I'm a trumpet player and I remember seeing/hearing the Phil Driscoll Christmas record called "Heave and Nature Swing." Man...that fits so well. Christmastime is the PERFECT TIME FOR A BIG BAND to swing it out! Do you have a big band? Do you have a small combo? Do you have a church orchestra with rhythm section? Do you just really want to have a big band play but aren't sure where to [...]
I wrote a horn arrangement for one of Jeff Slaughter's songs from a VBS collection he did with Brentwood-Benson Publishing. The next Christmas, he had this idea for a children's Christmas musical based around a penguin polar pet park. My friend, Jonathan Crumpton, VP of Brentwood-Benson, called and said, "We're doing this new musical with Jeff Slaughter and it needs to be big band and recorded live. You want to do it?" [...]
Most of my collaborations begin with, 'this friend of mine called'. A buddy of mine up in New York, Duke Guillaume created The Metropolitan Gospel Big Band that plays all around New York City. Over the years, Duke has had me arrange quite a number of songs for his big band. He called me in January of 2014 and told me he was recording his big band up in New York. We [...]
