Jazz Articles

The Des Moines Big Band: Being There

by Jack Bowers
December 1, 2000

This is the third recording we’ve heard by the splendid Des Moines Big Band, now in its forty–first year, and each of them has featured a talented guest artist: first, trumpeter Bobby Shew; next, DSMBB director Jim Oatts’ New York–based brother, saxophonist Dick Oatts; and now trumpeter Walter White who composed half of the ten selections on Being There (including that one) and solos on half a dozen. White, who has occupied the lead trumpet chair in groups fronted by ...