A Prairie Home Companion from American Public Media

Special Guests
Saturday, January 20, 2007

Dave Bargeron

Dave Bargeron's first lead trombone job was playing with Clark Terry's Big Band. Then he signed on as bass trombonist and tuba player with Doc Severinsen's Band, before joining the pioneering jazz-rock group Blood, Sweat and Tears, with whom he recorded 11 albums. A break in BS&T's schedule allowed Dave to join the Gil Evans Orchestra in 1972, and he remains a member of that organization. He is both a sought-after session musician and a well-known jazz artist in his own right. A charter member of Howard Johnson's six-tuba group, Gravity, and he has also recorded with Paul Simon, Mick Jagger, James Taylor and Eric Clapton, Gerry Mulligan, Dave Sanborn and others. Sesame Street fans know Dave as the "voice" of Telly's tuba. From 1989 to 1995, he appeared on A Prairie Home Companion as a member of the Coffee Club Orchestra, the APHC house band during those years. Dave's latest solo CD is TubaTuba II.

Erin Bode

Erin Bode remembers the day her dad, a Lutheran minister, came home and asked if she wanted to join the church's cherub choir. "At five years old, it was one of the biggest thrills of my life," she says. All through her school years in the Minneapolis suburb of Wayzata, Erin was a self-described "music geek." "I was the only one," she recalls, "who was excited when we took field trips to Orchestra Hall!" The family moved to St. Louis when Erin was 15. In high school, she discovered jazz and big-band music and studied trumpet. She took a degree in music from Webster University, and she has lived in St. Louis ever since. These days, her crystal-clear voice is winning over audiences at jazz clubs and festivals across the country and beyond. She has recorded two albums, Don't Take Your Time and Over and Over, both on the MAXJAZZ label. Erin is joined tonight by Derrek Phillips (drums), Sydney Rodway (bass) and Adam Maness (piano).

Kathy Jensen

On alto, tenor, and bari sax, Kathy Jensen has been a favorite on the Twin Cities music scene for decades. With her husband, trumpeter Dave Jensen, she is a member of the Hornheads, an all-brass ensemble. She has performed with Moore By Four, the Minnesota Orchestra and with artists such as Prince, Aretha Franklin, James Brown, Frank Sinatra Jr. and Natalie Cole. When touring musicals are booked in the Minneapolis or St. Paul, chances are you'll find Kathy Jensen in the orchestra pit, and she frequently does session work for commercials. Kathy is a graduate of the University of Minnesota with a degree in music education.

Jon-Erik Kellso

Trumpeter Jon-Erik Kellso says, "I want to find ways of bringing a younger audience to mainstream jazz." Of course he does. Kellso has lived and breathed music since his childhood in Detroit. At age 11, he was already doing big band work. Two years later, he joined the International Youth Symphony. And by the time he was 17, he was in a concert alongside famed cornetist Wild Bill Davison. He has played with a wide variety of groups, including the New McKinney's Cotton Pickers, J.C. Heard's Orchestra, James Dapogny's Chicago Jazz Band and Vince Giordano's Nighthawks. He's recorded with Marty Grosz, Milt Hinton, Dick Hyman, Linda Ronstadt, Maria Muldaur, Banu Gibson, Leon Redbone and many others. His latest CD is Kellso's BC Buddies (Gen-Erik), the 2005 follow-up to his 1997 recording, Chapter 2: The Plot Thickens (Arbors Records).

Andy Stein

Andy Stein (violin, saxophone) definitely has far-flung musical leanings, He collaborated with Garrison Keillor to create the opera Mr. and Mrs. Olson, and he's performed with artists such as Itzhak Perlman, Eric Clapton, Smashing Pumpkins, Billy Joel, Tony Bennett, Ray Charles and Bob Dylan.