Reno Jazz Orchestra – Jazz Alive at John Ascuaga’s Nugget
Steve Falcone: When showtime meant something
Near the entrance to the Celebrity Showroom at John Ascuaga’s Nugget, there’s a display of postcards printed to promote the stars who used to appear.
The display offers a nostalgic look at a slice of Nevada history, when a trip to Reno-Sparks had to include a dinner show (or a late-night cocktail show) in one of the many area showrooms featuring stars visitors could never see at home. Many were from the B list (Frank Fontaine, “Crazy” Guggenheim on Jackie Gleason’s TV show), but there were plenty of A-listers, too.
One of the things you’ll notice looking over the display is that the lights rarely went out in those showrooms. Stars once were willing to do two shows a day for six or seven days a week, and there were enough visitors to to make it worth their while.
Importantly, every showroom had an orchestra to provide an overture and backup for singers and dancers, which made this area a Mecca for musicians, a place where they could find that rarest of commodities in the music business: steady work.
Those days are long gone in Northern Nevada. We get stars, of course, but most for one-night stands, never more than two. For musicians, that means occasional pick-up work, but long-term gigs are few and far between. The result: fewer musicians calling the Truckee Meadows home.
Change was probably inevitable. The stars are partly to blame. They priced themselves out of the market.
But casino execs haven’t helped matters either. The attitude seems to be: Why hire a quartet when a trio or even a duo would suffice? Better yet, why not hire a musician whose only sideman is an iPod?
So, it was appropriate that in February, the Reno Jazz Orchestra took to the Nugget showroom stage to record its latest CD.
The RJO is one of a handful of Northern Nevada musical organizations, along with the Reno Philharmonic, Reno Chamber Orchestra and others, that benefited from all those musicians who called Reno home. The musicians were happy to have an opportunity to stretch their chops with classical music or jazz, and we got to enjoy it with them. Cities of comparable size around the country would be hard-pressed to duplicate the musical community that Reno once boasted about, and we’re fortunate that the torch has been passed down to today.
How long these groups will be able to sustain is a big question. The University of Nevada, Reno has become a primary source of musicians today, both faculty and students. And the Washoe County School District has an outstanding, if underappreciated, band program. But the steady work has gone elsewhere.
An evening in a showroom is a sad reminder of what’s been lost, and probably won’t ever come back. The RJO’s CD, on the other hand, will be out later this spring.
Steve Falcone is the Reno Gazette-Journal’s opinion editor.
A Good Time Was Had By All…
The title of Thad Jones’ final piece on his Suite For Pops tribute to Louis Armstrong captures the RJO’s three great days of jazz, February 16th, 17th, and 18th. The band and guest artists shone in the Nugget’s Celebrity Showroom the first two nights and Washoe County jazz bands demonstrated the bright future of jazz on the 18th.
Let’s start with the RJO recording our new CD live at the Nugget. The Celebrity Showroom was the perfect venue and thanks to Entertainment Director Rob Brooks for offering the room, John Legg and his showroom staff to make us feel right at home. Recording Engineer Tom Gordon and his staff got all the equipment (more on that later) in place and made their contribution transparent to the two evenings of recording. There were no (none!) technical glitches requiring a stop or second take. The wizard behind the curtain (Tom) captured it all.
My concept for the CD was to highlight not only the band but northern Nevada’s very talented jazz community and I could not have asked for more gifted guest artists. Cami Thompson gave a memorable performance of “I Concentrate on You” both nights and then joined the band on Thad’s blues romp “The Second Race”. She was truly amazing trading fours with Joey Berger and then Joe Cadena. Tony Savage joined us on a Hans Halt original “Brazilian Dreams” and stayed on to back Cami on “I Concentrate”. It was a joy to have the former RJO leader/co-founder (who by the way produced our previous CD) sitting in. UNR Professor of Jazz Studies, Peter Epstein, joined us on his original composition “In Your Voice” and if you are not familiar with Peter’s jazz improvisation you are in for a real treat. Ron Legg sat in on Roger Hogan’s “Blues Ballad”. If you do not know Ron, he was the band leader at the Nugget for many years, former Sparks HS Band Director, and has led a big band in our area for many years. Also on tap were percussionist Cody Remaklus who added fire to our Latin charts and Leonard Neidhold, featured on “The Time is Now” and sitting in with the bone section on a couple of other charts. 
But how about that band… it was a real joy to have the best seat in the house to hear the RJO tear it up. The rhythm section highlights were too numerous to mention them all but how about Bill Hecht’s solos, Andy and Cody’s percussion fire, Han’s rock solid bass (charts and solos!), and Joey Berger’s guitar duet with Cami. Now the horn section- Larry Engstrom, Andrew Woodard, and Rich Lewis got things going right from the get go with their solos on “Boom Boom”. Larry Engstrom’s interpretation of “My Ideal” with the band’s backing was stellar. I am looking forward to sending that performance onto arranger Maria Schneider. Joe Cadena, Doug Coomler and Roger Hogan all took turns on the “Second Race” and the audience couldn’t hold back. All the charts were memorable, but if I had to pick one it would be “The Time is Now”. Andy turned up the heat right from the start and Cody stayed right with him, the band took it to heart and solos by Leonard Neidhold, Bill Hecht, Hans Halt, and Andy Heglund set the stage for the ending. Wow.
And what about our great support team. Jennifer Mannix took care of all the logistics and marketing for the event with Bernie Bronov and Phil Shalitt at the merchandise table. My brother Dave sent some photos (included here), but David Rocco also took photos on Thursday and Dallas Smith’s video crew shot a mini-documentary on Wednesday and Friday. So there is much more to come…
The RJO’s annual Jazz in the Schools has become a high point on the calendar for me. I used to be worried that live music was coming to an end with all the recording and synths in this world, but I worry no more. Twelve high school and middle school bands came and performed on stage at UNR’s Nightingale Hall. This year Andy Heglund contacted Craig Faniani from Sacramento and John Davis from Colorado to be our clinicians, something new this year. Also new was the two jazz improvisation workshops by UNR’s by the Collective (UNR professors- Andy Heglund, Hans Halt, Larry Engstrom, Peter Epstein, and David Ake). RYJO has two bands now and both performed and of course the RJO performed at lunchtime.
Thanks to Board Members Bernie Bronov, Phil Shalitt, and Linda Newberg for rounding of the food and drinks!
Jazz is Alive!
Chuck Reider- RJO Music Director
Reno Jazz Orchestra – Jazz Alive
Our live CD recording is this week and I wanted to give everyone an update:
My dear friend Cami Thompson is joining us on I Concentrate On You, a very creative arrangement of a jazz standard by the Bay Area’s Rolf Johnson. Sitting in on drums is Tony Savage. Tony was co-founder of the RJO with Jack Caudil and it will be great to hear him play with us again.
In tribute to one America’s great jazz composer/arrangers, Bob Brookmeyer, we are performing two of his contemporary pieces (1) Boom Boom, a joyous romp featuring Rich Lewis, Larry Engstrom, and Andrew Woodard and (2) The Time is Now, a mix of latin and swing featuring Andy Heglund and Cody Remaklus on drums and percussion, Bill Hecht on piano, and Leonard Neidhold on Trombone.
The RJO is honored to record Maria Schneider’s arrangement of My Ideal featuring Larry Engstrom on the trumpet. This is one of Maria’s early arrangements that has not yet been recorded and she has given us permission to perform it for our CD.
It is a special privilege for me to record Bennett Friedman’s Variations on a Brazilian Song as he was the director of the San Francisco State jazz band in 70’s (hate to date myself but…) and as his student we performed this at the Reno Jazz Festival. It is a gorgeous arrangement that features our percussion section and Doug Coomler on tenor sax. I do not believe this has been recorded either, so we are correcting that now!
The RJO is blessed with composer/arrangers of our own so you cannot miss the premier recording of Hans Halt’s Sophisticated Lady and original composition Brazilian Dreams. We are also recording Roger Hogan’s beautiful Blues Ballad featuring guitarist Joey Berger and pianist Bill Hecht.
We have a lot more in store on this Thursday and Friday so I encourage to purchase your tickets now at:
http://www.janugget.com/entertainment/reno-jazz-orchestra.asp
and be a part of Jazz Alive!
Chuck Reider- RJO Music Director
Reno Jazz Orchestra – Jazz Alive
Feb. 16th and 17th, John Ascuaga’s Celebrity Showroom
Northern Nevada’s jazz community is a vibrant part of the cultural fabric of our area and the RJO is proud to be a part of it. It really came to mind last Wednesday (1/18/12) at the Ron Legg Big Band tribute to Gerry Genurio. Gerry has been a strong voice in jazz as long as I have lived here and it was a wonderful sight to see old friends I have not seen in some time.
RJO’s core members worked in the showrooms backing all the great entertainers that came through town. These showrooms were a magnet that drew gifted musicians from across the country as a place to make a living in music. They were a great resource for the Reno Philharmonic and Nevada Opera’s orchestras. The jazz guys would play the show and afterwards get together and play in “kicks bands” until the sun came up. I played many gigs with current RJO members Dean Carter, Joe Cadena, Rich Lewis, Mark Curry, John Beckman, Larry Engstrom, Jim Garaventa, Bill Hecht, and Hans Halt.
When making a living playing in the showroom orchestras came to an end our community lost a magnet to attract musicians. Fortunately about that same time, Larry Engstrom came to town and started building the jazz studies program at UNR. It did two things, provided teaching positions in our community to great jazz artists (UNR’s jazz quintet the Collective) and in turn these artist’s reputation drew gifted students. It thrills me to have UNR jazz studies students sit in with the RJO. They are the future of jazz and their energy is infectious. Some end up staying in town, RJO musicians Doug Coomler and Joey Berger are just two examples.
With community in mind, the RJO is recording a new CD in John Ascuaga’s Celebrity Showroom. We have been looking for just the right venue to record a new live CD and the Nugget was generous enough to provide that venue. The Celebrity Showroom has been host to decades of live entertainment and we are proud to be a small part of that history. The recording will, of course, feature the band, but it will also feature the writing skills of band members Hans Halt and Roger Hogan. I have also asked some area jazz greats to come join us. Good friend Cami Thompson will join us on a tune or two and RJO co-founder Tony Savage as well. Reno Phil Principal Trombonist Leonard Neidhold will be featured and Cody Remaklus will be adding his percussion skills to our Latin arrangements. UNR professor Peter Epstein will be featured on an original composition “In Your Voice” and special guest, Ron Legg, the Nugget’s bandleader for many years will be on hand as well.
Join us in celebrating a vibrant jazz community and experience great big band jazz in a classic showroom. The show starts at 8pm each night and tickets can be purchased at http://www.janugget.com/entertainment/reno-jazz-orchestra.asp
Sincerely,
Chuck Reider- RJO Music Director
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Another great evening, our November House Concert was enjoyed by all who attended.
Many thanks to Dallas Smith and Susan Mazer for hosting our November House Concert in support of the RJO’s Mentor Program. Our hosts provided a warm atmosphere accompanied by great desserts from their friend Inge and a delightful variety of wine (including mulled!).
This set the mood for the RJO quintet consisting of
Andy Heglund- Drums
Hans Halt- Bass
Bill Hecht- Piano
Doug Coomler- Tenor Sax
And our special guest artist
Leonard Neidhold- Trombone
RJO regulars may not be familiar with Leonard. Leonard is the Principal Trombonist for the Reno Philharmonic, Band Director at Billinghurst Middle School, and a great jazz artist.
Did I mention that Susan and Dallas also performed several of their own pieces; Susan performed a solo harp arrangement of “You Don’t Know What Love Is”, and Rosine Bena of the Sierra Nevada Ballet shared the plot of our new collaborative jazz ballet featuring the music of Duke Ellington and Count Basie!
We all had a great time listening to great jazz and enjoying good company, all in support of the RJO Mentor Program. Thanks to all who attended and I cannot wait for our spring house concert.
Chuck Reider- RJO Music Director
Duke Ellington’s “Such Sweet Thunder”
Nevada Museum of Art
Listen to a few tunes from the roof of the Nevada Museum of Art, August 27th.
A great night in Wing field Park Saturday, July 30, 2011.
Under the Artown umbrella, the Reno Jazz Orchestra held a Count Basie Celebration. This performance not only recognized the great Basie and his musical legacy while highlighting elements of our local and national histories but also built on the popularity of last season’s “Celebrating Louis Armstrong” Artown concert.
Count Basie alumni vocalist Jamie Davis was our featured artist. Check out Jamie Davis.com
Or listen to Jamie right here Alright, Okay, You Win The Very Thought of You
Refreshments were provided by two local vendors; The Patio on Fourth Street and Stephons Bistro.
is a contemporary jazz big band based in Reno, Nevada. It is organized as a non-profit corporation in the State of Nevada and qualified as such under Sec. 503(c) of the Internal Revenue Code.
