A reunion of four old friends who are each bastions of the jazz scene in Denver! A multi-instrumentalist and composer who performs on trumpet, bass and drums, Brad Goode is recognized as a unique stylist with a highly creative approach to improvisation. He has recorded on many jazz albums including 18 as a leader for the Delmark, Sunlight, SteepleChase and Origin labels. During his apprenticeship years, he toured and recorded with the bands of Von Freeman, Red Rodney, Eddie Harris, Ira Sullivan, Curtis Fuller, Jack DeJohnette, Ernie Krivda, Rosemary Clooney, Barrett Deems, the Woody Herman Orchestra and many others.Goode led his own combo in Chicago (1985-1998) including a 12-year stint as leader of the house band at the Green Mill...
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A reunion of four old friends who are each bastions of the jazz scene in Denver! A multi-instrumentalist and composer who performs on trumpet, bass and drums, Brad Goode is recognized as a unique stylist with a highly creative approach to improvisation. He has recorded on many jazz albums including 18 as a leader for the Delmark, Sunlight, SteepleChase and Origin labels. During his apprenticeship years, he toured and recorded with the bands of Von Freeman, Red Rodney, Eddie Harris, Ira Sullivan, Curtis Fuller, Jack DeJohnette, Ernie Krivda, Rosemary Clooney, Barrett Deems, the Woody Herman Orchestra and many others.Goode led his own combo in Chicago (1985-1998) including a 12-year stint as leader of the house band at the Green Mill. As a cultural ambassador for Mayor Richard Daley of Chicago, he led jazz groups on tours of Asia and the Middle East. He was named one of the most influential Chicagoans of the 1980s by the Chicago Tribune who credited him as a “major catalyst in the revitalization of the Chicago jazz scene.”Goode currently tours with the bands of Canadian vocalist Matt Dusk and West African drummer Paa Kow, and with his own quintet. He makes frequent appearances as a soloist and clinician at colleges and high schools.Eric Gunnison was raised in Buffalo, NY, and attended Berklee College of Music in Boston, graduating with a BA in music composition in 1979. He lives in Denver, where he has been a mainstay in the music scene for two decades. Eric performs the world over and has appeared in concert with Ron Miles, Dizzy Gillespie, James Moody, Phil Woods, Bobby Shew, Chris Potter, Christian McBride, and Eddie Gomez, just to name a few. Some of the more famous work in Eric’s career was his time serving as a pianist and music director to the great Carmen McRae. Since 1991, Gunnison has also been the pianist and a composer/arranger for the Denver super-group Convergence. Gunnison recently retired from his long-held position at The University of Denver’s Lamont School Of Music and is now exclusively a performer.Ron Bland has been a professional musician for over forty years, playing virtually all styles of music in every setting from concert hall to theatre to the recording studio. At home on both the electric and double basses, he has performed with jazz greats including Dizzy Gillespie, George Benson, Eddie Daniels, Billy Taylor and Doc Severinson. Ron has appeared with the Colorado Symphony and Colorado Springs Symphony Orchestras as well as in performance with Earth Wind and Fire, Yes, Andrea Bocelli, Pavarotti, Marvin Hamlisch, Linda Ronstadt, Rosemary Clooney, Billy Crystal and many others. In 2003, with the Denver Jazz Quartet, Ron performed as a featured headliner at the Queenstown International Jazz Festival in New Zealand. As part of the Rocky Mountain Trio & Park Hill Brass Nonet, Ron has performed at the Jazz in the Vercors Festival in Villard de Lans, France several times. Ron has performed extensively throughout the United States, including the 2001 Inaugural Ball in Washington D.C. Internationally, he has performed in Canada, Mexico and Europe. Ron is on the music faculty at Colorado Christian University & the University of Colorado at Denver. Since March 2022 he has been the director of the Wednesday combo and big band ensembles at the Colorado Jazz Workshop. Ron has played on numerous recording projects including albums, jingles & soundtracks. He has played on the jazz demo recordings for Kendor Music for more than thirty years.Clare Church played her very first gigs with Tony Bennett, the Temptations and the Four Tops. In her 30-plus years as a professional musician, she has performed all different styles and genres of music. On the jazz side, she was a regular with the Joe Henderson Big Band,and performed with Dizzy Gillespie, Benny Carter, Nancy Wilson, Mel Torme, Doc Severinsen, and many more. A versatile musician, she also could be heard in the pit orchestras of the Buell, Arvada Center, or Boulder Dinner Theater, as well as in the horn sections of traveling artists such as Tito Puente Jr., Natalie Cole, The Temptations, the Four Tops, Gladys Knight and the Pips, Frankie Vallee and the Four Seasons, etc. She has been a member of the sax section of the Colorado Symphony, Philadelphia Orchestra, San Francisco Symphony, Oakland Symphony, and the Boulder Philharmonic. In addition to maintaining an active schedule as a freelancing jazz drummer, Clare plays regularly at the Muse, a nonprofit music and art space that she co-founded and runs along with her husband, saxophonist Pete Lewis. She has played with all the Denver luminaries, including Ron Miles, Greg Gisbert, Art Lande, Eric Gunnison, Annie Booth, Gabe Mervine, and many more. She has been described as a sensitive, “music-first” drummer, and her many years of experience as a horn player make her drumming unique.
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