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When I was in high-school my jam was not music but modern dance. We had technique class every day and occasionally our teacher ("Good Music For You" subscriber, Arlene Horowitz) was able to get her hands on enough budget to have in a guest musician. Steve Bloom brought various percussion instruments and always a joyful, humorous spirit that lifted up our dancing and caught my curiosity. I eventually got him to show me some stuff on the congas and now I actually make part of my living doing the same thing for Tulane.

The last few times Panorama played up in Maryland, Steve helped us out by connecting me to gigs, loaning us drum gear, putting up musicians in his home as well as playing with us, getting to know all the cats along the way. We've been talking about recording together for a few years.

So, when I was working on the music for last week's session, I had a couple of ideas percolating - one based on a cumbia groove from Colombia and the other an Afro beat pattern by legendary Nigerian drummer Tony Allen. I realized we were going to need extra percussion and called Steve.

In addition to working in modern dance and co-founding The renowned Dance Place Theater, Steve has been a busy percussionist on the highly eclectic, international scene in DC and around the world for decades. Working with musicians in a "panorama" of communities, traditions and styles from Brazilian to Persian to Celtic, to all kinds of Caribbean, Latin American, Middle Eastern and West African musics, Steve has performed and recorded with such luminaries as Tito Puente, Pedrito Martinez, King Sunny Adé, Doc Cheatham, adopted New Orleanian Bill Summers, the 80s fusion band Natural Bridge and the electric bass phenom Michael Manring.

Steve also travels to Cuba several times a year to participate in local ceremonies and festivals there and promises to show me around one of these times.

OK. On another tip, raise your hand if you love major league baseball! Raise your other hand if you love the Baltimore Orioles. Not many, not many...

As for me, I am a total Orioles geek since the glory days when I was 9 years old in 1972. The 2023 baseball season just got under way this past Thursday (Orioles over the Redsox, 10-9) with great optimism and anticipation in Birdland. After a dismal 6 years, our boys are starting to look really good to the point where their General Manager, Mike Elias, announced recently that it was "Liftoff" time for the franchise. Hence the title of today's offering which I hereby dedicate to the Baltimore Orioles in hopes of a fantastic season.

This one is a party! We hope you dig it. Thank you Panorama, thanks Steve Bloom and thank you to all our devoted supporters. We couldn't do this without you.

At your service,
Ben Schenck
Panorama Jazz Band
Panorama BRASS Band
New Orleans

credits

from Song​-​of​-​the​-​Month Club: Good Music For You, track released April 1, 2023
Panorama Jazz Band featuring Steve Bloom:
Steve Bloom - Bongo, Congas, Shaker
Ben Schenck - Clarinet
Aurora Nealand - Alto Saxophone
Charlie Halloran – Trombone
Michael Ward-Bergeman - Accordion
Mark Rubin - Tenor Banjo
Matt Perrine - Tuba
Doug Garrison - Drum Set, Timbales

Music by Ben Schenck (Snack Daddy Music/ASCAP), arranged by Ben Schenck, Steve Bloom and Doug Garrison.
Recorded and edited by Rick Nelson March 24, 2023 at Marigny Studios, New Orleans, LA.
Mixed and mastered by Lu Rojas
Cover photo by Rick Nelson
Graphic design by Ben Schenck

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Panorama Jazz Band / Panorama Brass Band - New Orleans New Orleans, Louisiana

"New Orleans' genre fluid jazz band"

The Panorama Jazz Band and the Panorama Brass Band have been working steadily in New Orleans and beyond since 1995. Many hundreds of nightclub gigs, festivals, weddings, crawfish boils and Mardi Gras parades have added to this community of musicians' collective experience, all of which they bring to each of their recordings. ... more

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