3 Things You’ll Want to Know About Saddleback Big Band

Saddleback Big Band will be playing swing-era music at Casa Romantica on June 9th. The band is comprised of seasoned professionals from the community as well as applied music students.

Read below for some interesting insight into this unique band.

1. Big Band music is just as relevant today as it was in the 1940s.

The musical vehicle of a big band is relevant today because new music is being written for it every day. We’re proud of the fact that at Saddleback College our big band can play historically authentic American music from the Swing Era like we will for the Casa, and also we do a lot of new music and world premieres throughout the year.

2. Being involved in Saddleback Big Band benefits college students.

In addition to the Big Band, we have our Jazz Lab Ensemble and eight jazz combos. The big band has both community members and some of our younger applied music students who wish to transfer. The Jazz Lab Ensembles is mostly younger students. The combos embrace a wide swath of our community. For those younger students in the big band, it is wonderful them to play with seasoned players in a mentoring environment. One of our drummers got a full scholarship to the Eastman School of Music and this would not have occurred without this system and the variety of jazz classes we have.

3. The band is looking forward to a long relationship with Casa Romantica.

We love the Casa. Our Jazz Faculty played the opening of the outdoor amphitheater and have played there for special events a few times since. We look forward to this performance of our Swing Concert with the Big Band being the first of many, we hope!