Celebrating 50 years 1959-2009
Trumpets
Trombones
Saxophones
Rhythm
Our longtime leader, MC and resident storyteller paid his dues in the 70s with bands like Chase, Mike Vax, Stan Kenton and Machito. He’s a 2008 CJC Jazz Hall of Fame inductee who teaches band in the SE Polk school system. Jim also plays with the Tony Valdez large band, and is the proud father of triplet boys who show worrying signs of following in their father’s footsteps.
Bill Bergren holds a BA in music education and attended graduate school at the University of Iowa. A student of renowned teacher, William Adam, Bill has worked for Paquet, Commodore, and Holland America cruise Lines, The Russ Morgan and Glenn Miller orchestras and freelance throughout the US. Bill performs with Orquesta Alto Maiz and has performed with the Civic Center Orchestra, Westminster Orchestra, Cedar Rapids Symphony and many area dance bands as well as performing as a classical soloist. Bill maintains a busy trumpet studio schedule teaching beginners to advanced students.
When he’s not playing in the band, Dave is the director of the West Des Moines Valley High School Jazz II. He’s an accomplished soloist, clinician and private instructor and is a featured soloist most Mondays, usually complete with his own cheering section. Dave also plays all over Iowa in the Latin band, Ashanti.
The consummate old pro, Al spent much of his life in Florida where he saw action in the trenches with Frank Sinatra, playing in the house band at Miami’s Hotel Fontainebleau. When he takes a solo, everyone stops and listens because this cat can cook!
You’ll find Greg haunting most any musical venue in town from seedy bars playing blues to swank clubs where tuxes are mandatory for entrance. Either way, he plays any style and any chair and reads like a maniac!
Paul Bridson studied trombone at Truman State University under Dr. Roger Cody and at the University of Iowa under the incredible George Krem. While attending the U of I, he performed at the Montreaux Jazz Festival with the Johnson County Landmark band under direction of Dan Yoder. He spent four years in Austin, TX playing the Jazz chair in the Non-Ego Big Band and playing bass for numerous Texas Swing bands on famous Sixth Street. His credits include Jimmy Dorsey, Sarah Vaughn, Red Skelton, The Lawrence Welk Orchestra, Wayne Newton, The Temptations, Frankie Valli and numerous touring productions. Paul owns Brainstorm Marketing, an advertising agency in Des Moines.
Tom earned a Bachelors of Music from Drake University and a Masters in Music from the University of Idaho. When he’s not playing, he’s a technology manager at Wells Fargo. He’s currently training for the New York Marathon, making the rest of us look bad. Having recently gone through Farrels Extreme Body Shaping program, Tom has been voted to the position of band bouncer. Bullies beware!
Jon is a graduate of Luther College in Decorah Iowa and a band director in the West Des Moines school system. He’s in charge of letting the other trombone players know what some of those weird squiggly marks on the sheet music mean. He teaches privately and maintains a large roster of students throughout the Des Moines area. He’s unbeatable at fantasy football and will be happy to take your money. John has been in the DSMBB since 1994.
A member of the DSMBB since 1994, Chad is a graduate of the University of Northern Iowa where he played in the fine bands directed by Bob Washut. He’s also a euphonist, but we don’t hold that against him. Chad is a computer programming whiz-bang and has held a steady day job longer than anyone in the history of jazz. Just think of the pension! He likes quiet walks, his wife and his cats..... and low notes — lots of really, really low notes!
Dr. Romain serves as Assistant Professor of Saxophone and Assistant Director of Jazz Studies at Drake University. He was the first saxophonist to be awarded a Doctorate of Musical Arts degree in Performance and Literature from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign where he was a student of Debra Richtmeyer. Jim co-founded the Red Onion Saxophone Quartet, which was awarded a silver medal at the 2001 Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition. He has performed with the Des Moines and Illinois Symphonies, the Champaign-Urbana and U of I Orchestras and numerous master classes. He holds degrees from the University of North Texas where he was a student of Professor James Riggs. He has performed with Clark Terry, Ron Miles, Eric Gunnison and at the Montreux Jazz Festival.
A gigging musician in Iowa for as long as anyone can remember, Steve has played nearly every Broadway show written. He’s been a member of the DSMBB since 1982 and the Des Moines Civic Center backup orchestras since 1979. His doubling abilities are legendary. Piccolo? No problem. Clarinet? Please. Steve is an award-winning art photographer.
Brian is another monstrous tenor sax man who grooves by night but assumes a mild-mannered incognito persona by day at Wells Fargo. His manager has no idea that his head is filled with Coltrane transcriptions as he works on those Excel spreadsheets. You can also hear him playing Latin jazz with Ashanti.
John is generally regarded as the only member of the band who doesn’t need to be reminded about when and where the gig is. He studied music at Drake University, and toured with the Russ Morgan Orchestra (no relation.) He’s also bandleader and arranger in his own right, and has employed most of the other band members at some bar mitzvah somewhere, sometime. Also catch him with the John Morgan Big Band, Ballyhoo Foxtrot Orchestra and other local groups.
Jim is the closest thing to an original member you get with this band, having joined in 1960. A graduate of Drake University, he has taught music in and out of the public school systems for nearly fifty years and is highly regarded as a clinician. He has performed from coast to coast as the drummer for the marvelous Marilyn Maye since 1971 with regular engagements in Manhattan and Miami and numerous symphonic pops performances around the country. Now retired from his career as an educator, his performance schedule has become even businer, and we’re lucky to have him!
Jason Danielson is currently working as a freelance pianist and high school history teacher in the Des Moines area. He has studied with Bob Washut, Pete Malinverni, Susie Miget, and James Poulsen and performed with soul music legend Aretha Franklin, Broadway star Mark McVey, and jazz musicians such as Maria Schneider, Dick Oatts, Paul McKee, Frank Perowsky, and the Jimmy Dorsey Big Band. Jason has aloo opened for B.B. King and traveled to Memphis with the 2003 Iowa Blues Challenge winners Magic Mike and the Blue Side. Jason has been a member of the orchestra pit with the Des Moines Playhouse and Theatre Cedar Rapids, as well as playing for the national tours of “The Producers” and “Spamalot” at the Des Moines Civic Center. Locally, he performs with such artists as Scott Davis, Tony Valdez and Susie Miget.
Pete served 24 years on active duty in U.S. Army Bands around the world playing bass, keyboards and guitar, serving also as an arranger and instructor. He’s had many years of professional experience outside the Army career as well, including tours, sessions, and pit work with The 5th Dimension, Neil Sedaka, Martha Reeves & the Vandellas, Judy Collins, Joel Gray, Shirley Jones, The Virginia Symphony Orchestra, The Virginia Opera, and many others.
Members