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The Jazz Bakery

The Jazz Bakery is "the most prestigious jazz space in Los Angeles: a serious, no-frills, seven-nights-a-week nonprofit listening room of international renown, where everybody who's anybody has played; where iconic musicians turn up as regularly in the audience as on the bandstand; where just ascending the stage is a sure sign that you've made it into the music's highest ranks." (from Brandt Re

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<p>October 9: Bill Watrous Big Band</p> <p>One of the finest bop-oriented trombonists of the past 30 years, Bill Watrous has had a low profile since moving to Los Angeles in the 1980s despite remaining quite active. Possessor of a beautiful tone and remarkable technique, Watrous has been constantly overlooked in jazz popularity polls of the past two decades. His father was a trombonist and introduced Bill to music. He played in traditional jazz bands as a teenager and studied with Herbie Nichols while in the military.</p> <p>Watrous made his debut with Billy Butterfield, and was one of the trombonists in Kai Winding's groups during 1962-1967. He was a busy New York-based studio musician during the 1960s, working and recording with Quincy Jones, Maynard Ferguson, Johnny Richards, and Woody Herman; playing in the television band for Merv Griffin's show (1965-1968); and working on the staff of CBS (1967-1969).</p> <p>After playing with the jazz-rock group Ten Wheel Drive in 1971, Watrous led his own big band (the Manhattan Wildlife Refuge) during 1973-1977, recording two superb albums for Columbia. After moving to Los Angeles in the late '70s, Watrous continued working in the studios, appearing at jazz parties, playing in local clubs, and leading an occasional big band. He has recorded as a leader for Columbia, Famous Door, Soundwings, GNP Crescendo, and with his late-'90s big band for Double-Time.</p> <p>October 23: Mike Fahn Jazz Orchestra</p> <p>The legendary jazz journalist Leonard Feather once wrote that Mike Fahn "is without question one of the few contemporary masters of the valve trombone." He further praised Mike for his "bronzed, burnished sound, technique and ideas to spare, with each note in the right place at the right instant."</p> <p>And indeed, heavyweights like Shorty Rogers, Maynard Ferguson and Andrew Hill have all called upon his prodigious talents.</p> <p>Mike Fahn was born in Queens, New York in 1960 and grew up in Huntington, Long Island. His father, a jazz drummer and a big fan of valve trombone giant Bob Brookmeyer gave Mike a valve trombone at 11, after the young man had spent four years on trumpet and then baritone horn.</p> <p>Influenced more by trumpeters Freddie Hubbard, Woody Shaw, and especially Tom Harrell, Mike began to take inspiration from great trombonists like J.J. Johnson, Frank Rosalino, Brookmeyer, Bill Watrous and others after taking up the slide trombone a little later on. </p> <p>A regular on the New York scene, he's toured nationally and internationally with trumpeters Tom Harrell and Bill Mobley and with his own groups. Mike also teaches in the New Jersey Performing Arts Center's Jazz for Teens program.</p>