Dave Eshelman's Jazz Garden Big Band
2018 marked the 40th anniversary of the 1978 Jazz Garden Big Band premiere to a standing room only audience at the Eulipia Café in downtown San Jose. Over the four decades since, it has performed in dozens of Bay Area jazz clubs, concert halls, and festivals. The band has backed guest artists such as Mel Torme, Joe Henderson and Bruce Forman in concert and on it's critically acclaimed cds: The Jazz Garden (1982) Deep Voices (1988) When Dreams Come True (1993) and Milagro's Journey (2001) The band recorded and performed the suite Temperature Rising (1998), commissioned by San Jose Jazz Society.
The Jazz Garden Big Band features some of the most active freelance musicians in the San Francisco Bay Area. Most have performed with the band for decades including saxophonists Mary Fettig,
Kasey Knudsen, Dann Zinn, Bob Kenmotsu and Bob Farrington; Lead Trumpeters Marvin McFadden and Rich Bice; Jazz Trumpeters Mike Olmos and Erik Jekabson; Trombonists Matt Hall, Dave Eshelman, Jeanne Geiger and bass trombonist Rich Lee; with Colin Hogan, piano; Randy Vincent, guitar; Dan Parenti, bass and Kelly Fasman, drums.