Eric & I started The Moondust Big Band because we both love playing this music! I am seriously addicted to listening to Benny Goodman, Duke Ellington, and Mel Torme, and he seems to think Glenn Miller, Count Basie, and Stan Getz are pretty great.

After making the decision to start the band, we called Charlie Lyle to see if he would sell us his big band charts. He would - he did! We bought some more arrangements on the internet, and some of the musicians have brought arrangements for the band too. The rest is history. We recruited the most amazing musicians, who then helped us recruit more amazing musicians!

The sax section is made up of me on bari and clarinet, Eric Rogers and Tom Bahder on alto, and Jim Bradas and Niki Russell on tenor. Each one is an accomplished musician in his (or her) own right (check out the bios!) , but when all five saxes play together as one it is magic. And the tenor and alto solos are out of this world!

The trombone section - John Williams, Ray Irelan, Addison Mauldin, and Tom Winstead - is phenomenal. These are some seasoned professionals! I can't believe how well they sight read those complicated rhythms. They play lyrically when it's called for, and when the time is right, they HIT IT! We'd be lost without them.

The trumpet section is extraordinary. Mark Bailey, Steve Ennis, Richard Campbell, and Jeff Stewart can mute their horns and swing you the way Miller's band did, sing to you softly in four part harmony, or scream all the way up into the stratosphere - so high and clear you can't believe your ears!

The rhythm section consists of Chuck Everhart on drums and percussion, and The Mystery Pianist on the keyboard. Chuck has so much experience that it's crazy! We count on him to set the mood and the tempo, and keep the mood and the tempo. He does not disappoint. The Mystery Pianist causes us nothing but grief. (Help Wanted!!!)

Our female vocalist, Criss Ashwell, has been a major player on Huntsville's theater scene for years. I first heard Criss sing with the local group "The Lost Troubadors," in what was her first experience singing in public. I thought she sounded like Judy Garland. I was wrong - she sounds better. When Eric and I started talking about vocals I said, "We've got to get Criss!" Our male vocalist, Dave McConnell, joined the band in the fall of 2008. He's really got that Frank Sinatra sound we love so much!

For those of you who don't know Charlie Lyle, he had a professional big band, "The Charlie Lyle Band," in Huntsville for over 30 years. And he is still playing! Go see him with his quintet some Saturday evening downstairs at The Jazz Factory. Tell him Moondust sent you!

Eric & I are thrilled to have found a group of talented musicians who love the music like we do.

WE LOVE THIS BAND!!!