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THE BAND MEMBERS

Meet the band members who create the big, bold,

foot tapping sounds of the Bridgetown Big Band

Dale Beacock

Alto Saxophone

 

Dale attended Vancouver Schools from first grade through Clark College and has continuously worked with local bands since high school. He attended the Navy School of Music during the Korean War and served in a Navy band. Dale received a Masters of Music degree from the University of Portland and did graduate work at the University of Michigan. He taught music at Fort Vancouver High School and finished his teaching career at Clark College where he served as Humanities Division Chairman. He is currently founder and CEO of Beacock Music Co,

Bonnie Brown

Alto Saxophone

 

Les Gray

Tenor Saxophone

 

 I started taking piano lessons at 8, then guitar lessons at 10. I stuck with the guitar through high school, and then switched to Electric Bass at 19. In about 6th or 7th grade, I started my first band. It was called the "Noblemen" and we played mostly popular tunes and songs by the Doors. We were usually hired for the dances and sock hops at school. During high school I had a band called the "Winds of Change". Our most memorable gig was when we were hired by Portland State College to play a street dance on the top floor of their downtown parking structure. It was a blast! We were high schoolers playing for college kids. After high school I started a band called" Rainbow". I played the electric bass and sang lead and background vocals. We did mostly funk tunes and played lots of local clubs. "Blue-eyed soul" music is how we were described back then in the early "70s".I started to play the Tenor sax when I was playing bass in Rainbow. I quit Rainbow and moved to Santa Cruz, CA when I was 22 and played in a variety of original and cover bands. I toured with the show band "Oliver".  I was playing the flute, alto sax, trumpet, sang lead and background vocals and played bass with that band. I toured and recorded with the mostly original band the "Tremors". I returned to Portland in the late 80s and played with bands "Street Legal", "Shades of Blue", and a really good 10 piece show band "Perfect 10". We featured an ex "Tower of Power" lead singer Ed McGee.  After Perfect 10 broke up in the early 90s I decided to dedicate my playing to jazz music. I attended Clackamas Community college in 94' thru 97' and played in their jazz big band led by the famous Portland jazz bassist Tom Wakeling.  After leaving college I joined the Portland Community College Monday night big band led by Frank Lueck, then led by Ken Stine, and currently play in its evolved version "Bridgetown Big Band".  I'm also in the original band "G-Rad". We recorded our very first CD last year called "G-Rad" and are working on our second all original CD, and hope to start recording in the spring of 2010.My favorite saxophonists are Michael Brecker, John Coltrane, Sonny Rollins, Wayne Shorter and Bob Mintzer.

Tom Ladouceur

Tenor Saxophone

 

  

Tom has been playing the saxophone for the last 30 years. He has performed

in blues bands, small combos, and big bands. He appears every Friday night

with his jazz quartet, Left Coast Jazz at the Monticello Hotel in Longview

Washington. When not playing music he works as an attorney, and enjoys

bicycling.

 

Troy Williams

Baritone Saxophone

 

    began playing the sax in junior high, studying with my grandfather.  He was a big band player in the 40's and offered to teach me.  It was a great experience that moved me quickly onto playing in school.  I was offered a chance to play bari sax at Wilson High School my sophomore year and it stuck with me.  I also began playing the clarinet, so that I could play in the orchestra.  Eugene Kaza was the director there and a great teacher and mentor. (along with being one talented and funny man!)  I moved on to playing in the stage band at Wilson, which became my real passion.  I knew that Big Band Jazz was my deal.   I began studying with some local teachers including Earl Minor, a great teacher and mentor with both sax and clarinet. After high school, I spent a year at Mt. Hood Community College during the time of Larry McVey.  Although I learned a lot and enjoyed my time there, I realized that I probably would need a "day job”. I continued in college, studying psychology and business, but never lost my love of jazz and playing in bands.  I later played in the PCC Cascade Jazz program under Cliff Waite and the Warner Pacific College Jazz Band with Dr. Dennis Plies.  After college, I began a career in social work, got married and started a family.  I played occasionally at church but not much else.  A friend mentioned the Bridgetown Big Band, and though I hadn’t played in years, I wanted to give it a try. It’s been over two years and I’m grateful to be a member of this band.

Brad Davis

Trumpet

 

 Brad attended Wichita State University and University of Nevada-Las Vegas, and has a Degree in Music Performance. He has been a member of military bands, and studied at the Military School of Music in Virginia. He has played with numerous big bands and jazz groups, including the Lee Castle/Jimmy Dorsey Band, Eddie Howard Orchestra and the Al Peirson Big Band. His band, the Kansas City Rhythm Kings, performs regularly in the area. Brad is also an accomplished classical player. Brad Davis has over 20 years of experience in the music business. He has played trumpet with numerous bands and acts from Las Vegas to Europe.

Jim Svoboda

Trumpet

 

Influential Players: Maynard Ferguson, Stan Kenton, Don Ellis

 

Music Education: 5th grade through college which includes jazz band, symphonic band, marching band, Eugene youth symphony and a few college musicals.

 

Bio: Upon graduation from high school I had a choice to make for a college major, music or electrical engineering.  I choose electrical engineering.  After graduating from OSU with a BSEE degree, my wife and I moved to Silicon Valley where I lived for 20 years.  Life commitments limited my time to playing the trumpet in church and an occasional community band. I returned to Oregon in 2000.  I am now at a point in my life where I can enjoy a commitment to my trumpet.  I really enjoy jazz and I am thrilled to be playing for the Bridgetown Big Band.

 

Colton King

Trumpet

 

Al Kato

Trumpet

 

  

Ed Green

Trombone

 

 Ed has been playing the trombone for over 40 years. While majoring in Electrical Engineering at the University of South Carolina, he performed and recorded with their East Bank big band. He moved to Portland in 1986. In 1987 Ed joined the Art Abrams Swing Machine Big Band, of which he is still a member, and has recorded on all 3 Swing Machine recordings (“The First One”, “Art Attack!!”, and “Children Of The Night”). While playing with the Portland Community College jazz band under the direction of Thara Memory, Ed won the instrumental soloist award for trombone at the 1991 University of Idaho’s Lionel Hampton Jazz Festival. Ed has also recorded with Brad Davis’ Kansas City Rhythm Kings in 2007. The trombone players that most influenced Ed’s playing are Albert Mangelsdorff, JJ Johnson, Urbie Green and Bill Watrous.

Bud Sonderman

Trombone -  Vocalist

 

 Bud Sonderman has enjoyed a long and varied career as an instrumentalist and vocalist. He attended Arizona State College as a music major on scholarship, playing viola and trombone. During that time he performed as the principal violist for the Northern Arizona Symphony. For the past 40 plus years, he has played trombone and bass trombone for church groups, the theater, and multiple big bands and jazz bands. He has also performed as vocalist for many of them. The list of groups Bud has performed with is long and includes the: Bernie Fuentes Latin Big Band, Touch of Brass, Mike Sloan Big Band, Elby Coy Big Band, NW Washington Jazz Band, Black Magic, Glen Tadino Big Band and opening bands for Sam Butera and Tony Orlando and Dawn.

Terry Henderson

Trombone

 

 Terry Henderson began playing trombone in 1971 and continued playing throughout high school and college including two years as a music major at the University of Oregon. After several years' hiatus, he realized he missed the trombone and picked up the horn again in 2007. Joining the Starlight Symphony Orchestra and later the Bridgetown Big Band has renewed and reinvigorated his lifelong interest in playing trombone. Musical variety is important to Terry, and his listening habits and musical influences are diverse. He can be found listening to just about anything depending on what strikes his interest at the moment. Genre is less important than quality and originality. Balancing his musical interests with career and family, Terry works as IT Manager for a Portland accounting firm. He and his wife stay busy raising their two daughters. They enjoy traveling, particularly camping and mountain biking throughout Oregon and beyond.

Keith Dwiggins

Bass Trombone

 

Deb Carter

Vocalist

 

 Deb Carter has many years of experience singing with church choirs as well as being a featured soloist, conductor and composer. She has frequently been referred to as ‘”the song bird”. Drawn to the creativity in jazz music, Deb began performing as a soloist with big bands in the Portland area in 2001. She delights in the beautifully lyrical big band ballads and lively, creative jazz as well as the opportunity to share them with her audience. Being upbeat and energetic, she brings this to her music. Deb has been coached by Thomas Blalock, founder and director of the Northwest Institute of Voice and Darcy Dillon, vocal coach and Portland Opera member. She has also studied with local and international vocalists such as Nancy King, Mary Kadderly and Annette Lowman as well as jazz pianist and Reed College music professor Craig Jones. Deb is a devoted wife, mom and grandmother. Her husband Allan assists with the technical aspects of her endeavors. Deb works as a surgical nurse and takes part in medical mission work. She also enjoys landscaping, working out and sketching. Her artwork has appeared in art shows and publications.

Tom Ruttan

Upright String Bass

 

 Tom started playing string bass in the Seattle jazz and classical music scene in the early 60’s and has been playing for over 40 years.  He studied with Ron Simon of the Seattle Symphony and played with many jazz groups during that time that included musicians such as Jay Thomas, Lee Wuthenow and Jerry Frank.  His Seattle experience also included playing with the University of Washington Symphony and Stage Band, Seattle Youth Symphony and various big bands.  Tom moved to the San Francisco Bay Area in the 1970’s and continued to play classical and jazz music with the Nova Vista Symphony, the Bob Macota Big Band and various smaller groups.  Since moving to Portland in 1980 he has played with the Gabe Weiss Big Band, Border Patrol and is currently a member of the Marylhurst Symphony, Oregon Pro Arte Chamber Orchestra, Portland Festival Symphony, Bridgetown Big Band, Kansas City Rhythm Kings and a variety of free lance groups.  Primary musical influences have been Ray Brown, Oscar Petiford, John Clayton and Gary Karr.

Dave Nedwek

Guitar

 

 Dave has been playing guitar and keyboards professionally since before the dawn of time (well, before the dawn of the Internet). Wedding bands, pop bands, jazz bands, pit bands ... where there's music to be played, Dave is drawn there. He's been with the Bridgetown Big Band and its forerunners long enough to earn much of his gray hair, and he's proud to be part of the rhythm section with the deepest pocket in town.

Mark Bennett

Key Board

 

    

Chris Conrad

Drums