April 1-2, 2005
RANDY SANDKE, trumpet
Brooklyn, NY
Randy has performed at festivals, clubs and concerts around the world. He has toured Europe over 20 times and performed extensively throughout Japan, the U.S., Canada and India. He was a regular member of Benny Goodman's last bands and was featured on the PBS broadcast, "Let's Dance", and on Mr. Goodman's final recordings. As a composer, he has received two grants from the NEA and has had pieces performed at Carnegie Hall, Merkin Concert Hall, the Greenwich House in NYC, and Avery Fischer Hall at Lincoln Center. The Carnegie Hall Jazz Band has performed three of his suites and recorded one of his arrangements.
RICKY WOODARD, tenor sax
Studio City, CA
Rickey hails from Nashville and was born into a family of musicians and was taught the saxophone and piano by his father. With his sisters, brothers, cousins, uncles and anybody in the neighborhood who wanted to play or sing, they formed a family band in the roadhouses and clubs of Tennessee. His earliest gigs were in blues and R&B but leaning towards jazz. Influenced by the big explosive style of Gene Ammons, Coleman Hawkins and Hank Mobley and the intellectualism of John Coltrane, Rickey has developed a distinctive, soulful and seductive style. By his late twenties he was a permanent member of the Ray Charles Band and toured worldwide for six years. He currently works with the Clayton Hamilton Jazz Orchestra, Jeannie and Jimmy Cheatham, Frank Capp's Juggernaut Big Band and James Morrison's "Hot Horn Happening", with whom he tours Europe twice a year. Rickey has performed worldwide with such legends as Frank Sinatra, Ella Fitzgerald, Ernestine Anderson, Benny Carter, Horace Silver and Marian McPartland.
Woodstock, NY
Terry was born in NYC and has been singing virtually all of her life. Embracing both pop and classical styles, it was not until she graduated Summa Cum Laude from the University of Buffalo with a BA in Music that she chose to trade in her flute for a microphone. As a singer and musician, Terry has enjoyed a multi-faceted career that includes live performances, recordings, studio work, television and radio show, musical composition, songwriting and production. Her unique interpretations of classic jazz standards have brought her international attention and recognition as one of the few contemporary female jazz singers performing the hot small-band swing material from the 1930s. Her collaboration with classic jazz pianist, Mark Shane, began with a 3-1/2 year duo engagement at Café Society in Greenwich Village and led to the CD "Whose Honey Are You," a Jazz Journal International Record of the Year. A second CD followed, "Terry Blaine in Concert", and Mark and Terry have since performed at prestigious venues such as Michael's Pub, Fat Tuesday's, the Plaza Hotel plus many jazz parties and festivals. Terry and her husband, Tom Desisto, have their own company, Two Pie Are Music, that creates original music for TV, radio, recording and educational projects.
MARK SHANE, piano
Wallen, NY
Mark began his professional career as a pianist in dance bands in the New York City area. His jazz influences came from recordings of the masters and during an extended tenure as house pianist at Eddie Condon's, he added a distinctive new voice to the Condon tradition of hot ensemble playing. Mark has been featured on radio and television jazz broadcasts and has appeared as a featured soloist at major jazz festivals throughout the world. He toured with the Smithsonian Jazz Repertory Ensemble under the direction of Bob Wilber and was featured in the 50th anniversary Benny Goodman memorial concert in Carnegie Hall. In 1989 he played a Royal Command performance for HRH Princess Anne in London's Festival Hall. Named to the Steinway international roster of piano artists, Mark has been called "one of the great accompanists of his time" (Mississippi Rag).
FRANK TATE, bass
Croton on Hudson, NY
Frank joined the Marion McPartland Trio in 1975 while freelancing with Bobby Hackett, Dave McKenna, Zoot Sims, Benny Goodman, Teddy Wilson, Joe Venuti, Lionel Hampton and Wild Bill Davison. From 1985 to1990 he toured with Pearl Bailey and the Louis Bellson Orchestra and since 1996 has been with the Bobby Short Trio. Frank has been a sought-after performer on the jazz festival and concert circuit and has appeared at the JVC Festival, Carnegie Hall, Avery Fisher Hall and Grande Parade du Jazz in Nice, France. Martin Gayford, a reviewer for the British magazine, The Spectator, writes: "Tate turned out to be that rarity of rarities, a bass player whose contribution, rather than being a lot of plinking, plonking and skittering around the strings, actually made musical sense."
