The Big Band That Could

The Brockport Big Band that is....

Eight or nine years ago this group was founded by trumpet player, Lorrie Bryant and they have worked themselves into playing at Rochester's International Jazz Festival for the past 4 years.

Tonight they performed at the Senior Center in support of a fundraiser for the Sweden Singer Singers and boy!!! was it a first class performance.  18 very accomplished musicians put on the show of shows for a very appreciative audience.  Several years ago Gary and I held a fundraiser for them in our barn (where they played for hours) and we have been following them ever since.  This community (again) is very fortunate to have a big band of this caliber sharing such a boatload of talent.

 Many of the chorus and band members were (at one time) teachers or students from the Brockport school district.  Now, they are into music....working and playing together.

 We baked cookies, served coffee and tea, and kicked off the event singing "Alle Alle" (I drummed). The  rest of the evening was turned over to the band.  What a dream it would be to sing some 40's tunes with them!!!!

 Mark Ketchum (the sax player) and I coordinated this event and it went off without a hitch.

 I was tapping my foot during the entire performance with a big smile on my face.

 The Brockport Big Band has donated it's time and talent to perform at parks, nursing homes, schools and more (hopefully they will do a gig at Gary's Summer Serenades at the Welcome Center this summer). They love to give to the community.  Such committment.  Here we are, living in a small town in Western New York, and have the opportunity to go down the street and listen to top shelf music.  I guess we live in a magic kingdom.

And now, for your listening pleasure....

here are a few samples of what you missed. 

Thank you to the Brockport Big Band....what a pleasure.

Good vibes!