Inside the Trumpet

At age six, Pieter played in a concert band that his father conducted in the coastal community of Oostkapelle, and he did some conducting of classical orchestras himself in his mid 20’s. He identifies Jan Morks, a fellow countryman and clarinetist best known for his work with the Dutch Swing College Band, as his biggest jazz influence.

John, Alejandro, and Mark – raised in Mexico, Colombia, and Florida, respectively – met up in a practice room at the University of South Florida, in Tampa, in 2006. The three were soon best friends, and the musical experiences from their younger years. Their energies and cultural backgrounds melded, and La Lucha became known for a sound with lots of Latin rhythms, combining jazz and American Songbook standards.

Tom Rigney has been a part of the San Francisco Bay Area roots music scene for more than thirty-five years. In 2000, after fifteen years as the leader and electrifying violinist of The Sundogs, fiddler/composer Tom Rigney stepped out on his own with a hot new band, Flambeau. The repertoire is original, eclectic, passionate, and filled with a musical and emotional intensity that will come as no surprise to followers of Rigney’s career.

HEATHER THORN is a xylophonist in Orlando, FL where she performs with her band Vivacity and as a freelance percussionist and actress. She holds a degree in Music Performance with a minor in Theatre from Ithaca College where she was a proud member of Gordon Stout’s marimba band for two years. In 2019, she was featured with Vivacity as the headline act for the I Love Jazz International Jazz Festival in Brazil.

Don Mopsick began his musical career as a teenager in his hometown of Linden, NJ, performing on trumpet and bass guitar. He attended Rutgers and Berklee College of Music. His first professional gigs were with Rosemary Clooney around Boston in 1972.

Adrian Cunningham is an award winning multi-instrumentalist, vocalist, and world traveller. Originally from Sydney Australia and now based in New York, he is proving to be one of his country's top exports. With fluent command of the saxophones, clarinet, and flute, he is one of the finest multi-instrumentalists in Jazz today.

Dave Bennett doesn’t fit the mold.

For starters, you don’t find many jazz clarinet players who name Alice Cooper, Stevie Ray Vaughan, and Chris Isaak among their influences. You also won’t find many musicians who are equally conversant with the music of Benny Goodman (the “King of Swing”) and Roy Orbison (“The Soul of Rock and Roll”).

Arbors Records was founded by Rachel and Mat Domber in 1989 to record and preserve the classic styles of jazz. It originated because of their desire to record their friend, the outstanding reedman, singer and composer, Rick Fay, who had been in the music business for over 40 years mostly as a performer at the Disney parks in California and Florida, but had never previously recorded.

Chuck Redd is well known internationally as a performer on drums and vibraphone. Chuck began recording and touring the globe when he joined the Charlie Byrd Trio at the age of 21. He also became a member of the Great Guitars (Barney Kessel, Byrd and Herb Ellis.)

Interview with David Tatrow - band leader of Wallys Warehouse Waifs.