller should evoke some nostalgia. Songs like “In the Mood” or “Little Brown Jug” might get some seniors up and dancing, too. Jazz Band director Jason Nissly said that’s OK.

Like a concert at a USO club during World War II, at this concert hip cats can put on their zoot suits and swing, baby, swing. Spring Swing isn’t just a concert: it’s a dance.

“Our goal is to have it be a more active event, rather than sit and listen,” Nissly said.

The Jazz Band converts the Mariner Theatre stage into a dance floor. If advance ticket sales are strong, Nissly said the concert will be moved to the high school commons.

To get everybody in the mood — or at least not stepping on each other’s feet — free swing dance lessons are offered starting at 6 p.m. And yes, you can wet your whistle, too, because the $10 admission price includes refreshments.

The 28 musicians of the Jazz Band play a strong list of swing music standards.

“If you pulled up a top-10 list of most well-known swing tunes — that was our goal,” Nissly said. “We want it to be recognizable for everybody.”

In his second year as band director at Homer Middle School and the high school, and his 10th year teaching music, Nissly said this year’s jazz band is “the most talented group of musicians I’ve worked with. That was a really wonderful thing, to make the move and come here and find that group ready to go.”

Swing dancing and music has become popular among Homer teenagers, part of a national movement Nissly said he noticed when he taught in Las Vegas, Nev. During the high school’s 45-minute focus-on-learning period, student Kevin Christensen, who plays saxophone in the Jazz Band, has been teaching swing dancing. Under the sponsorship of teachers Sharon Thompson and Pamela Fogg, and with his sister Jenny, the Christensens have been teaching a swing dancing class three days a week. Jenny plays alto saxophone in the Jazz Band.

Photographer: Michael Armstrong, Homer News From left to right, Will Anderson on tenor saxophone, and Kevin Christensen, Jenny Christensen, Rosie Robinson and Ben Daigle, all on alto saxophone, play during a Homer High School Jazz Band rehearsal Monday.

Teenagers have been having dances every Friday night this year at the Christian Community Church gym.

The high school classes have about 25 students, with about 30 or 35 dancers showing up weekly. There have been a good mix of couples, Kevin Christensen said.

“All the girls I’ve talked to, they love it,” he said.

Swing dancing offers an alternative to modern teen dancing, “that whole grinding thing,” Christensen called it.

“I like this dance better,” he said of swing. “I think it’s catching on.”

Some of the evening’s songs are also newer numbers, like “Zoot Suit Riot” by the Cherry Popping Daddies, one of the modern swing-inspired bands that revived swing music at the turn of the millennium.

With names like Big Bad Voodoo Daddy and the Squirrel Nut Zippers, modern swing music distinguishes itself in name and spirit from other popular music.

Spring Swing is a benefit for the Jazz Band’s trip to the Music in the Park Festival, a high school band competition April 28 in Orlando, Fla.

Michael Armstrong can be reached at michael.armstrong@homernews.com.

Photo by Michael Armstrong Jason Nissly, band director for Homer High School and Homer Middle School, conducts the Homer High School Jazz Band in a practice Monday morning.