Big Band Jazz Collection

I have played all forms of music in a variety of different bands from orchestra, wind band, liturgical, jazz band, pop, musicals, weddings, funerals, Memorial Day observances, to rhythm & blues. But my favorite is playing lead trumpet in a full-size big band jazz ensemble. This album contains some of my favorite songs from my favorite band leaders and also some songs I played in school. All of these songs have four or five trumpet parts and it is me playing all of them.

On the Maynard Ferguson songs, I attempted to play in his same style, which is rather unique and immediately recognizable. The Opener was a song we played a lot in High School. It is not extremely challenging, but still sounded nice and was fun to play. On Give it One I I used a wah-wah effect on the first trumpet solo and the second solo I duplicated Maynard's solo precisely. If you've never heard of John Brown's Body, you will immediately recognize the tune when it starts. Woody added the word "other" to the title I suppose because this was a jazz version of the song. If you are interested, look up the history of the song and of John Brown. Here's That Rainy Day was recorded on what was arguably one of Stan Kenton's best live albums, "Live at Redlands University". I got to see his band where they played this song at a high school jazz festival. Our band director purchased the chart and when we got back to our school that night after the concert at around 1:00 a.m., we all got out our instruments and immediately began playing this chart. Fun times. You will notice that this is somewhat a trombone feature. You also will notice that the lead trombone player, Dick Shearer, uses very heavy slide action (glissando and vibrato). I read a story once where Stan Kenton hated vibrato and forbade any of his band members to use it. Except for Dick Shearer. For some unknown reason Stan allowed Dick to do whatever he wanted and Dick sure took advantage of it. So in my recording here, I attempted as much as possible to duplicate Dick Shearer's take on this song. Beulah Witch is one of my most favorite Buddy Rich charts. It is a barn burner! I play it the way the chart was written. Buddy plays it slightly different of course, like he does with most charts. The Naked Gun is the movie sound track's title song. Very film noir sounding. Eli's Comin' was composed by the great Laura Nyro and Maynard's version is very nice. The ending I chose here is from a very rare recording of Maynard Ferguson. The version on the album most widely known for this song, "M.F. Horn", has a fade-out ending. However I hate fade-out endings. It will a rare occasion indeed if you ever hear a fade-out ending from me! So this rare version does not have a fade-out ending. To me it seemed something was missing from the ending, so I added a flugelhorn solo. I just made it up on the spot during the recording session. Who's Sorry Now is a great arrangement by Sammy Nestico, who composed much of Count Basie's music book, but as far as I know, Basie never recorded this song. I played this both in High School and college. MacArthur Park, who hasn't done a version of this great song? Maynard Ferguson's take on this classic is one for which he is most widely known. Again, I attempted to play exactly in his style. We played this in high school. The Chick Corea classic, La Fiesta, everyone has done it. But I like Woody Herman's version the best. And I have a long personal story to tell related to this song. Let's start a new paragraph for it.

It was on Woody’s Giant Steps album, April 1973. The arrangement was by Tony Klatka, one of the trumpeters in the band. The early 70’s is considered to have been the best of the modern “Thundering Herd” bands, as they were known. So much so, his band performed at the 1973 Super Bowl halftime show. That’s hard to believe isn’t it, considering the type of acts the Super Bowl gets today? Woody’s band won three Grammy awards, the second and third were back to back in 1973 and 1974 with this album, Giant Steps, and the next one, Thundering Herd. That pretty much says it all as to how great this era’s band was. And I got to see them live during this time!

Speaking of the Thundering Herd album, that one is very special to me because it is one of four albums I purchased back when I first began my record collection in about 1977.

Back in I think it was 1981, being just out of school I of course had little money, so I only had a very inexpensive sound system. But I always loved going to the local audio store to dream. They always carried the top of the line equipment.

Well, I heard La Fiesta blasting from this one system. I had to get closer. The sound was INCREDIBLE. I believe my jaw had to have dropped open in astonishment. I placed myself between those two speakers and stood there in awe for the entire nearly six minutes of the song. I had never heard such volume and power, such clarity, such dynamic range, such frequency range. It was like a live performance. In fact, at one point I closed my eyes and was envisioning standing in front of Woody’s band. I never knew a home audio system could sound like this. Unfortunately I cannot remember the brand of the amplifier, but it was one of the biggest names of that era. But the speakers! I had to know about those nearly five foot tall speakers that towered in front me. In speaking with the salesman, I found out they were Acoustic Research speakers, their top of the line model, the massive AR-9. Behemoths. They were a whopping $1,800 for a pair and weighed 130 pounds. And remember now, this was 1981. That was a LOT of money!

Well, obviously I could not afford those, but he showed my some of AR’s lesser models. They also were very impressive, although not as much as the AR-9’s. I settled on the AR-94 model. They were $400. Still a significant sum. They also were towers, but only stood about 2.5 feet. And they were very, very good. But my amplifier wasn’t capable of the power that those speakers could take. So soon after, I had to buy a better receiver. A Pioneer. And the rest is history. I have over the years spent a fortune on audio equipment. And I will never forget the day I was in that store and heard this song on those speakers. BTW, my old AR-94 speakers are still with me, sitting away in a closet, as is that Pioneer receiver.

And this will explain to you why I said on the home page that I hope you can listen to my music on a decent stereo system. At least something better than phone speakers or even computer speakers. My songs are full stereo, full high fidelity, full dynamic range, and will put out all the bass that a sub-woofer will take. I put a lot of work into my songs and hope that you can hear them at their best potential that you are able.

And finally there is Ya Gotta Try. It is a Count Basie tune, but also covered by Buddy Rich, who did many of The Count's tunes, but adding a lot more fire to them. Buddy plays this extremely fast. I took the middle road and played it faster than Basie, but slower than Rich. And again, this is among my most favorite charts of Buddy Rich.

I hope to make a second album of big band songs. Stay tuned for more!