Read about the Big Time Jazz Orchestra.
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The Big Time Jazz Orchestra calls Duluth, MN its home base and is made up of the finest big band jazz musicians in the northland. This includes collegiate and school instrumental music instructors as well as former military band musicians. The ensemble programs selections from such jazz masters as Thad Jones, Stan Kenton, Woody Herman, Miles Davis, Toshiko Akiyoshi, Count Basie, Duke Ellington, Jim McNeely, Maria Schneider, Bob Brookmeyer, and Gordon Goodwin as well as doing works of its own ensemble members and other local composers and arrangers. BTJO is dedicated to the continuation of the art form. Part of the mission of the band is to educate youth about this uniquely American contribution to the world known as jazz. Big Time annually does shared concerts with a local school and/or university band, often finishing with a song performed jointly. Some of the more notable performances for BTJO have been its selection to play for the MN Music Educators Conventions in 1994 and 2001 and for the 50th anniversary convention of the American School Band Directors Association (ASBDA) in 2002. With its non-profit status, Big Time has been awarded grants for such activities as the commissioning of a work from jazz composer/arranger Tom Matta and bringing in arranger and virtuoso trombonist, Paul McKee, to perform with the band. Other grants funded the making of CDs, a 1999 recording at Studio M in St. Paul, and a 2006 recording through Eric Swanson, both consisting of original compositions and arrangements by current and former members of the orchestra. These grants were awarded by the Arrowhead Regional Arts Council and the MN State Legislature. The band not only features fine musicianship, but also benefits local charities. Beneficiaries include such organizations as Camp Connection, Habitat for Humanity, Loaves and Fishes, KUMD - FM radio jazz programming, the University of Minnesota-Duluth's Bernstein/Krenzen Jazz Scholarship Fund, the University of Wisconsin-Superior Jazz Scholarship Fund, the Duluth Playhouse, Woodland Hills Children's Home. YMCA Summer Camp scholarships, the Duluth Bethel Society, the Artists Relief Fund, the Salvation Army, the Northland Youth Music Program (NYMP), KUWS - FM radio, and more. Thanks to the vision and support of its Executive Board and the commitment of its musicians, the future looks bright with plans for more grant applications, projects, help for charities, and jazz education opportunities for our area youth. A little about the Founder and Artistic Director, Randy Lee Mr. Randy Lee is the founder and a featured woodwind soloist of the Big Time Jazz Orchestra and is a busy free-lance musician for various jazz gigs, dances, and receptions involving everything from Dixieland duos, to Latin music, to big bands and including performances with the Guy Lombardo Orchestra (Al Pierson and the Royal Canadians), the Russ Morgan Orchestra, the Harry James Orchestra, and the Jimmy Dorsey Orchestra. Randy performed in a sax ensemble for the World Saxophone Congress in 2003, judged the Iowa High School Jazz Championships, was sax section coach for the MN All-State Band, has been a featured jazz soloist with the UMD Jazz Bands, and has worked with all three Duluth-Superior area college jazz bands. Mr. Lee’s professional bands and other associations have found him accompanying the Mills Brothers, Wayne Newton, Steve Lippia, the Drifters, Bobby Vinton, Johnny Mathis and Marvin Hamlisch and such jazz notables as Bobby Shew, Rufus Reid, Lee Konitz, Bob Brookmeyer, Paul McKee, Tom Matta, Randy Brecker, Bob Baca, and Rick DellaRatta (Jazz for Peace). Mr. Lee has presented saxophone and jazz clinic sessions at national ASBDA (American School Band Directors’ Association) Conventions and has performed with demonstration and jazz literature groups at MN Music Educators Conventions. Randy is active as a saxophone clinician and professional musician, including performances with the Lake Superior Chamber Orchestra, the Duluth-Superior Symphony Orchestra, the Lake Superior Saxophone Quartet, Twin Ports Wind Ensemble/Orchestra, and the Itasca Symphony Orchestra. He earned his Bachelor of Music degree in Music Education, with a minor in Jazz Studies, from the U of MN-Duluth (UMD) and his Master of Science degree in Education-Instruction (MSE-I) from the Univ. of Wisconsin-Superior. He has served as adjunct staff at UMD. Randy has directed Regional High School Honor Jazz Bands and other regional Wisconsin and Minnesota jazz events. He served as a Regional Rep for the former IAJE (International Association of Jazz Educators). |
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Executive Board of Directors
| Mark Anderson | Tom Crook | Doris Von Bargen |
| Bernie Bernstein | Ryan Frane | Greg Kehl Moore |
| Brad Bombardier | Dick Heim | Alex Hegg |
Contact Us
Name: Randy LeePhone: 218-728-2038
Email: r99lee@gmail.com
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