After being a sideman on 25+ albums over the past 13 years, I finally got around to recording an EP as a composer/leader in 2022. Videos on Youtube (below) & audio available on all streaming services.
Jake Boldman, trumpet/flugelhorn
Eric Jordan, soprano sax/alto sax
Jake Syrenne, tenor sax
Jon Gauer, trombone
Ben Parrish, guitar
Sonya Walker, piano
Van Powell, bass
Rowan Woodbury, drums
I play with several jazz big bands in Denver and elsewhere. Check out some of our videos below.
with special guest Larry Braggs (former frontman, The Temptations/Tower of Power) - Full-length concert video, August 2021
CJRO live in 2019 - This concert got cut short due to a thunderstorm. The first lightning strike hit in the middle of my solo. (I've never made an audience happier. Thanks, weather!)
Check out the full album Ari's Funhouse (available on CD or streaming services)
We recorded several big band tracks remotely during the pandemic. Art finds a way.
Live, December 2019 - This was a holiday concert with a couple of modern non-holiday compositions thrown in.
Live, summer 2019 - Dr. Eric Richards at Sheridan College organizes a big band of some of the best music educators in the region. We perform a mix of traditional "boomer favorites" (Eric's words) as well as original modern jazz.
As a student at the University of North Texas, I performed as bass trombonist with the world-renowned One O'Clock Jazz Lab Band under the direction of Steve Wiest and Jay Saunders.
Each year, the One O'Clock records a professional-quality studio album of original music. Since 1975, these albums have been nominated for a total of seven Grammy awards, most recently for Richard DeRosa's composition "Niel" on the album Lab 2015.
Highlights of the years I spent as a member of the One O'Clock include tours to St. Louis, Chicago, New Orleans, Monterrey, CA, Palm Springs, CA, Tulsa, OK, Powell, WY, and Hattiesburg, MS; performances with guest artists including Terell Stafford, John Clayton, Wayne Bergeron, Dave Green, Denis DiBlasio, Mike Stern, Peter Erskine, Walt Weiskopf, Stockton Helbing, Chuck Findley, and Bobby McFerrin; and sharing the stage with 18 trumpet legends at the "Cancer Blows" fundraiser event.
"The Song is You"
Arranged by Drew Zaremba
Live, November 2014
Featuring Chuck Findley, trumpet
"Kelsier"
Live, March 2014
Featuring Stockton Helbing, composer & drumset
"Uncertainty"
Composed by Brad Kang
Arranged by Drew Zaremba
"Out in the Storm"
Composed by Aaron Hedenstrom
"Pistachio"
Composed by Drew Zaremba
Former One O'Clock Lab Band director Steve Wiest is not only a celebrated jazz composer and arranger, but an avid fan and author of science fiction. His 2014 album "Concerto for Folded Space" is the musical companion to his scifi novel "The Dover Stone."
CFFS is scored for an exotic ensemble Wiest calls "The Eclectric Band": trombone, saxophone, and vocal soloists accompanied by trombone choir, flute choir, and a rocked-out rhythm section. For this project I had the honor of playing bass trombone as the fifth member of award-winning trombone quartet Maniacal Four.
More information about CFFS/The Dover Stone can be found at http://steve-wiest.com/sci-fi/
"Step Aside"
"The Flutes of Glastonbury"