Click here to buy CDs, or to hear more samples of the music.

COMING ATTRACTIONS in & around Redding and Northern CA...

Where we've been and what's on the schedule:

Look for the Big Band or the Jazz Combo at one of the following dates...

2008  

March 2009 ? -- We will be sponsoring the Rivercity Jazz Society's 10th annual Jazz At The Mt. Shasta Mall Day. Nancy & Steve will be there all day listening to young players from a dozen or so local high and junior high schools.  Music all day Saturday in Redding's Mt. Shasta Mall food court. Join us!!! 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 will be tax deductible.

March  2009 ?  --   We will have the Big Band at Sequoia Middle School for a Wednesday evening of fun and music with Deb Scott's great kids and us playing some 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 that evening. Also check out http://www.redding.com/news/2007/mar/22/big-band-big-heart/

April 2009 ?  will be the fifth Redding Jazz Festival, put on by the Rivercity Jazz Society.  Three days of the world's best bands!  Expect to see our Jazz Combo in full swing! Go to www.rivercityjazz.com and get details on the whole fun weekend.  This is great fun, so be sure to tell everybody you know to look forward to this event - Call RJS now for details - 244-6033 or 378-1404.

May 10 - the Jazz Combo will be at Anderson's Frontier Senior Center with the all the lovely dancers. Join us and practice your tango! this is the last dance of their season, so join us again in the Fall !!!

June 1 - the Jazz Combo will be at the "Taste Of Redding" in the Sculpture Garden at City Hall on Cypress Avenue. This event features food & beverage tasting from local purveyors, and great live music from several local groups. Come on out Sunday from Noon to 4:00 PM. This is a great afternoon for a small fee that benefits several Redding causes. For more information call the City of Redding.

June 26th - the Jazz Combo will support a Chamber of Commerce mixer 5:30 - 7:30 at Jazz Under the Bridge.   Contact the Chamber for further information.

July 11 & 12 - the Jazz Combo will return to the Turtle Bay Cafe at the foot of the great Sundial Bridge. Bring your friends and enjoy another evening of music  with a bite to eat and a glass of wine in this magnificent setting.

We're getting a lot of calls for the July through October period, for weddings and parties.         

Don't forget us for your Christmas parties.

Call now and book yours! 

Oct.  30th - The Big Band returns to the Redding Vet's Hall for the annual Soup Kitchen benefit for the "Power To Seniors" program, helping low income senior citizens afford their monthly utility bills. This great cause is supported by tremendous food donated by local restaurants and exquisite gift baskets donated by local clubs and business organizations. The big band will play roughly from 5:00 - 7:30 as the soup is served and gifts are raffled off. 

Dec. 21st - The Big Band will be at the Redding Elks' Lodge for the Rivercity Jazz Society's monthly concert and dance. We'll be playing some Christmas tunes and many of your old favorites. Come on down from 1 PM - 5 PM; admission is only $12 for non-Jazz Society members. Or join the RJS now and get a year of concerts for $5 off each month.

More to come - check back soon!

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Look for our  CDs available at various outlets.  In Redding you should be able to find them at Bernie's and the Turtle Bay gift shop.  They are all available through www.CDbaby.com  and Tower Records.  Also available at select stores in Palo Cedro & the Highland Art Center in Weaverville

In March of 2004, we squeezed into the studio again, on two nights with the big band and late one evening with the combo, and played some music.  The results were the big band's "The Third Time" and the combo's "Book Six."  Nancy wants to record some Christmas music next, so we'll see where that leads us.

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. 

In the year 2000, Steve & his wife Nancy squeezed the band into Redding’s Patchcord Studio, played through 14 tunes and produced their first CD, entitled "First Take." In March of 2002, they hit the studio again for a couple of sessions, and in May their next CD, "Second Track" was born. Two years later, the band squeezed into the same studio and recorded "The Third Time" and 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!!!