Bass
Trombone
"Moose" is a resident
of Odenton, MD, and is a big fan of the Buddy Rich Big Band.
His favorite song is "Tribute to Art Fern."
If you ask Chris why he wants to play in a big band, he'll simply
reply, "To swing, baby... what else is there?" His
best musical memory is playing in a college band with Dizzy Gillespie
as a featured soloist. Chris also serves his country and the
state of MD through the National Guard. He leads a group of security
testing engineers for the U.S. Department of Defense.
* Band member since 1999
Trombone
/ Bass Trombone
A resident of Baltimore,
MD, Bernie is self-employed as both a musician and a realtor.
Although he currently plays tenor trombone with Blue Moon, Bernie
is recognized as one of the best bass bone players in the area.
He also plays tuba and (he notes with a laugh) Bob Jordan's euphonium.
His favorite female vocalist is Nancy Wilson, and he recalls
his best musicial memory to be when Nancy sat in with his band
(The Admirals) in San Juan. Bernie likes the music of Stan Kenton,
Count Basie, and Gordwin Goodwin. He proudly notes that he is
the oldest member of Blue Moon Big Band, and says that the best
part of being in a full-sized swing orchestra is that there are
more poeple to point to when he misses a note!
* Band member since 2000
Trombone
Charlie joined the Blue
Moon trombone section in the summer of 2011 as its lead player.
A fine soloist and great section leader, he gives the band flexibility
to add trombone features to its repertoire that had previously
been sitting on the shelf for years! Among Charlie's best musical
memories is the time he played on stage with Sean Jones and Mike
Tomaro for a Christmas concert. A big Cout Basie fan, he has
been big band enthusiast since he was very young. Charlie's favorite
song is "Darn That Dream" and he teaches in
the Montgomery County School system in Maryland.
* Band member since 2011
Trombone
A member of the 229th Maryland
National Guard, Mark has been playing in big bands all his life.
Currently, in addition to Blue Moon Big Band, he is a member
of the August Brass Ensembles. Mark considers himself fortunate
to have played for some big names in his music career, including
Bob Hope and Jerry Lewis. His best memory is singing the National
Anthem at the New England Patriots game following 9/11, during
which he is certain that his heart actually stopped! Mark prefers
mainstream jazz big bands such as Mingus and McCoy Tyner, and
particularly likes the orchestras (such as Neslon Riddle and
Sonny Burke) that backed up the great vocalists. His favorite
songs are "Welve Got a World That Swings" and "That's
All." Mark's favorite saying is, "It's not just the
gig, it's the hang" (which means that not only do you want
to play with good musicians, you consider them to be the type
of people you can call your friends).
