Modern Sounds-A Big Band Celebration of the Great Arrangers-October 21-25, 1998

Modern Sounds was held on the Queen Mary in Long Beach harbor during the weekend of October 21-25, 1998. It was produced by Ken Poston who has done fests with a similar format since Back to Balboa celebrating Stan Kenton back in 1991. This time the affair was under the auspices of the California Institute for the Preservation of Jazz, located at Cal State Long Beach where Poston is now director. Modern Sounds was dedicated to the arranger, specifically the big jazz band arranger. This theme was developed by the performance of several working big bands and also pick-up bands organized to play the works of famous arrangers of the past.

Woody Herman-First Herd. Full registrants, those who had shelled out $300 apiece for a pass to all of the weekend’s programs, were treated to a pre-fest concert out on Catalina Island. Boats ferried out fans to the Casino Ballroom to hear the music of Woody Herman’s First Herd. Emcee for the evening was former Herman bassist Chubby Jackson. Chubby gave a full show, mugging outrageously, shaking his behind, telling stories and in general displaying the influence of his mother’s career in vaudeville. Chubby did not play bass. Don Menza, sitting in the sax section, helped immensely by taking on some of the directing chores. Pete Candoli and Ralph Burns, who were advertised in earlier versions of the program, did not appear.

Terry Harrington took Woody’s role on clarinet. The saxes were Dick Hafer and Don Menza on tenor, Kim Richmond and Phil Feather on alto and Bob Efford on baritone. The trombones were Dave Ryan, Charley Morrilas and Ernie Tack (complete with eyepatch) on bass trombone. The trumpets were Frank Szabo (lead), Ramon Flores, Dave Trigg, Ron King and Carl Saunders. Lou Levy had the piano chair, John Leitham the bass, and Kevin Winard on drums.

Woody’s theme, Blue Flame, gave way to Apple Honey with its screaming trumpet intro. The first solo up was the tenor saxophone of Don Menza who wailed. Menza appeared with several bands over the long weekend and just burned at every opportunity. Next Chubby tried to demonstrate the development of a head arrangement, and started it off by scat singing what he titled Chubby’s Blues. Trombonist Dave Ryan took the Bill Harris feature Everywhere. Later in the program Charley Morillas did up Bijou. Neither reminded me of the distinct style of Bill Harris. Both sounded more like disciples of the smooth Bill Watrous approach. Following Everywhere we heard Northwest Passage and Woodchopper’s Ball. Hafer and Menza split up the Flip Philips feature Sweet and Lovely. Hafer took his Lester Young approach, Menza more out of Sonny Rollins. Neither matched the gorgeous playing of Philips himself from the 1993 Early Autumn fest. The first half closed out with Neil Hefti’s The Good Earth. It was obvious that drummer Kevin Winard was not familiar enough with the chart to catch all the accents that any of Woody’s regular touring drummers would have. These are the drawbacks of limited rehearsal time for a pick-up band.

The second half took us through Wild Root, the aforementioned Bijou, Lady McGowan’s Dream and Goosey Gander. A long round of solos on Blowin Up a Storm was highlighted by the trumpet work of Carl Saunders. John Leitham took his typical fine bass solo despite having Chubby mugging right in his face. The evening closed with Caldonia, done without a vocal. Menza wailed on tenor and Saunders traded stop time solos with Ron King but it still missed Woody’s trademark skull banging "What makes your big head so hard?"

It’s always good to hear prime Woody such as these numbers but I missed the playing of the likes of Harris, Philips and drummer Davey Tough. And is Woody the only player who could make the clarinet play over the top of a shouting ensemble? To say nothing of his great vocals and Hodges-like alto.

Assault on a Queen-The Louie Bellson Jazz Orchestra In recent years Louie’s bands have played lots of Ellington material and Thursday morning’s concert was no exception. Louie opened with The Hawk Talks which I believed refers to Harry James but was recorded when Bellson was on the Ellington band in the early ‘50s. Intimacy of the Blues followed, topped off by the screech trumpet of Walt Johnson in the style of Cat Anderson. She Walks Well was the main title theme from the soundtrack score Ellington did for the movie Assault on a Queen. The queen of the movie was the very same Queen Mary. Perdido featured the trombones of Bob Payne, Andy Martin and George Bohanon. Prelude to a Kiss was given to Pete Christlieb’s tenor. For C.T. (Clark Terry) was sparked by Saunders and Steve Huffstetter on trumpet. Louis then brought on his daughter Didi (I’ve seen it spelled Dee Dee also) to sing I’m Beginning to See the Light, In My Solitude and It Don’t Mean a Thing. The concert closed with Bellson’s Skin Deep complete with extended drum solo. Bellson is not the rousing drummer he once was, but he still plays well. I found the concert rather mild.

Jack Sheldon Big Band Sheldon has not fared well at Poston’s fests in the past. A crowd favorite, he has canceled for illness and other reasons or appeared in settings that limited his solo playing. Finally regular Poston attendees were treated to the complete Sheldon buffet-his big band, his playing, singing and stand-up comedy. I thought the concert was very enjoyable but am curious how it would transfer to a CD, as half the fun is simply watching Sheldon. All of the arrangements were by Tom Kubis who held down one of the tenor chairs and occasionally conducted. There was a feature for Andy Martin’s trombone on Caravan and also one for all the trumpets on Anthropology. Everything else had the singing and trumpet of Sheldon. He began with an up-tempo Here’s That Rainy Day, followed by Day by Day and the Louis Armstrong influenced Its Sleepy Time Down South. He also did For All We Know, and more Armstrong in the form of Do You Know What It Means to Miss New Orleans. He closed with The Sheik of Araby which made me think of Spike Jones and stayed in my head the rest of the weekend. Sheldon’s vocals are probably an acquired taste to some but I liked them. His stand-up is both crude and hilarious. An entertaining concert.

Gerald Wilson Orchestra Wilson also played Anthropology. From his suite for the 40^th Monterey Jazz Festival we heard Romance and Carmel by the Sea. The melody was the same for both pieces, given different treatments by arranger Wilson. The trumpet of Ron Barrows took the solo on Carlos, one of Wilson’s bullfight oriented compositions. I’ve heard Wilson play this several times, but the relentless build-up can still display great power. Wilson’s son Anthony played guitar with the band. I would like to hear his group live someday.

Duke Ellington-The Blanton Webster Years-conducted by Loren Schoenberg Schoenberg, visiting from New York, appeared in a triple role as music director, tenor saxophonist and most interestingly as jazz historian/commentator. A pick-up band worked its way through an assortment of Ellington material from the early ‘40s. We heard Sepia Panorama, Strayhorn’s Rain Check, All Too Soon, Harlem Airshaft, and The Flaming Sword (based on Tiger Rag). Schoenberg indulged in a duet of his tenor and Gerald Wiggins (glasses propped on his forehead as always) on piano for I Got It Bad. Following this were What Am I Here For, Strayhorn’s After All and Johnny Come Lately, Across the Track Blues, Ko Ko, Cottontail and Take the A Train. Cottontail featured the three tenors of Herman Riley, Schoenberg and Pete Christlieb. Bassist Trey Henry, in the role of Jimmy Blanton, only soloed on Cottontail and none of the tenors sounded much like Ben Webster. But we heard a lot of less well-known Ellington-Strayhorn and the entire concert would have made an excellent educational PBS special. It was Schoenberg’s informative introductions that lifted the performance out of the routine.

The Atomic Basie-The Frank Capp Juggernaut-Neal Hefti Arrangements To start off with, the Juggernaut was there but drummer/leader Frankie Capp was not. We were told Capp was touring Japan with clarinetist Ken Peplowski. So Louie Bellson was the special guest artist on drums and the nominal leader although he took the tempos from Capp’s lead trumpet (and former Basie sideman) Frank Szabo. Capp has recently recorded a CD on Concord Jazz with the Juggernaut of many of Hefti’s arrangements for the Basie band of the ‘50s called In a Hefti Bag. We heard the charts from this CD. Bellson was reading down all the charts and his playing sounded tentative at times. I would have liked to hear Capp on this material. However Bellson did give an absolutely audience entrancing drum solo on Cute that was a clinic on playing with brushes. It was all familiar territory, especially for Basie fans, but I was still disappointed that none of the tunes were announced.

I make the tunes as Moten Swing, Kid from Red Bank, Teddy the Toad, Flight of the Foo Birds, Duet, Fantail, Splanky, Midnite Blue, Cute and finally Whirlybird. The updated arrangement of Moten Swing is usually credited to Eddie Durham, not Neal Hefti. Splanky, while it is the work of Hefti, is not on the Capp CD.

For Dancers Only-The Music of Jimmie Lunceford played by the Gerald Wilson Orchestra This performance had several of the arrangements of Sy Oliver and that characteristic Lunceford two beat feel. Wilson gave us Oliver’s treatment of Annie Laurie and Swanee River. Eddie Durham’s Lunceford Special had Frank Szabo playing the original recorded trumpet solo of Gerald Wilson. Snooky Young, with Wilson one of the surviving members of the Lunceford band, took plunger trumpet solos on Organ Grinder Swing and later on Uptown Blues. In between we heard Wilson’s’ first recorded arrangement for Lunceford called High Spook. After Uptown Blues, the band played Gerald Wilson’s composition Yardog Mazurka with its similarity to the Kenton band’s Intermission Riff. Snooky Young and Wilson shared the vocal on Trummy Young’s Margie. The show closed with Oliver’s For Dancers Only. It was an enjoyable concert of the under-rated and little heard today Lunceford band music.

Bob Florence Limited Edition Florence has recently recorded a new CD for release in late January. Friday afternoon’s performance featured many of the pieces from this CD. I was stunned to learn that the Limited Edition only has five or six gigs a year. Florence started off with Serendipity with Don Menza drafted to fill in for Roger Neumann’s tenor. Neumann arrived in time to take his solo on the second number, Stanley Turrentine’s composition Sugar. Third up was Without You. Carl Saunders took a fabulous trumpet feature on Now Playing. Florence did wonderful things with 4 clarinets and 2 bass clarinets, later 4 flutes and 2 bass clarinets and also bucket muted trombones. The program closed with a long three part suite titled 3 E-Motions. Florence is one of the very best big band writers working today and his band is also one of the best as well. I understand that its hard for a pick-up to learn an hour’s worth of music in one rehearsal but a working band like Florence’s with its rich repertoire should be given 90 minutes or even two hours to play, not just one hour. More, please.

Les Brown Orchestra Reunion When Les Brown Jr. quoted his father as saying "this is a dance band!" that pretty much covers it. The Grand Salon of the Queen Mary, where these concerts were held, had carpet over the available dance floor but many couples got up to dance anyway. The senior Brown was not present, we were told instead that he was honeymooning in Casablanca with a new bride. Throughout the evening we heard the arrangements of Frank Comstock, Jay Hill, Skip Martin and Wes Hensel. Comstock’s treatment of I’ve Got You Under My Skin was followed by the Jay Hill original Yo Henry and the Hill arrangement of Tenderly. Bass trombonist and band manager Stumpy Brown took a vocal on Opus One. This was followed by Billy May’s chart for Charlie Barnet of Cherokee. Les Brown Jr. who was directing the evening, took a vocal on Just in Time from the "book" of Tony Bennet. Les Jr. also sang on Wee Small Hours of the Morning and Hill’s arrangement of I Only Have Eyes for You. Then it was Comstock’s chart of I’m Forever Blowing Bubbles. Young Don Clark was the trumpet soloist on Neil Hefti’s Lil Darlin. Surprisingly, Lil Darlin was not played Thursday during the Juggernaut performance. Clark took many impressive trumpet solos throughout the evening, in a swing style without an overlay of bop. Next was Skip Martin’s chart of I’ve Got My Love to Keep Me Warm. Then a tribute to Woody Herman in the form of Jay Hill’s rework of Woodchoppers Ball. A tribute to Ellington followed with Satin Doll. The first half closed with Skip’s arrangement of Brown’s Little Jug (Little Brown Jug).

The second portion started with Marty Paich’s Pink Coats. Then guest saxophonist Dave Pell did up Leapfrog with the band followed by Lester Leaps In with just the rhythm section and finally Wes Hensel’s Montoona Clipper with the full band. Next was more Ellington with Jay Hill’s chart on Strayhorn’s Take the A Train. We were then introduced to guest vocalist Lucy Ann Polk. Apparently she had not sung in public for some time and was understandably nervous, even forgetting a lyric or two. But soon she was having fun and I found her small voice a welcome contrast to some of the belting I’ve had to endure. Hers was a poignant, even touching performance. With the full band she sang Our Love is Here to Stay and S’Wonderful. She also sang with a modernized Dave Pell Octet, doing Imagination and Ain’t Life Grand. The appeal of the Octet eludes me still. Perhaps it recalls fond memories of school dances. Butch Stone was brought out next and we heard him sing A Good Man is Hard to Find, Bad Bad Leroy Brown and The Story of Old Man Time. He reminded me of no one but Jimmy Durante. The band played Lover Come Back to Me to close the two and a half hour show. Not much jazz content, but a show of dance band music and singing. And I hope I never hear Leroy Brown again!

The Music of Don Ellis-The Cal State Long Beach Jazz Ensemble directed by Neal Finn Presenting the music of Don Ellis is a challenge in that the charts are difficult to play and no one today plays trumpet quite like Ellis did. Neal Finn and his student band took on the challenge very successfully. First a student band has the rehearsal time to woodshed tough charts. Second, the Ellis pieces Finn chose were not the hardest in the book. The absence of Ellis’ trumpet was solved in several ways. One of the tunes was not a trumpet feature, but a saxophone feature called Salvatore Sam, played by tenor Dave Najar. Neal Finn substituted his own trombone playing for Ellis quarter tone trumpet on John Klemmer’s The Old Man’s Tear. When it came time to add a second drumer, as Ellis often did by playing drums himself, Finn took up the sticks to "duel" with drummer Greg Paxton on Indian Lady. Finally, student trumpet Corey Olariu from Romania had a style just different enough from a typical American student player to make Hank Levy’s 12/4 Rock Odyssey work. I was also impressed with Megan Kent’s baritone solo on the same piece. This was a fine concert by an excellent college group. Finn who at one point wrote excellent charts for his own rehearsal big band in the Santa Cruz, California area, is obviously a talented and energetic educator. The music of Don Ellis, too little heard today, deserves more performances like this one.

Bill Watrous Big Band Although Watrous often is seen in front of a big band, it is frequently as a clinician with a school group or as a guest artist. This was a rare opportunity to see him with his own big band. The material was from his recent big band albums for GNP and DoubleTime. Thus we heard nothing from his two classic Manhattan Wildlife Refuge big band albums for Columbia from the late ‘70s. Watrous familiar trombone style was much in evidence-the consistently smooth tone, the impressive upper register and most of all the awesome technique that allows him to negotiate the changes at the fastest of tempos. We heard Space Available, the title track of the DoubleTime release, followed by the ballad My Foolish Heart. Next were two composition/arrangements by Gordon Goodwin, Chick Hearn and Mama Llama Samba. Trey Henry switched to electric bass for Mama Llama Samba, with solos by Brian Scanlon on sax and Steve Huffstetter on trumpet. The saxes took up piccolo and flute for some of the shout breaks. Sammy Nestico arranged Johnny Mandel’s Low Life for the A Time for Love CD on GNP. Watrous and pianist Christian Jacob soloed. The closer was another from Gordon Goodwin, I Got Da Zzzzs with Jacob, Scanlon and Phil Feather on soprano. The band had a tight ensemble with lots of room for Watrous to blow. I’m still envious of those who heard the Manhattan group live.

Bill Potts’ The Jazz Soul of Porgy and Bess This was probably the best concert of the 4 ½ day weekend. It was a recreation of a fabulous 1959 recording of George Gershwin’s American opera Porgy and Bess, done in a big jazz band style by Bill Potts. Potts, after a considerable career as a pianist and arranger for hire (he wrote for Buddy Rich and the Tonight Show band), has spent some 16 years teaching at a college on the East Coast. The original 1959 recording done in New York City, had a dream all-star line-up. This 1998 Long Beach pick-up band was almost as impressive. Bill Watrous sat in the trombone section to play lead and take solos. Peter Erskine, ex-Kenton, ex-Maynard, ex-Weather Report, etc. took the drum chair.

Everything was written up in a very swinging style, and the band roared from the first downbeat.

It began with Summertime, with Ron Stout on trumpet, Bob Hardaway and Don Menza on tenor and the Zoot Sims solo from the original recording orchestrated for the whole saxophone section. A Woman is a Sometimes Thing followed with Brandon Field on alto and Bill Watrous on trombone. Steve Huffstetter on trumpet and Hardaway on tenor were featured on My Man’s Gone Now. It Takes A Long Pull had solos from Jack Nimitz on baritone sax, Lou Levy on piano, Field again on alto and Randy Aldcroft on trombone. I’ve Got Plenty O’ Nuttin’ again had a harmonized Zoot Sims solo for the saxes and also Ron King on trumpet. Bess, You Is My Woman, had Kim Richmond on alto, Huffstetter, Watrous and Menza. Next was Oh, I Can’t Sit Down, which was not done on the original recording. We heard from Ron King, Barry Zweig on guitar, Craig Fundiga on vibes, Stout, Alex Isles on trombone and Menza. Hardaway, Zweig and Levy played on It Ain’t Necessarily So. There’s a Boat That’s Leavin for New York was filled with Levy, Fields, Menza and Huffstetter. The ballad Oh Bess, Oh Where’s My Bess was turned over to the trombone of Bill Watrous, who played gorgeously. The closer was O Lord I’m On My Way, with short solos by virtually all of the horn players, up one section and down the next. Drummer Peter Erskine was very impressive, kicking the band relentlessly. With proper respect to Louis Bellson, it was Erskine who played the best big band drums of the weekend.

The Music of Artie Shaw This was probably the cornerstone event of Modern Sounds, a great concept with dull results. THE Artie Shaw, the man himself, now 86 years old, was persuaded to lead a pick-up band playing his music. We were told that extra rehearsal time was allotted so that Shaw could best get the sound he wanted. As Shaw has not played the clarinet in public in years, a personal favorite of his, Don Shelton, played all of the solo clarinet work. As a result, Shelton played on virtually every song. This is the same Don Shelton who sang with the Hi-Los and the Singers Unlimited. We were also told that Shaw selected all of the charts to be played. The concert was held at the Wilshire Theater in Beverly Hills.

After Shaw’s theme of Nightmare, we heard Back Bay Shuffle with Bob McChesney on trombone, Don Clark (from the previous evening’s Les Brown concert) on trumpet, Alan Broadbent on piano and Pete Christlieb on tenor. Broadbent, Christlieb and Clark on harmon muted trumpet played again on Lover Come Back to Me. Bob Summers’ trumpet was heard on Rose Room. Nonstop Flight had Christlieb again. Harry Warren’s song Octaroon had Dennis Farias on trumpet. Christlieb and McChesney took solos on Softly as in a Morning Sunrise. The trombones donned wah-wah plunger mutes for Lady Be Good with Christlieb’s tenor. Begin the Beguine also had Christlieb. Tenor sax Bob Hardaway, trombone Randy Aldcroft and Broadbent played on Traffic Jam. The reeds took string section parts for Moonglow with Broadbent and McChesney. Temptation had Brian Scanlon on alto. Arthur Schwartz’s Dancing in the Dark, a gold record for Shaw, again featured Don Clark on harmon muted trumpet. Grabtown Grapple was done in the style of Shaw’s small band within a big band, the Grammercy Five. Trumpeter Bob Summers joined Don Shelton out in front. Then Bob Hardaway played on I Cover the Waterfront. To close the first half Clark and McChesney soloed on Stardust.

The second half opened with Bob Summers on The Glider. An Eddie Sauter arrangement of Summertime from 1945 had Farias, Christlieb and Broadbent. Johnny Mandel arranged I Get a Kick Out of You for Shaw’s bop band. We heard from Christlieb and guitarist Ron Anthony. McChesney played more trombone on Maid with the Flaccid Air. From about 1954-55 we heard Taboo with Summers and Christlieb. Anthony and Summers soloed on The Hornet. The show closed with Nightmare followed by an encore of a never recorded arrangement from 1949 of Georgia on My Mind. A reprise of Nightmare closed the evening.

The clarinet of Don Shelton was a delight throughout and he was obviously enjoying the evening’s music. Shaw was his usual crochety self ( at 86, he’s entitled) as he introduced the tunes (but not the players). He did warm up some when he realized that the audience was even enjoying the more obscure and advanced arrangements. Many of the soloists adjusted their typical playing to fit in with the swing band style rather than their usual bop based improvs. Christlieb was notably effective in this regard. But the band never cut loose, romped, jumped or booted. The dynamics were very muted and the tempos never approached any kind of groove. In particular, the drummer was not only invisible, but almost inaudible. He kept time but never pushed or kicked the band. I find it hard to believe that this was the sound the Shaw band put out in live appearances in the ‘40s. An evening of some historical moment but although the second half was looser and freer than the first the overall effect was dull. And where was Frenesi?

David Angel Big Band and Sextet Angel was probably the least known of the arrangers presented at Modern Sounds. Currently working mostly in Europe, we were told that for many years he wrote for a band that rehearsed at the musicians’ union once a week.

First up was his Saxtet, six saxophones, bass and drums. Tom Peterson was on alto, Bill Perkins on tenor, Jeff Driskill and Roger Neuman on tenors, and Bob Carr and David Angel on baritones. The played two numbers, with Perk taking a soprano solo on You Don’t Know What Love Is. It was Perkins only appearance on the festival. Then the Angel Big Band assembled. All Right had solos by Stacey Rowles on flugelhorn, Bob Enevoldsen on valve trombone and Perkins now on tenor. Something titled A Cow Standing Alone on an Island had Jack Coan on flugelhorn, Frank Strazzeri on piano, David Daulston on trombone and Angel on baritone. Without a Song had some of Neumann’s tenor, Perkins and a bit of Morris Repass’ tuba in the ensemble. But most of the song featured the feathery light touch of Stacey Rowles on flugelhorn. By this time, late in the weekend, her style was a welcome contrast to the trumpet playing of Summers, Stout, Huffstetter, and Saunders. W was an original based on the harmonies of What Is This Thing Called Love. We heard solos from Angel on bari, Perkins on alto, Strazzeri on piano, Enevoldsen on trombone, Carr on bari and Charlie Myerson on drums.

Angel’s big band was the smallest of the festival, just 3 trumpets, 3 trombones, 5 saxes and the rhythm section. The trumpet sections was actually a flugelhorn, a trumpet and a cornet. The trombone section was bass trombone, valve trombone and tenor trombone. Angel’s writing deliberately avoided the usual shout chorus. He liked to combine various players from different sections rather than pit one section versus another. The overall sound was quite light, the least bombastic of the weekend, reminding me of Tom Talbert’s band with some hint of Shorty Rogers as well. I don’t believe Angel and the band have recorded.

The Manny Albam Big Band Another pick-up band was assembled, this time directed by Manny Albam, in a concert of his own arrangements. First up was Its a Wonderful World with both Carl Saunders and Steve Huffstetter on harmon muted trumpet and Brian Scanlon on alto saxophone. Hoo Ray was dedicated to Rayburn Wright, longtime educator at the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, New York. Don Menza played the tenor solo, Tom Garvin the piano. Steve Huffstetter’s flugelhorn was featured at length on Albam’s treatment of Lush Life. Honk If You Love Jazzers was turned over to the altos of both Brian Scanlon and Greg Huckins. Sweet Georgia Brown had Carl Saunders on trumpet, Tom Garvin and some honky tonk piano, Trey Henry on bass and finally Don Menza’s tenor. The final piece was commissioned by the drummer for the German radio band. We heard the first movement of Setting the Traps suite, with Huffstetter and the drums of Bob Leatherbarrow. Overall, well-done if not distinctive.

The Clare Fischer Jazz Corps The latest brain child of Clare Fischer, this group was inspired by the drum and bugle corps you usually see performing on football fields. Fischer spent thousands and thousands of dollars to purchase a wide range of bugles in various sizes and pitches. A small army of brass players took up the bugles, joined by a 7 man reed section and a rhythm section with Fischer himself at a Roland keyboard. Blues Lied had solos from Gary Foster on clarinet and Andy Martin on marching trombone (valves, no slide). Cherokee has Don Shelton on clarinet and Carl Saunders on an instrument that resembled a trumpet. Next Fischer had taken a Lee Konitz solo on Lover Man and orchestrated it for 4 altos and 1 tenor. Four Brothers at Five.Com saw the reeds take up 3 clarinets and 2 alto clarinets. This was the Woody Herman perennial re-arranged for clarinets with solos by Carl Saunders and Fischer at the keyboard. The Herd Moves On, a program piece about elephants had a solo by Gary Foster on alto clarinet. Fuzz Blues had a solo by Huffstetter on a bugle that looked like a mellophone. Last was Hey James with Don Shelton on alto sax.

At his own expense, Fischer had recorded the group and was selling CDs at the concert. The horde of bugles was not as loud as you might think, the sonorities were certainly different from the typical trumpet and trombone brass sections. I was impressed that despite changing from his usual slide trombone to a valved marching trombone, Andy Martin’s solo retained his usual jazz style. Fischer conducted some from the keyboard and some from in front of the band, yelling Achtung to get attention and Going on! to indicate a transition to the next section of a chart. Fischer had obviously put in a lot of time and a lot of money from his commercial writing to be able to hear what a big band would sound like with a mass of bugles. It was out of the ordinary and worked like a musical Q-Tip after days of more conventional big band sounds.

Scheduled performances of the music of both Bob Brookmeyer and Chico O’Farrill were cancelled. No reason was given for their absence.