Buselli-Wallarab Jazz Orchestra

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Buselli-Wallarab Jazz Orchestra
Also known as BWJO, Midcoast Swing Orchestra
Genre(s) Jazz, Big Band, Swing
Label(s) Owl studios
Website BWJO.org
Members
Brent Wallarab, Mark Buselli,
Reeds: Tom Meyer, Mike Stricklin, Ned Boyd, Rob Dixon
Trumpets: Joey Tartell, Jeff Conrad, Mike Hackett
Trombones: Brent Wallarab, Loy Hetrick, Jason Miller, Richard Dole
French Horn: Celeste Holler Seraphinoff
Piano: Luke Gillespie
Bass: Jack Helsey
Drums: Deno Sanders
Vocalists: Everett Greene, Cynthia Layne
Notable instrument(s)
Trombone, Saxophone, Piano

The Buselli-Wallarab Jazz Orchestra is a jazz orchestra consisting of 17 pieces. The late jazz musician J.J. Johnson called the BWJO, "A marvelous new band with exceptional soloists and some of the most creative and satisfying writing I've heard in a long time."[1]

BWJO co-founders Mark Buselli and Brent Wallarab are music educators, as well as musicians and composers. Their common commitment to America's jazz heritage brought the BWJO to life and helped define the mission of the organization. They regularly hold concerts and clinics at public schools in Indianapolis [2]


Contents

[edit] Brent Wallarab

Since 1991, Brent Wallarab has served as Specialist in Jazz for the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, DC. During this time he has transcribed, edited, and restored nearly 300 works for big band deemed by the Smithsonian as national treasures. Wallarab also performs as lead and solo trombonist for the Smithsonian Jazz Masterworks Orchestra, the jazz ensemble-in-residence of the National Museum of American History, a position he has held since the inception of the orchestra in 1991.

Wallarab is an internationally recognized arranger, composer, scholar, and performer, having recently toured Northern Italy and South Africa, conducting master classes, workshops, and performances.

As an arranger, Wallarab is featured on dozens of recordings and has had written for many artists including Wynton Marsalis, The Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra, Bobby Short, The New York Pops Orchestra, The Chicago Jazz Ensemble, Charlie Haden, Med Flory, Randy Brecker, Joe Lovano, and many others. He is widely published and many of his works are performed regularly by professional big bands and University music programs worldwide.

In 1994, Wallarab, along with Mark Buselli, founded the Buselli-Wallarab Jazz Orchestra, a professional jazz ensemble based in Indianapolis, Indiana, dedicated to the creation of new works for jazz orchestra and developing programs for jazz education.

Wallarab currently teaches jazz ensemble and jazz arranging at the Indiana University School of Music (Bloomington, Indiana) and is sponsored as an endorsing performing artist by King Trombones, a subsidiary of Conn-Selmer, Inc..

[edit] Mark Buselli

Image:Buselli2.jpg
Mr. Buselli graduated from Berklee College of Music in Boston and received his Masters in Music degree in jazz studies from Indiana University. Mark is head of Jazz Studies at Ball State University in Muncie, Indiana. He was voted teacher of the year in the music school at Butler University for 2004-2005 season. Mark was also the 2001 director of the Indiana All State Jazz ensemble and received a Creative Renewal grant from the Indianapolis Arts Council for 2005 to go to NYC and study arranging and composition with well-known artists. In May 2007, he was awarded the Creative Vision award from NUVO magazine. He is a clinician for the Indianapolis Jazz Foundation, Conn-Selmer, and a member of BMI, and IAJE[3].

Buselli has over forty arrangements published for big bands, brass enseble, and piano/ trumpet. He has six recordings out as a leader on the Owl studios and OA2 record labels. As a writer, Mr. Buselli has been commissioned by Hendrick Muerkins, the American Pianists Association (APA), the Indianapolis Brass Ensemble, and Western Michigan University.[4]

Buselli has appeared on numerous recordings as a sideman. Mark has worked with the Bobby McFerrin, Slide Hampton, Jimmy Heath, Ben Vereen, Artie Shaw band, the Benny Goodman tribute band, Natalie Cole, Vic Damone, Makoto Ozone, Phil Wilson, David Baker, Herb Pomeroy, Tony Malaby, Chuck Marohnic, Slam Stewart, Al Cobine, and Dominic Spera. He has performed for presiidents Jimmy Carter, George H. Bush, Bill Clinton, and George W. Bush.[5] He resides in Indianapolis with wife Andrea and daughter Sophia.

Buselli currently serves as Education Director of the Buselli-Wallarab Jazz Orchestra in Indianapolis where he has created educational opportunities for over six thousand students.[6]

[edit] Discography

Through The Eyes of a Child 1997
Happenstance 2001
Heart & Soul: The Music of Hoagy Carmichael 2003
Take the Mitsu 2003
Carol of the Bells 2007
Basically Baker 2007

[edit] References

  1. ^ BWJO
  2. ^ BWJO
  3. ^ November 6 Brings New Holiday CD by the Buselli-Wallarab Jazz Orchestra
  4. ^ http://www.bsu.edu/music/media/flash/bsusom.swf
  5. ^ Mark Buselli
  6. ^ shell lake arts center - Instructors

[edit] External links