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COMING
ATTRACTIONS in & around Redding
and Northern CA...
Where we've been and what's on
the schedule:
Did you miss this one?
Don't miss the next
one...
2010
Jul
17 - the Jazz
Combo at the Holiday Inn for a
fun evening to benefit disabled
veterans in Northern California.
Besides food and dancing, there will
be a fun Fifties fashion show! For
tickets & information call Maria
Villezar at (530) 221-4985
July
23 & 24 - the Jazz
Combo at Joe Catanio's
Turtle Bay Cafe. Come on down for
dinner and fun music in this great
setting by the Sundial Bridge. He
makes a mean martini, too!
Oct
09 - the Jazz
Combo at the Cascade Theater for a
fun Saturday night sponsored by CH2M Hill.
Last year's event benefited the
Schreder Planetarium and Whiskeytown
Environmental School. Help a good
cause and you get to dance on stage
right in front of the band!
Oct 21
? - the Big
Band will return to the Soup
Kitchen this
event was cancelled last year,
but it will be back bigger
and better in 2010! Keep
your eyes on the papers (or here) to
confirm the date and time.
Nov
21 - the Jazz
Combo at the Redding
Elks' Lodge for the Rivercity Jazz
Society's monthly concert and dance.
That's a Sunday, from 1:00 to
5:00. Let's pack the joint and
show them how much support local
music has in Redding!
April
28 -- We
had the Big
Band at Central
Valley High School for a big
Spaghetti Feed and concert with the
student musicians. We do all we can
to help keep music in our local schools!
March
27 --
The Big
Band was swinging the Boondocker
Ball to help in the major
fundraising for the proposed
new Northern California Veterans' Museum.
This is going
to be built off of Knighton Road,
out toward the Redding Airport, and
will be a huge facility dedicated to
all who have served.
Check out some photos from last
year:

March
13 -- This was the Rivercity
Jazz Society's 11th annual Youth
Jazz At
The Mt. Shasta Mall Day. Nancy &
Steve were there all day
representing our band and the RJS, listening to young players from as
many as a dozen local high and junior
high school bands. Music all day Saturday in
Redding's Mt. Shasta Mall Food
Court. Join us next year !!! And
Ask
about the new 501(c)(3) Straight
Ahead Big Band Institute we've
organized to support big band music
in the Redding area. Donations will
gladly be accepted and are tax
deductible. Check
it out:

March
5 -- The Big
Band was at the Sequoia
School auditorium with other local
entertainers, including the
fantastic Enterprise Starship,
donating in the effort to raise
funds for aid to Darfur.
HO!
HO!
HO!
The
Christmas CD IS
FINISHED.
 We
did it
!!

We're
making a list! WE WILL
BE DISTRIBUTING THEM SOON. Reservations for
your copy gladly taken. OR send $15
to 1725 Chicory Court and we'll send
you one. Ask about discounts
for multiple CD orders. This
is a marvelous gift for anybody on
your gift-giving list!
2009
. . . some
of last year's fun - -
April
22 -- We
had the Big
Band at Sequoia Middle
School for a Wednesday evening of fun and
music with the kids
and us playing lots of swinging music for the
benefit of their program. This has
been great for the kids and the
school, so call Sequoia now and plan
to attend next year. Note that Deb
has finally retired to enjoy the
good life, so let's get a big crowd
for her successor and really support
the kids!
Also check
out http://www.redding.com/news/2007/mar/22/big-band-big-heart/
Check back soon for more 2010
- it's going to be a great year !
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Look
for our CDs
available at various
outlets. In Redding you should
be able to find them at the Turtle Bay gift
shop, Bernie's
Guitar,
Clyde's
Next Generation,
and from our friends
at Tops
Sunset
Market. Also
available at select stores in Palo
Cedro, including Music
Max,
& at Weaverville's Highland Art Center.
Also all available through CDbaby.com.
Or
contact us directly for as many as
you want.

Nancy
said it’s time for a Christmas CD
from the Straight Ahead Big Band,
and we wanted to do it last year,
but too many things got in the way.
Stuff happens. As before we crammed
the whole group into the Patchcord
studio; we got most of the music
recorded in one very long afternoon,
Feb. 21, 2009. There was a
little more work to do, and we got
that done on May 6. Thanks to
everybody who helped make this all
happen. Players on this CD
are Bob Hansen on Piano, Tom
Andrews on Bass, Dave
Westfall on Guitar, and Tracy
Manuel on Drums. Of course Nancy
Fischer is the vocalist. Saxes
are Steve Fischer, Lou
Polcari, Mitch Hawley, Tyler
Spencer and Ken Reed. Ruth
Polcari is our flutist. Trumpets
are Sal D’Acquisto, Dick
Morris, George Goehner, Carlo
Fazio and Paul Senn.
Trombones are Todd Wright, John
Schlenz, Steve Clausen, Ron
Largent and Bill Corum.
We are very fortunate to make music
together as a group over the years.
It is only with difficulty that we
change. Last year we lost our long
time friend and tenor sax player,
Craig Williams. He was and is in our
minds and hearts as we put this
album together. On a much happier
note, we are pleased to be featuring
our new drummer, Tracy Manuel, who
had never done anything like this -
not too surprising since she just
recently turned sixteen! She brings
a fun fresh perspective to us old
guys in the band. Special thanks to
her mom & dad, Laura & Kent,
for letting her join us and driving
her to rehearsals and gigs.
Under the leadership of Steve
Fischer, the 18-piece Straight Ahead
Big Band plays a wide variety of
music associated with famous big
bands, and especially the
"straight-ahead" style of
bands such as those lead by Count
Basie. (Hence the name of the
group.)
The band started in Redding about
twenty years ago, as a rehearsal band, when its
founder and former manager moved up
from Santa Cruz with a folder of big
band charts. Before long there were
16 musicians from Redding and the
surrounding Northern California area
molded into a swinging group with a
nice big band sound.
It wasn’t long until people
began hearing the band and asking it
to play for various events, and
since then there have been many
concerts, club dates, fairs,
festivals, parties and weddings all
over the north state. The group has
grown a little and changed a few
personnel over the years, as happens
in the band business, but Steve and
a couple others of the original
group are still in it and going
strong, and many of the others still
fill in when schedules permit.
Steve & his
wife Nancy have squeezed the band into
Redding’s Patchcord Studio several
times now, producing four big band
CDs:"First Take,"
"Second Track,"
"The Third Time," and now
"All I Want 4 Christmas,"
plus a
combo CD, "Take
Six." All CDs offer a fine variety of
ensemble work, solo instrumentals
and vocals in a most enjoyable big
band style. If you have a chance to
catch the big band in a live setting,
you’re in for a real treat,
because there is nothing that
compares to a real full sized band
of this type, and this group does it
very well, indeed.
Whether for listening or dancing,
there will be something for every
fan of big band music at each
performance. Besides Count Basie,
there are the familiar sounds of
Duke Ellington, Glenn Miller, Woody
Herman, and Stan Kenton to listen
for, as well as newer music in the
genre and tunes written and arranged
by some of the band's past and
present members. The big band sound
that filled America's dance and
concert halls for years is alive --
swinging and thriving right here in
Redding!!!
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