The Rhythm Section Jazz Band (RSJB) is an American jazz band based in Grand Rapids, Michigan. The ensemble was formed in June 2002 for the purpose of advocating the performance of American music from the first half of the 20th century. The ensemble refers to itself as a "Little Big Band" and is made up of 10 musicians: 2 alto saxophonists, a tenor saxophonist, a trombonist, a trumpeter, a pianist, a guitarist, a bass guitarist, a drumer, and a singer. Since its inception, the band has toured throughout the United States and has held over 155 recording sessions.
The RSJB's repertoire is taken from the Paul Sherwood Music Arrangement Archive an archive of over 3,500 arrangements for jazz bands and theater orchestras. Some of the gifted arrangers represented in this archive include: Fletcher Henderson, Horace Henderson, Spud Murphy, Lou Halmy, Don Redman, Joe Glover, Dave Wolpe, Earl Holt, Sammy Nestico, Fud Livingston, Will Hudson, Jack Mason, Frank Skinner, Jimmy Dale, Fred Van Eps, Jimmy Lally, Larry Clinton, Larry Wagner, Frank Mantooth, Glenn Osser, David Drubeck, Frank Metis, Walter Paul, Bob Lowden, Jerry Gray, Louis Katzman, Archie Bleyer, Arthur Lange, Ken Macomber, Johnny Warrington, Bill Oliver, George Snowhill, Roger Holmes, Lennie Hiehaus, Art McKay, Hawley Ades, Johnny Sterling, Sid Phillips, Milton Ager, Duke Ellington, Count Basie, Glenn Miller, Artie Shaw, Buck Ram, W.C. Polla, Marty Paich, Bob Haring, Van Alexander, and Teddy Black among others.
Famous quotes containing the words rhythm, section, jazz and/or band:
“I remember the stink of the liverwurst.
How I was put on a platter and laid
between the mayonnaise and the bacon.
The rhythm of the refrigerator
had been disturbed.”
—Anne Sexton (1928–1974)
“Socialite women meet socialite men and mate and breed socialite children so that we can fund small opera companies and ballet troupes because there is no government subsidy.”
—Sugar Rautbord, U.S. socialite fund-raiser and self-described “trash” novelist. As quoted in The Great Divide, book 2, section 7, by Studs Terkel (1988)
“There’s more bad music in jazz than any other form. Maybe that’s because the audience doesn’t really know what’s happening.”
—Pat Metheny (b. 1954)
“What passes for identity in America is a series of myths about one’s heroic ancestors. It’s astounding to me, for example, that so many people really seem to believe that the country was founded by a band of heroes who wanted to be free. That happens not to be true. What happened was that some people left Europe because they couldn’t stay there any longer and had to go someplace else to make it. They were hungry, they were poor, they were convicts.”
—James Baldwin (1924–1987)