Foothill College in Los Altos, CA has two evening bands that rehearse on Tuesdays. John Gove is the director and plays trombone in the 8 o'clock band as well. The 6 o'clock band has some fine semi-pro players and swings pretty damn hard. The rhythm section has a good pocket and John's choice of material suits them perfectly. Kerry McCoy, a long time friend of mine since "74" plays bass trombone in it as well as Lori Stotko on trombone (and also was featured quite a bit on piano in the 8 o'clock band).
The 8 o'clock band is filled with local heavy weights Alex Murzyn on tenor sax, Johnny Baumont on bari sax, Paul Tarantino on alto sax, Modesto Bresenio on solo trumpet, Tom "Mr Sunshine" Bertetta on lead trumpet, Curtis Nash on jazz trumpet, Kelly Fasman on drums, John Hettel on bass ect...A couple guys sat in and sight read the concert in the sax section, Gene Burkert on tenor sax and Ron Graham on alto sax.
John picks charts mostly from the bands of Maria Schneider, Dave Holland as well as some stuff from the Thad Jones/Mel Lewis book and others. A couple of stand out solos came from Lori Stotko (almost on every chart!), Modesto on "Tones For Jones Bones" and others....The band played great and showed a maturity than comes from having so many experienced pro's in it.
There should be more venues available so bands of this caliber can be seen and hear more often. When is someone going to step up to the plate and open a place big enough that could serve our communities need for more culture. We need a space like the Improv in San Jose so we can present a higher quality of entertainment that reflects the talent that resides here. Any takers out there? If anyone has a thought or idea let me know. Email me or post to this blog and talk to me. For that matter, everyone should feel free to leave a comment or two (not any of those lame advertisements that pop up that don't have anything to do with the subject). I really hope to hear from some of you who read this blog.
Be well and thanks for helping to keep jazz alive here in the South Bay.
John
john@johnworley.com
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