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Big Band |
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Player Profiles... |
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Penny Riley — Alto Penny grew up with big band music in her blood as her father played in and directed Big Bands in England. Penny is a wonderful technician on the alto saxophone and is equally as accomplished on the clarinet and flute. When not playing instruments she repairs them through her business Maestro Woodwind for which she has a Diploma in Woodwind Making and Repairing from Nottinghamshire in England. Penny first joined the Oz Big band in 1996. |
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The Oz Big Band consists of a mix of enthusiastic pro and semi-pro musicians all of whom enjoy entertaining. Our ages range from 18 to 70. Just for fun we have profiled the band below: |
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Saxophones: |
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Andrew Lindsay — Alto Andrew started playing the saxophone to skip English lessons in high school. Andrew kept playing music while at university in Queensland where he studied Microbiology and Biochemistry as part of his B.Sc., and then Chemical Engineering. He has played with many bands across Australia, including the Navy and Army reserve bands. He has been with the Oz Big Band since coming to Perth in 1994, first playing Tenor, and now Alto. |
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Jes Grey — Tenor Text here. |
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Ray Stevens — Tenor Ray spent a lot of his early musical life playing in big dance bands and small groups in England, then started playing tenor sax and flute in Soul Bands as a professional musician during the sixties and seventies. Upon moving to Perth in 1980, played with “JT and the Jazz men” for a couple of years, then due to other commitments had to stop playing for while. A few years ago things changed and this allowed him to start playing again, this time he chose to play in big jazz bands, which he loves. Being part of that great sound when the whole band is swinging, really is a satisfying musical experience. |
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Geoff Caygill — Baritone Geoff started playing drums at age 16 in a big band for in Melbourne in about 1957. However the army intervened Geoff never started again. Jump a few years and Geoff started to learn clarinet and then moved on to saxes. Geoff is one of the longest serving members of the Oz Big Band. |
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Paul King Text here. |
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Hermann “the Jap” Scheidler Text here. |
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Nigel Dennis Nigel learnt piano and trombone from an early age in South Australia, but you would never guess because his sporting and academic interests always seemed to take priority (not that you would guess he was any good at those either!). Nevertheless, he persevered and his musical pinnacle was joining the Oz Big Band in 1995. For his sins he is now in his seventh year as President of the band and is the main contact for all gigs and administrative aspects of the band. |
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Peter Younghusband Peter’s big bass trombone tones bellow beautifully beneath the band. He is a world class act in his own right having studying Music at Salford College of Technology in England, the world’s leading college for band musicianship, and touring many corners of the globe playing solos with bands. After a tour to Australia in 1996, he was offered a position with the WA Education Department. He saw the light of how great life is in Oz and has been in WA ever since. |
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Trombones: |
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Adrian Hicks — Musical Director Adrian Hicks (Cert.IV; Bmus) has been a Brass Tutor and Band Director for over 6 years. Besides Oz Big Band he is also currently the Musical Director for “The Chameleon Brass Band”, “The OWCA Jazz Band” and a trumpet player with the Latin Funk outfit “Funkalleros”. A graduate of WAAPA majoring in Jazz Arranging, Adrian has spent 6 years playing trumpet with the West Australian Youth Jazz Orchestra (WAYJO). Compositions of his original works have been featured on an album released by the WAAPA Big Band “Random Musings” (2005) and he was recently a finalist in the 2006 WAMI Songwriters competition. Adrian loves writing for, and playing with jazz big bands and is the main reason he took up trumpet. |
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Trumpets: |
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Jarrad Marshall Text here. |
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Stu Ferguson Text here. |
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Alex Torrance Text here. |
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TBA Text here. |
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Yoko Clinch — Piano Yoko grew up in Canada and has played piano since she was 4. Initially learning classical piano, she got side tracked by jazz in high school, completing a performance based Jazz Career Preparation Program (playing many hundreds of gigs) with first class honours. While undertaking a science degree in Canada in order to follow her dream of becoming a Veterinarian, she played in a small jazz combo. She had to leave piano for about 10 years while travelling and attending university in Australia, and has recently joined the Oz Big Band to rekindle her jazz spirit! |
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Terry Mathison — Bass Text here. |
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Greg Patterson — Guitar Text here. |
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Ian Catchpole — Drums Text here. |