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The Mel Martin All­Star Big Band “The Mel Martin Big Band was exciting, rewarding, and more.” Philip Elwood ­ San Francisco Chronicle The Bay Area has always been a hotbed of jazz talent. Many of its brightest stars have moved on to the greener pastures of New York and beyond. Saxophonist/composer/arranger Mel Martin has chosen to maintain his permanent residence in the green pastures of Marin County. Mel still travels quite a bit doing performances and educational clinics world‐wide but has made a commitment to forming a swinging, “in‐your‐face”, volatile big band. The roots of the band began in the early ‘nineties when Mel Martin was contacted by such jazz greats as Benny Carter, Dizzy Gillespie, McCoy Tyner, Charles Mingus’ Epitaph and Joe Henderson to help them put together high‐level big bands for Bay Area performances at venues such as Davies Symphony Hall, Kimball’s, Filoli Gardens, Yoshi’s and the San Francisco Jazz Festival. These experiences were the seeds of what has become a truly all‐star ensemble. The new band features Bay Area multi‐generational jazz stars Dayna Stephens and Rob Roth on tenors, Andrew Speight and Pete Yellin on altos and Howard Cespedes on baritone saxophones & flute, Mike Olmos, John Worley, Lou Fasman and Erik Jekabson trumpets, Rick Walsh, Al Bent, Joel Behrman and Chuck Bennett on trombones and pianist Art Khu, bassist Robb Fisher, and drummer Jeff Marrs. The band has performed sold‐out engagements at The Russian River Jazz Festival, The Filoli Summer Series, Jazz at Pearl’s and Yoshi’s. Mel Martin is widely known as the artistic director and driving force of the group Bebop and Beyond, The Tenor Conclave and The Mel Martin Band. He has lent his extraordinary woodwind talents to many recordings and performances by artists such as Benny Carter, Freddie Hubbard, Dizzy Gillespie, The Count Basie orchestra, McCoy Tyner, Joe Henderson, Mingus Epitaph, Kenny Barron, Mongo Santamaria, Santana, Freddie Cole, Cal Tjader, Vince Guaraldi, Louie Bellson, Frank Sinatra, Ella Fitzgerald, B.B. King, Sarah Vaughan, Joe Williams and many, many more. Mel Martin is a recipient of several National Endowment for the Arts Awards including jazz composition, jazz fellowship, recording and jazz ensemble categories. Hearing Mel Martin performing his own powerhouse compositions in the big band setting is a riveting and fiery listening experience not to be missed! The repertoire of The Mel Martin All‐Star Big Band consists of new arrangements of many standards in addition to music by Count Basie, Benny Carter, Jimmy Heath, Joe Henderson, Gerry Mulligan and Oliver Nelson favorites and new arrangements of Mel Martin’s original compositions. The emphasis is on Swing and fire as in “it don’t mean a thing” (if it ain’t got it!) Their debut performance was at the 24th annual Russian River Jazz Festival in Guerneville, California on Saturday, September 9, 2000 with special guest vocalist Jamie Davis of the legendary Count Basie Band. Selected Performances Bach Dynamite and Dancing ‐ Half Moon Bay Birdland ‐ NYC Blues Alley ‐ Washington, D.C. Carnegie Hall ‐ NYC Catalina's Bar and Grill ‐ Los Angeles Cotati Jazz Festival ‐ Cotati Davies Symphony Hall ‐ San Francisco Dazzle ‐ Denver Dizzy's Club Coca‐Cola ‐ New York El Chepultapec ‐ Denver Filoli Garden Center Greenwhich House Theater ‐ NYC Herbst Theater ‐ San Francisco Hollywood Bowl ‐ Hollywood Kitano Hotel ‐ New York Kimball's ‐ San Francisco Knitting Factory w/ David Murray Big Band ‐ NYC Madison Square Garden ‐ New York Mingus Epitaph and Big Band ‐ San Francisco & NYC Monterey Jazz Festival Russian River Jazz Festival San Francisco Jazz Festival ‐ San Francisco Telluride Jazz Festival The Copacabana ‐ NYC The Jazz Store ‐ Carmel, CA The Jazz Bakery ‐ Los Angeles Verona Jazz Festival ‐ Verona, Italy Yoshi's ‐ Oakland & San Francisco Zellerbach Auditorium ‐ Berkeley