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North Star Jazz
Formed in 2004, the
NorthStar Jazz Sextet has quickly become one of Detroit's hottest
jazz acts, having performed at jazz festivals and nightclubs across
Michigan and the Midwest. Past performances have included the
Detroit International Jazz Festival, the Michigan Jazz Festival,
the Idlewild Jazz Festival, the Summer Solstice Jazz Festival,
Rusty's Jazz Cafe (Toledo, Ohio), and the "Ed Love Show"
on WDET FM. The group can be seen regularly at Baker's Keyboard
Lounge (Detroit), the Union Bar & Grill (Kalamazoo), and
Cliff Bell's (Detroit). North Star employs a 3-horn
sextet format, partly inspired by the T. S. Monk Sextet and Art Blakey's
Jazz Messengers. Leader Carl Cafagna has installed a
"rolling" personnel system, with depth at every position in the group.
This ensures a consistent level of excellence despite the busy schedules
of band members, and also gives North Star a particularly wide
palette, with 4 different front-line configurations. Regular
sidemen include Detroit pianist/composer Scott Gwinnell, Dr.
Scott Cowan, trumpeter and Professor of Jazz, Western Michigan
university, saxophonist James Hughes, drummer Scott Kretzer
from Toledo, Detroit bassist extraordinaire Shannon Wade, and
Brad Felt on Euphonium, pared with Cafagna's tenor and soprano saxes
as well as flute. Repertoire consists fo original works by
Carl and other band members, leading composers such as Horace
Silver, Donald Brown, Wayne Shorter, and Benny Golson, and choice jazz
standards. Matt Collar, from allmusic.com, calls
North Star a "combination of muscular swing and harmonic
intellectualism", and dubs us "the epitome of post-bop
professionalism". Mark Stryker, from the
Detroit Free Press, describes Carl Cafagna as a "brawny
saxophonist, with a gift for organizing a band". North
Star Jazz is one band you'll want to see again and again!
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Big Band Machine
What ever happened to the
big bands? Well, here's one big band that is still alive and
kicking, and playing great music too! The Big Band Machine
features the music of all the great bands, Count Basie, Benny Goodman,
Duke Ellington, Artie Shaw, Glenn Miller, Tommy Dorsey, Woody Herman,
and many others. Our book also includes hits from the 50's, 60's,
70's -- even the 80's! Twelve instrumentalists, plus sultry female
vocalist Ashaki, make for an exciting dancing or listening
experience for any gathering. Doug Collar, host of
Friday Night jazz on WKAR FM, wrote "a wall of swing permeated
the night scene...Dancers bounced around...others stood mesmerized by
their first encounter with 13 men swinging. marvelous".
Want to know the socks off the guests at your next black tie affair,
fund-raiser, or any party? Just hire The Big Band Machine
and leave the rest to us!
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