The Reunion Jazz Ensemble — made up of a group of longtime friends who include Grammy Award winners, Broadway veterans, top Hollywood arrangers, and musicians who have performed around the world – will perform as part of the Branford Jazz On The Green Series this Sunday at 6:30 pm.. They were scheduled for a prior date but rain intervened.
Reunion was formed in the 1970s as the combined brainchild of the late Stan Wheeler, Yale Law School professor and several talented members of the Yale Jazz Ensemble of that era. (Wheeler lived in Branford with his wife Marcia Chambers, who is the editor of the Independent’s Branford Eagle.)
Besides Wheeler (trumpet), original founding members of Reunion were Paul Lieberman (tenor sax and flute), Paul Sullivan (piano), Steve Perrett (trumpet), and composer/arrangers Brad Dechter (alto sax), Jeff Fuller (bass), and Frank Bennett (drums). (See top photo.) The three composer/arrangers provided the book of exciting and varied originals and standards that the group still uses use in concert today.
The band’s first concert was in Manchester Village, VT, where Wheeler had a home. He invited the group to come and perform at the historic Manchester Inn. The event marked the beginning of the group’s tradition of getting together at least once a year, hence the name Reunion. The individual members inevitably moved away from New Haven to enjoy successful careers in music. Bennett and Dechter became (and still are) highly respected composers in Los Angeles; Sullivan, Lieberman and Fuller worked on the New York jazz scene for many years before dispersing across New England (ME, MA and CT).
In recent years, since Wheeler’s untimely death in 2007, the group has re-assembled to participate in each of the six Stan Wheeler Memorial Concerts held at the Yale Law School in early April. The Yale Jazz Ensemble, with which Stan continued to play until his death, has likewise performed at each of these concerts, a reminder that jazz at Yale, which the original members of Reunion helped get going, is alive and well.
Reunion’s lineup for this year’s Jazz On The Green includes original members Steve Perrett (trumpet), Paul Lieberman (tenor sax, flute), Paul Sullivan (piano), and Jeff Fuller (bass). Joining them will be well known local jazz luminaries Bob Kolb (alto sax), Tim Moran (baritone sax), Tony Lombardozzi (guitar) and Jesse Hameen II (drums).
Click on the play arrow to watch a snippet of a 2012 Reunion performance at Yale Law School.
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