November 2, 2009

High School Jazz Band Doing 'Rush - Tom Sawyer' and more, HELL YES






Bishop Lynch Jazz Ensemble - Self-titled. 1982. Dallas, TX. Directed by Joe Cardinale and Bob Quatman. Private Press High School Label.

I have been waiting to drop this for a while, I personally really dig it, and although obviously the stand out track is Tom Sawyer, there are interesting and sample friendly moments all over this record, and it really is an amazing level of musical achievement for a high school band. The drummer is amazing, and the guitarist isnt bad either, they do mostly complex jazz compositions, and yes a lot of it is in full big band style, but even those are pretty good, and they even employ a synthesizer on a few of the more rock oriented tracks. This is the full album, the last time I looked there was zero info out on this album and no blog posts either. I chose this over the 2 North Texas Jazz Lab Band albums I have because even though one has a bad ass cover, I really think this album is better, far more rare, and they are in high school! Turn up the Tom Sawyer track max volume and jam this motha out! * If you are with the aforementioned school or own the rights to this record, I am only trying to honor the musicianship and quality of your band program, so please let the world partake in this impossibly rare item and be happy it's out there, but if there is a problem or you want me to take it down contact me through the comments. I don't normally put any disclaimer but since it is from a well known and active school I will give you the opportunity to decide, and also let me state for the record that Bishop Lynch High School and associates DOES NOT condone in any way nor have any association with myself or the content of this website. The mp3s are from my personal album and are for preservation purposes only, if you download these mp3s and enjoy them, consider giving a donation to your local high school band program to support the continued development of young musicians.

6 comments:

alphabet said...

Thanks!! Sounds Interesting

Anonymous said...

Great to reminisce. I was the lead trumpet for the band. It was a lot of fun to play arrangements that were not your typical high school band standards.

Sam Baden said...

this is very good, thank you

Holly said...

Cool! My high school jazz band covered Spyrogyra :-( BUT our *marching* band's half time special included the drum solo from 'yyz' :-)

Anonymous said...

Some of this smokin'!
sean

Unknown said...

I actually went to Bishop Lynch (86-90) and have this album and another we made from when I was there. The Jazz Band was very good but unfortunately the feeder school band programs started to get smaller and by the time I left, it wasn't near as good as when the album was made that is the subject of this post. Don't worry about offense on the part of the BL or the band members. It is great to see this album online (I was googling our old jazz conductor "Bob Quatman" and found thispost). I couldn't figure out how to get the MP3s, however. Can someone help or have they been removed?