For those who heard and admired Harry James, the band leader of the swing era, Chesapeake Music Hall has a treat Sunday, a concert of the great trumpeter's music with two stars.

Don Junker leads a 16-piece band in this tribute to James and splits the solos with Skip Stine, a former James sideman. Stine's wife, Cathy Chemi, a vocalist with the James band in the 1970s, will be featured in "You Made Me Love You," "I Had the Craziest Dream," and "I'm Beginning to See the Light," all made famous by her predecessors, Helen Forest and Kitty Kallen, in the 1940s.

Junker is a retired Navy band trumpeter and local free-lancer who plays with a stage band at Washington Redskins games. His band recently released a compact called "Junk Mail Special."

Instrumentally, the band has programmed such James favorites as "The Mole," "Back Beat Boogie," "Cherry," "Sleepy Lagoon," and James' famous theme song "Ciribiribin."

Like his father, Harry James started his professional career playing in a circus band. In 1937, he joined the Benny Goodman band, where he remained for two years as part of a powerful trumpet section that included Ziggy Elman and Chris Griffin.

James left to form his own band, which, in the 1940s, produced some big hits like "I Cried For You" and "You Made Me Love You." For a while, a young singer named Frank Sinatra performed with the band.

James and his band appeared in several movies in the 1940s, and he played trumpet on the soundtrack for the 1950 movie, "Young Man With A Horn."

In later years, he settled in Las Vegas, where he continued to lead a band and play until shortly before his death in 1983.

The concert, produced by John Tegler as part of his Jazz at the Music Hall series, starts at 8 p.m. Doors to the music hall, on Busch's Frontage Road off U.S. 50 west of the Bay Bridge, will open at 7 p.m. Tickets are $20 in advance and $24 at the door.

Information: 410-626-7515 or 800-406-0306 for reservations.

Pub Date: 3/18/99