Results for "Brian Pastor"

Brian Pastor

The Brian Pastor Big Band, founded in 1994, is a 17 piece jazz ensemble comprised of some of Philadelphia's finest musicians. It was created as an outlet for area musicians to perform the music they love, and to provide a showcase for outstanding jazz soloists, composers and arrangers. Members of the Brian Pastor Big Band include music educators and past and present performers with well known music organizations such as the Philadelphia Orchestra and Peter Nero and the Philly Pops. Several band members are freelance studio and theater performers. Pastor is currently principal trombonist with Peter Nero and The Philly Pops, and has been a music educator in Philadelphia for many years. The Band is noted for its tight ensemble, solos of the highest quality, exhilarating diverse arrangements and original compositions "a swingin' band that will make you smile." From straight ahead jazz to funk, the band?s repertoire targets a following of all ages. The Brian Pastor Big Band has had extended engagements at Philadelphia area clubs including 23rd Street Café, the Blue Moon Jazz Café, the Cherry Hill (NJ) Hilton, the Casino Deli, and is noted for appearances at private engagements, music festivals, educational workshops and annual appearances at the Penn's Landing Summer Concert Series

The Big Band Project

By Jim Levendis

Label: Self Produced
Released: 2022
Track listing: This Could Be the Start of Something Big; Taking a Chance on Love; The Nearness of You; Jeepers Creepers; Stardust; Easy to Love; One Morning in May; Everything I Love; Latin Medley (O Morro Nao Tern Vez/Midnight Sun/Corcovado); Just in Time; Silent Night.

Jim Levendis: The Big Band Project

by Jack Bowers
August 28, 2022

Jim Levendis knew that time was running out. In his mid-seventies, the veteran Philadelphia-area trumpeter and educator had contracted ALS (Lou Gehrig's disease), the effects of which were rapidly sapping his energy and ability to function. As the disease progressed, Levendis confided in Len Pierro, a band mate in the Ward Marston band, that there was ...

Pointing Fingers... And Naming Names

by Jack Bowers
May 4, 2013

As the countdown continues toward the last Big Band Report in June, the time has come to point fingers and name names--in other words, to compile a short list of contemporary jazz musicians who have risen above the norm to help make life more pleasurable for one devoted listener. These are, mind you, personal choices, and ...

The "Desert Island" Revisited

by Jack Bowers
May 7, 2012

Back in the last millennium, shortly after this column first saw the light of day, I posted a list of twenty “desert island" albums, those that would be snugly ensconced in a crash-proof, water-tight carrying case should yours truly ever be marooned on a miniature atoll with nothing to relieve the boredom save palm trees, coconuts, ...

Peter Nero and the Philly Pops: Philadelphia, December 31, 2010

by Victor L. Schermer
January 22, 2011

Peter Nero and The Philly Pops“Swinging in the New Year"The Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts Philadelphia, PA December 31, 2010 Peter Nero is that rare musician who can negotiate between classical forms, the jazz idiom, popular music and light-hearted humor, generating great energy in his co-musicians and audiences. So ...

Strike Up the (Unsung) Bands

by Jack Bowers
December 5, 2009

The big band era is known for producing a number of enormously successful ensembles whose leaders were household names: Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, Count Basie, Jimmie Lunceford, Fletcher Henderson, then on through Glenn Miller, Benny Goodman, the brothers Jimmy Dorsey and Tommy Dorsey, Charlie Barnet, Artie Shaw, Harry James, Cab Calloway, Lionel Hampton, Dizzy Gillespie and, ...

Mike Barone Big Band: Flight of the Bumblebee

by Robert J. Robbins
October 9, 2009

For a quarter-century, Mike Barone provided arrangements for Doc Severinsen's NBC-TV <em>Tonight Show</em> Band, but these were seldom heard by anyone except the studio audiences for the actual telecasts (although excerpts were audible to viewers as intros and exits from commercial breaks). Since the band's dissolution more than fifteen years ago, however, Barone has been recording ...

Peter Nero: Fabled Pianist and Philly POPS Maestro

by Victor L. Schermer
July 8, 2009

Living legend Peter Nero is that rare musician equally at home with classical music, jazz, the American Songbook, the Broadway musical, movie themes and popular songs. Moreover, he is a masterful pianist, seasoned conductor, composer and arranger in all these genres. Just as exceptionally, he has become a cultural emblem, known to statesmen, entertainers, students, housewives ...

Diane Schuur with Peter Nero and the Philly Pops at Kimmel Center

by Victor L. Schermer
May 8, 2009

"88 Keys, a Big Band, and a Voice"Celebrating 30 years of Peter Nero with the Philly PopsThe Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts Philadelphia, PA April 24, 2009 On this night, one of five performances of the same concert event, conductor-pianist Peter Nero welcomed Diane Schuur to the stage as ...