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Carl Saunders

Jazz listeners living in the Los Angeles area and musicians worldwide have long known that Carl Saunders is one of the great trumpet players around today. Now with the release of four remarkable recordings (Out Of The Blue, Eclecticism, Bebop Big Band, and Can You Dig Being Dug), Saunders’ musical talents can be heard and enjoyed by a much wider audience.

Carl Saunders was born on Aug. 2, 1942 in Indianapolis, Indiana and his first five years were mostly spent on the road. His uncle was trumpeter- bandleader Bobby Sherwood was riding high with the popular Sherwood Orchestra, having hits with “Elks Parade” and “Sherwood’s Forest.” Saunders’ mother Gail (Bobby’s sister) sang for the Sherwood Orchestra and Stan Kenton, among others. When Carl was five, he and his mother settled in Los Angeles; living with Carl’s aunt Caroline and her husband, tenor-saxophonist Dave Pell. At the time, Saunders heard the records of the Dave Pell Octet and was influenced by the style and phrasing of trumpeter Don Fagerquist.

Saunders began playing trumpet in the seventh grade and he quickly found that he had a natural ability, mostly learning to play by ear and never having any lessons. He played in school bands, and after he graduating high school, his mother helped get him a job with Stan Kenton’s Orchestra. Saunders auditioned for Kenton’s band and was given a choice: wait for the first opening in the trumpet section or join the band the following week as a member of the mellophonium section. He chose the latter and spent much of 1961-62 on the road with Stan Kenton.

After spending part of 1962-63 traveling with Bobby Sherwood’s group (playing drums), Carl Saunders settled back in Las Vegas where during the next 20 years he played with a countless number of show bands, including lead with Ella Fitzgerald, Tony Bennet, and Frank Sinatra. Saunders also traveled as a lead player with Paul Anka and Robert Goulet and with such bandleaders as Si Zentner, Harry James, Maynard Ferguson, Benny Goodman and Charlie Barnet.

In 1984, Carl Saunders moved to Los Angeles where he was soon playing lead trumpet with Bill Holman’s Orchestra, a position he still holds. Saunders has also worked with Supersax, the big bands of Bob Florence and Gerald Wilson, and the Phil Norman Tentet. In 1994, he became a member of the Dave Pell Octet (in Don Fagerquist’s old chair.) In addition, he is often heard at the head of his own groups including the Carl Saunders Big Band, his sextet and a quartet.

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Album Review

Doug MacDonald: Big Band Extravaganza

Read "Big Band Extravaganza" reviewed by Richard J Salvucci


Some reviewers have been known to complain that contemporary big bands can do most anything but swing. Like all generalizations, there is some merit to the observation. But, like all generalizations, the occasional exception falsifies it. Looking for a big band that pushes all the right buttons? Look no further. Doug MacDonald's “desert jazz" band is an extremely good one. While it might be difficult to make claims about the novelty of what is on offer, the band is tight, ...

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Album Review

Doug MacDonald: Big Band Extravaganza

Read "Big Band Extravaganza" reviewed by Jack Bowers


Pardon the superlative, but what a terrific album! Extravanga marks the debut of guitarist Doug MacDonald's seventeen-member Jazz Orchestra, and he has guaranteed that it swings with gusto by writing nine perceptive and luminous charts that are sure to bring out the best in any ensemble, especially one as well-equipped as this. During his decades-long career as one of the West Coast's foremost guitarists, MacDonald has recorded fifteen albums with groups ranging from solo to duo, quartet to brass and ...

708
Album Review

Bernie Dresel: The Pugilist

Read "The Pugilist" reviewed by C. Michael Bailey


Jack Bowers, All About Jazz's large ensemble authority, previously considered this entire recording, The Pugilist, remarking that ..."if swing is your thing, you've come to the right place, as that is what Dresel and his elite group of sun-baked sidemen (and two women) do best and most often." One of the elements that ensures “swing" is the attentive and informed arrangement of these often sprawling pieces. Dr. Jack Cooper is known for his insightful and creative arrangements of percussion-driven music. ...

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Album Review

The BBB Featuring Bernie Dresel: The Pugilist

Read "The Pugilist" reviewed by Jack Bowers


No, drummer Bernie Dresel hasn't taken a day gig at the Los Angeles-area Better Business Bureau; the BBB in front of his name stands for Bernie's Big Band or Bernin' Big Band or Bernie's Bernin' Band or something like that. It's really hard to say, as the band's full name isn't spelled out anywhere, even on Dresel's web site or Wikipedia. Be that as it may, the important point to keep in mind is that the BBB comes out swingin' ...

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Radio & Podcasts

Carl Saunders & Pepper Adams

Read "Carl Saunders & Pepper Adams" reviewed by Joe Dimino


From a veteran musician that represents a bridge between the old and new worlds of music, we start the 724th Episode of Neon Jazz with Carl Saunders. We also look into some stellar artists that are making 2021 a memorable year. The great Nate Smith is on top of that list with his new material, along with the likes of Caity Gyorgy, Dave Mullen and Kyle Asche. We wrap up this episode with a fundraiser for UK legend Phil Ware. ...

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Album Review

Horizons Jazz Orchestra: Plays the Music of Lee Harris: The Brite Side

Read "Plays the Music of Lee Harris: The Brite Side" reviewed by Jack Bowers


One question that springs to mind when listening to The Brite Side, a tantalizing new CD by the South Florida-based Horizons Jazz Orchestra, is: who is Lee Harris? As it turns out, Harris was a composer, arranger and baritone saxophonist who teamed with trumpeter Dennis Noday a few years back to co-found an ensemble they named Superband. Shortly afterward, Harris became ill and was unable to continue, so Noday and Superband's lead trombonist, Michael Balogh, renamed the ensemble the Horizons ...

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Album Review

Carl Saunders: Jazz Trumpet

Read "Jazz Trumpet" reviewed by Dan Bilawsky


Septuagenarian trumpeter Carl Saunders, whose horn served and enhanced the music of Stan Kenton, Ella Fitzgerald, Frank Sinatra and numerous other icons, has been a steady presence on the Summit Records imprint. Whether exploring rare Bill Holman charts or crafting a program with a patriotic shine, acting as a featured guest with the Gary Urwin Jazz Orchestra, adding some signature zest to the Phil Norman Tentet's material, or offering up his compositions for an ongoing songbook project with heavy-duty leader-participants ...

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Video / DVD

Carl Saunders: New Standards

Carl Saunders: New Standards

Source: JazzWax by Marc Myers

Carl Saunders is one of jazz's best-kept secrets, and he kind of likes it that way. Born in 1942, Saunders is a trumpeter, composer and educator of the highest order who has worked with a long list of jazz giants, from Frank Sinatra and Ella Fitzgerald to Stan Kenton and Maynard Ferguson. Many factors set Saunders apart, including his skills as a player-composer, his warm tone and his exquisite taste. Even more significant is his vast catalog of original compositions ...

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Video / DVD

Phil Urso and Carl Saunders

Phil Urso and Carl Saunders

Source: JazzWax by Marc Myers

One of the finest albums of the early 2000s is Phil Urso and Carl Saunders Salute Chet Baker. Recorded in 2002 for the Jazzed Media label, the album featured tenor saxophonist Phil Urso and trumpeter Carl Saunders backed by a trio of Keith Waters (p), Colin Gieg (b) and Paul Romaine (d). The album revived the 1956 pairing of Urso and Baker and mid-1960s reunification of the pair, and featured several songs from what is perhaps their best album, Playboys, ...

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Technology

Free iPhone Application Released by Jazz Trumpeter Carl Saunders

Free iPhone Application Released by Jazz Trumpeter Carl Saunders

Source: All About Jazz

Available now in the Applications store at Apple iTunes Los Angeles, California -- Los Angeles-based trumpeter Carl Saunders announces the immediate availability of his iPhone application. Anyone owning an Apple iPhone or iTouch can download the Carl Saunders application for free. We believe this to be the first iPhone application for any jazz artist. The Carl Saunders application includes audio samples of every tune on two of Carl's most successful CD's: “BeBop Big Band” and “Can You Dig Being Dug?”. ...

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Recording

CD: Carl Saunders/Bill Holman

CD: Carl Saunders/Bill Holman

Source: All About Jazz

Carl Saunders, The Lost Bill Holman Charts (MAMA). Holman wrote these jewels of chamber music in the early 1980s, but the commissioner put them in a closet for more than twenty years. When they came to the attention of virtuoso trumpeter Saunders, he assembled a septet to record them. And what a septet: tenor saxophonist Pete Christlieb, trombonist Andy Martin, baritone saxophonist Bob Efford, pianist Christian Jacob, bassist Kevin Axt and drummer Santo Savino, with Sam Most as a guest ...

"An examination of Saunders’ improv solo…shows the breathtaking melodies and never-ending supply of creative improvisations that make him a highly regarded player." --Chris Chapman

"Saunders has brought audiences to their feet with solos, which are spectacular only in their continuity, flow, and ideas…Saunders may find himself one of the most talked about trumpeters of the 90’s." --Doug Ramsey

"If you’ve not yet heard this master of the trumpet/flugelhorn, it’s time you did." --Jack Bowers

"The trumpet playing throughout is brilliant, with long lines of perfectly placed notes created in an unpredictable but ultimately logical fashion." --Scott Yanow

Photos

Music

Recordings: As Leader | As Sideperson

Big Band Extravaganza

Self Produced
2023

buy

The Pugilist

Self Produced
2021

buy

Jazz Trumpet

Summit Records
2020

buy

Plays the Music of...

Self Produced
2020

buy

Videos

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