Starry Night Octet Jazz Band from Muskegon, MI

I would like to introduce you to our jazz group, the Starry Night Jazz Combo. Our instrumentation allows us to match our sound to the Dave Pell octet, from the 1950's. If you are not familiar with the Dave Pell Octet sound, it consisted of a trumpet, tenor sax, baritone sax, trombone, jazz guitar, piano, bass, and drums. The jazz guitar in this group plays more like a horn part, instead of the rhythm section. The arrangers doubled the guitar with the lead horn line, to give the band a richer sound, closer to that of a big band. Here is an excerpt from Dave Pell's website: "... Pell started as a working musician in the heyday of the big bands. He joined Tony Pastor's band in 1944, spent two years working with Bob Crosby's Bobcats, then moved to Los Angeles and joined Les Brown's new "Band of Renown" group in 1947. As a tenor sax player, Pell became one of the stars of the Brown band, and he remained with them until 1955. He then formed his own group, the Dave Pell Octet, along with trumpeter Don Fagerquist, and adopted a lighter style, very much in the spirit of the West Coast jazz movement. Pell hired some of the best arranging talents available, including Marty Paich, Shorty Rogers, Jerry Fielding, and Bill Holman, and the group's albums sold well." These songs are arranged in a very happy, upbeat, toe-tapping feel, with a lot of variety. We purchased over 140 of the actual arrangements (used by the Dave Pell Octet), from Dave Pell himself (he is 89 this year). These arrangements are well-crafted, and sound fantastic. They basically took songs from "The Great American Songbook" of tunes by composers Burke and Van Heusen, Rodgers and Hart, Irving Berlin, among others. We even have several of his jazzed up arrangements of famous college songs. Our group also has a wonderful library of "little big band" tunes. These are arrangements of famous big band tunes, such as Mack the Knife, Green Eyes, Dancing on the Ceiling, Perfidia and dozens of others. Also, for an extra fee (and depending on her availability), we have many arrangements for Ms. Ginny Dusseau, a wonderful jazz vocalist from Grand Rapids. Overall, our large music library gives us great flexibility, and allows us to adjust our performance to appeal to a wide variety of listeners. Our musicians are some of the best jazz players in West Michigan. Many are regulars in the well-known big band, the Truth In Jazz Orchestra. We hope you will take a look at our website: We have some photos, and several sample songs of our group. If you are seriously interested in quality jazz, we want you to know that we are available and interested in performing at your venue. I am sure our exceptional jazz group would be an distinctive addition to your well-known series of concerts. I hope to hear from you soon.