Convergency Dave Slonaker Big Band

• 1Convergency07:10
• 2Uncommonly Ground07:07
• 3Duelity07:14
• 4A Gathering Circle09:36
• 5A Curve in the Road07:54
• 6Inner Voices06:49
• 7Sometimes a Notion06:49
• 8Vanishing Point07:23
• 9And Now the News08:40
• 10I Had the Craziest Dream04:32
• Total Runtime01:13:14

Info for Convergency

The Dave Slonaker Big Band, coming off its 2013 Grammy® nomination for Best Large Jazz Ensemble, returns with a dazzling collection of new music celebrating the tradition, but also pushing the possibilities of big band jazz. Featuring an all-star cast of West Coast jazz and studio legends including Bob Sheppard, Larry Koonse, Peter Erskine, Wayne Bergeron, and so many more, Convergency brings together the lives, stories and extraordinary talents of these great musicians, with the music of veteran Los Angeles composer/arranger Dave Slonaker, to create what will certainly be another touchstone recording for fans of the large jazz ensemble tradition.



"In December 1910, Virginia Woolf once observed, human character changed and, along with it, so did everything else. Politics, society, religion, sex, all of it, she thought, would leave the ancien regime behind. And, to a point, she was correct. Within a few years, the old world was gone, swept away by war and revolution. It was not coming back. ..." (All About Jazz, Richard J Salvucci)

"5-STARS While big-band albums generally differ, sometimes widely, in tone and temperament, there are definitive criteria by which every one may be evaluated—arrangements, performers, sound quality, sequencing and, above all, the elusive but imperative swing quotient. Dave Slonaker checks all those boxes and more on Convergency, a superlative su ..." (All About Jazz, Jack Bowers)

Dave Slonaker Big Band:
Bob Sheppard, alto & soprano saxophone, flute
Brian Scanlon, alto & soprano saxophone, flute, clarinet
Rob Lockart, tenor saxophone, clarinet
Tom Luer, tenor saxophone, clarinet
Adam Schroeder, baritone saxophone, bass clarinet (tracks 1, 4, 5, 7)
Jay Mason, baritone saxophone, bass clarinet (tracks 2, 3, 6, 8, 9, 10)
Wayne Bergeron, trumpet, flugelhorn
Dan Fornero, trumpet, flugelhorn (tracks 1, 4, 5, 7)
Ryan DeWeese, trumpet, flugelhorn (tracks 2, 3, 6, 8, 9, 10)
Clay Jenkins, trumpet, flugelhorn
Ron Stout, trumpet, flugelhorn
Alex Iles, trombone
Charlie Morillas, trombone
Ido Meshulam, trombone
Bill Reichenbach, bass trombone, tuba
Larry Koonse, electric guitar (tracks 2, 4)
Ed Czach, piano
Edwin Livingston, bass
Peter Erskine, drums
Brian Kilgore, percussion (tracks 2, 4, 9)

Dave Slonaker
is a film and TV orchestrator, arranger, and composer and leader of the Dave Slonaker Big Band. His album, Intrada, featuring his compositions and arrangements, received a 2013 GRAMMY® nomination for Best Large Jazz Ensemble Album.

In his work as a film and TV orchestrator, arranger, and composer, he has orchestrated and arranged for many Hollywood composers including John Addison, David Bell, Steve Bramson, Bruce Broughton, Danny Elfman, Joel McNeely, Alan Silvestri, Larry Rosenthal, and many others. Film credits include orchestration for many popular films including Oz the Great and Powerful, Alice in Wonderland, Spider-Man, Air Force One. He has also orchestrated, arranged, and composed music for TV and animation including Jag, Murder, She Wrote, and the Tiny Toons Adventures cartoon series.

Equally at home as a jazz composer and arranger, Dave’s compositions and arrangements have been performed by Clark Terry, the Woody Herman and Count Basie Orchestras, as well as many other soloists and bands. Before moving to Hollywood, Dave was composer-in-residence at the Strasenburgh Planetarium of the Rochester Museum and Science Center, composing electronic soundtracks in an eclectic blend of music genres for worldwide distribution.

Dave grew up in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Handed down a trombone by his father, he studied trombone and piano as a youth. Curious about classical, jazz, and popular styles of music, he was determined to study both classical and jazz composition and performance. He earned a Bachelor of Music Degree in Trombone and Composition at Indiana University, had advanced graduate study in composition at the University of Pennsylvania, and received a Masters Degree from the Eastman School of Music. His teachers include Rayburn Wright, Manny Album, David Baker, Bill Dobbins, John Eaton, and George Crumb.

Believing that passing the craft of composing and arranging to a new generation is important, Dave has taught or given master classes at USC, the Eastman School of Music, the ASCAP Television & Film Scoring Workshop, the American Society of Music Arrangers and Composers (ASMAC), and the Los Angeles Ravel Orchestral Study Group.

This album contains no booklet.