Some things are worth waiting for. Just ask the musicians who make up the Independence Jazz Reunion. Once school buddies, they waited 40 years to realize their dream of reuniting and playing jazz together. Now all in their 60’s, they’ve played with everyone from Glenn Miller and Woody Herman to Duke Ellington and James Taylor. They’ve toured Europe and performed at Carnegie Hall. And now they’ve released Rekindling the Dream, their first album together in almost four decades.
“Every time we get together, it’s a renewal,” said trumpeter and band leader Rick Lundquist. “There’s a certain magic in recapturing youthful dreams. It becomes a hand holding with the past and the future , all at once.”
“In a way this all seems impossible,” said trombonist Bill Harman, who kept his day job as an aeronautical engineer at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Other band members are Danny D’Imperio, drums, Jeff Haskell, piano, Jay Leonart, bass, and Bob Kindred, saxophone and clarinet.
Independence Jazz Reunion is available for booking and would like to join your reunion. Contact Marilyn Gilbert Artists Management, PO Box 622, Dunkirk NY 14048; 800-788-3441; http://www.ijr.net.
