Jamie Begian Big Band

Big Fat Grin

Innova 762

1) Funky Coffee

Marc, Tom and Deborah - solos

2) Halay

Dimitri – clarinet solo, Peter – drum solo

3) Patience

Dave – trumpet solo

4) Suddenly, Summer Falls

Dimitri – flute solo, Jamie – guitar solo, Jason – solo flugelhorn

5) Tayloration One

Jeff – trombone solo, John – lead soprano

6) Tayloration Two

Paul – trombone solo

7) Tayloration Three

Deborah – trombone solo, Marty – lead trumpet

8) Tayloration Four

Max – bass trombone solo

9) Big Fat Grin

Jamie & Bruce – guitar solo, Dave – bass solo, Ben – tenor solo

Reeds:

John O’Gallagher – alto saxophone, soprano saxophone

Marc McDonald – alto saxophone, clarinet

Ben Kono - tenor saxophone, oboe, clarinet, soprano saxophone
Dimitri Moderbacher - tenor sax, flute, clarinet, soprano saxophone
Dan Goble - baritone saxophone, bass clarinet

Trumpets:

Tom Goehring – trumpet and flugelhorn

Dave Scott - trumpet and flugelhorn

Marty Bound - trumpet and flugelhorn

Jason Colby - trumpet and flugelhorn

Trombones:

Jeff Bush – trombone

Deborah Weisz – trombone

Paul Olenick – trombone

Max Seigel – bass trombone and many, many mutes!

Rhythm section:

Dave Ambrosio – bass

Bruce Arnold – guitar

Peter Retzlaff – drums

Jamie Begian – guitar

Very special thanks to my WCSU colleague Kevin Isaacs (aka the “18^th Beatle”) for being the ears in the both at the recording sessions.

Also, thanks to Peter Rosa at WCSU for helping navigate all the paperwork there and both Mike and Nancy Marciano at Systems Two Recording for making the details of the sessions go so smoothly.

All my love to my wife Marcy and son Brayden

All music written and arranged by Jamie Begian

Recorded at Systems Two Recording Studio in Brooklyn, NY August 6 & 7 2008

Mike Marciano – engineer

Produced by Jamie Begian

Cover design and photography by Heike Coffee: www.HeikeCoffee.com

Additional photography by Marcy Begian

© & P 2008 JamBeg Music ASCAP – all rights reserved

So here it is: the second album by my big band. Most of this music was written in the span of a year: June 2003 – June 2004, the exceptions being Suddenly, Summer Falls (2002) and Funky Coffee (2007).

I like to think that my compositional voice was solidified during this time, as well as achieving a certain comfort level with what I do; it’s also a nice snapshot of how I approached music at that time in my life.

My feeling about this music is that it’s serious yet fun: art music with a sense of humor and playfulness; a true reflection of what I value most about music and being a musician – I hope you enjoy listening!

Jamie Begian

October 2009

A very special thank you to all the great musicians pictured here. Their creativity and musicianship displayed on this recording deserve a “Big Fat Grin” in its own right – they continue to amaze me every time we play.