Vocals
Vocals
are handled by the talented Liz Johnson and Eric
Stein with arrangements skillfully crafted by Mr.
Adair.
Eric Stein is
the groups male vocalist. During gigs fans of The
Establishment frequently request a Frank Sinatra chart and
Eric's voice immediately brings back all of the great
memories. Listen to Eric's both powerful and
extremely smooth voice on a sound clip of Accentuate the Positive,
or click here on the
chart Come Fly With Me.
Liz
Johnson is
the groups female vocalist.
Liz performs regularly in the Nashville
area with her own quartet and supports a growing road schedule that
took her to the Watertown Jazz Festival, Chicago and New York City
in 2002. Nashville’s city paper said her first full-album release,
“One More for The Road,” (Lily Records, 2001) “indicates she’s
quickly becoming another Nashville jazz musician deserving of some
national attention.” (July 2001). Audiences second that opinion. "I
have an idealistic vision of what I'm doing," says Johnson who sees
herself and her talent as a work in progress. "The music is a
vehicle for me to evolve and give something back. We're all
supported by a huge network of friends and family, a community. I
want to be able to give back to that community --- all those friends
and family and teachers who made a difference to me."
Check out Liz's great voice on
this Establishment cut of
Is You
Is Or Is You Ain't My Baby You can also learn more
about Liz from her website,
http://www.lilyrecords.com.
Reeds- Listen to a clip of the sax section
on Sammy Nestico's Queen Bee.
Cole
Burgess is one of the lead soloists for the band.
With his powerful, yet smooth tenor sound, thoughtful
improvisations, and his always present sense of humor, Cole is
certainly a guiding force in the band.
Click here to
listen to Cole soloing on Joy Spring, or
here to
hear him on Sammy Nestico's arrangement of Strike Up The Band
Chris
Genovese
Ed
Grooms, started playing with The Establishment in 1993. Ed studied
saxophone under
Dr. John Duke while attending MTSU and is
a regular performer with other area bands
such as The Stardusters and
The Big Band
Sound. Ed has also had the
privilege to perform with the Nashville
Symphony as well as with Helen Ready and the
Tennessee Philharmonic Orchestra.
Bill
Riggs joined The Establishment in 1993 and is currently
the Secretary/Treasurer for the Establishment. While he enjoys
a successful career in computer programming, his first love
is music. He plays with several area bands and has been
fortunate to play with such artists as The Four Tops, Lorna Luft, Helen Ready, Slide Hampton, Vassar Clements, Tito
Puente Jr., Levi John, Marvin Stamm, Steve Wiest, Deborah
Brown, Bob Mintzer, Dick Oats, Dave Liebman, and Ernestine
Anderson.
Charlie Anderson, the newest
member of The Establishment, hails from St. Paul, MN, and is a
recent graduate of Vanderbilt University, where he was a recipient
of the
Del Sawyer (founding director of The Establishment) Trumpet
Scholarship. He now teaches Middle School Chorus and Band at
Sycamore Middle School, in Pleasant View, TN. as well as directs the
Belmont University Basketball Band. Former Establishment
member, Chris Cooper, stirred Charlie's interest in jazz while
attending college, and he is very excited about the opportunity to
play with such accomplished musicians in the group.
Paul Epp is originally from
Lawrence, Kansas and returned to The Establishment in May 2008 after
a brief "leave of absence". Paul, a former Del Sawyer Trumpet
Scholarship recipient, has played in various orchestras, big bands, jazz
combos, brass ensembles and other groups since he moved to Nashville
in 2000, and has played a number weddings, parties and other types
of receptions on trumpet, piano and guitar. Paul has twice
been chosen as a soloist for the Blair School of Music Student
Showcase and has attended the Aspen Music Festival. His interests
outside of music are as diverse as those within it.
Stuart Naylor.
Click here to listen to Stu
solo on Sammy Nestico's Broadway.
Courtenay Shipley, a
member of The Establishment since 2004, is a native of Pittsburgh,
PA. In 2001 Courtenay graduated from Vanderbilt
University's Blair School of Music with a bachelors of music in
Trumpet Performance and stayed in Nashville to pursue musical
interests. Outside of playing, she works for Principal Financial
Group as a retirement plan education specialist. In addition to
The Establishment, she enjoys playing in Secret Gossip, an
original funk band, the Ceremonial Brass Quintet, and has played
in the past with the Nashville Philharmonic Orchestra as well as
performing as a soloist. You can find articles written by her
about Nashville and jazz on the Tennessee Jazz and Blues Society
webpage at
www.tjbs.org.
Dr. Greg
Weaver started playing trumpet in The
Establishment in 1996 and serves as the
organizations President. He is a
radiologist and grows chestnuts on his
farm near Nashville.
Joe Awad is a Vanderbilt MD specializing in
GI and Liver disease but whose passion is big band jazz.
Leaving Ohio to attend Vandy in 1977, he played lead bone in
the VU/Peabody Jazz Ensemble. During the 1980's Joe
played lead bone and later led the Washington University
Medical School big band the "Hot Docs".
Returning to Nashville in 1989
Joe spent most of his time career building until the
mid-2000's when he decided to become an "every day" player
again. He started the community trombone choir Bone
Therapy (www.bonetherapy.org).
In addition to playing in "The Establishment", he is lead
trombonist in the "Moonlighters" big band and will co-host the
40th anniversary International Trombone Festival at VU's Blair
School of Music June 2011.
Greg
Cox is another one of the bands lead soloists.
His solid trombone lead, creative improvisation and smiling spirit
sets an example for others to follow.
Al Scarlett,
a member of the Establishment since 1997 is a native of Detroit, Michigan,
and received his basic music education from
his mother, a professional musician and teacher and studied trombone
with trombonists from the Detroit Symphony. After spending time
in the Army Combat Engineers and in the 76th Army Groundforces Band in
Japan in 1945-46, Al spent 39 years as a Switching Equipment
Technician for Michigan Bell. During this span of time Al
was also called upon to play trombone in groups backing up performing
artists such as Sammy Davis, Jr., Ella Fitzgerald, Mel Torme, Roger
Williams, Steve Allen, Nancy Wilson and Jerry Vale. Al
and his wife, Gloria, live in Winchester, TN in Franklin County.
Click here to listen to Al
solo on Broadway.
John
Fontaine has been playing with the Establishment since
August 2009. John, a native Tennessean, is
currently a Civil Engineering student at Vanderbilt University,
where he also studies trombone with Lawrence Borden. Having had
the fortune of playing with Michael Mulcahy, Michael Davis, Harry
Watters, Matt Neiss, Don Hough, John LaBarbera, Vince DiMartino,
Mark Taylor, Futureman, and Rick Simerly, he recently was a
finalist at the Eastern Trombone Workshop's Solo Jazz Competition.
Jon
Lawson, bass trombonist, reunited with the band in 2003. Jon had
previously been the lead trombonist with "The Establishment" from
1988-1995. He received both his BA and MM degrees in trombone
performance. Jon came to Nashville in 1985 to play in the house
band aboard the General Jackson Showboat. For the last 18 years, he
has been a financial representative with the Northwestern Mutual
Financial Network (http://www.nmfn.com/jonlawson).
Jon earned his CFP designation in 2001 and primarily works in
the areas of personal planning. He is married and has one child. Jon
has had the privilege to perform with Wynton Marsalis, Bobby Shew,
Clark Terry, McCoy Tyner, Danny Davis, Lou Rawls and Sammy Nestico,
just to name a few.
Daniel
Thompson, bass trombonist with the Establishment since 2007, started
studying classical piano at
the age of 4 and later in
life learned to play the bass trombone.
Daniel spent three years as a choir director for a
Methodist church in Hartsville, TN, and then another year as the music
minister for Immanuel Church of the Nazarene in Nashville. He returned
to San Diego and completed his bachelor's degree in Church Music at
Point Loma Nazarene University and
now, with his wife, Tara, lives in Nashville, TN. Check out
Daniel's other passion,
Southwest of Chicago.
John Arnn,
piano, a professor of music at Belmont University's School of
Music, teaches commercial/jazz piano and related courses in theory
and improvisation. For twelve years he was the Director of
Commercial Music Studies at Belmont. Over thirty years of teaching
demonstrates his dedication to the profession. However, he
maintains an active career as a composer, arranger, and performer
in all types of venues in the Nashville area. Teaching
experience includes
McCracken County Public Schools, Paducah, Kentucky,
Jefferson College, Hillsboro,
Missouri, and Belmont
University, Nashville, Tennessee. He is Past-President of the
Tennessee Unit of the International Association of Jazz Educators.
His professional experience as a free-lance keyboardist includes
appearances with the Warren Covington Orchestra, the Glenn Miller
band under Ray McKinley, Ralph Marterie, and in orchestras backing
up Connie Stevens, Mike Douglas, Jimmy Dean, Bob Hope, and others.
Loy Hardcastle has played
with greats like Tommy Dorsey, Glenn Miller, Buddy Rich,
Count Basie. Unfortunately it was playing along with their
records! Loy started playing in a rock and roll
band at age 11 in a club in Nashville every Saturday night
from 8:00 until 11:00. So it goes from there with various
rock bands and big bands and so on.
The
band is led by Billy Adair.
Eric Stein is
the groups male vocalist. During gigs fans of The
Establishment frequently request a Frank Sinatra chart and
Eric's voice immediately brings back all of the great
memories. Listen to Eric's both powerful and
extremely smooth voice on a sound clip of
Liz
Johnson is
the groups female vocalist.
Liz performs regularly in the Nashville
area with her own quartet and supports a growing road schedule that
took her to the Watertown Jazz Festival, Chicago and New York City
in 2002. Nashville’s city paper said her first full-album release,
“One More for The Road,” (Lily Records, 2001) “indicates she’s
quickly becoming another Nashville jazz musician deserving of some
national attention.” (July 2001). Audiences second that opinion. "I
have an idealistic vision of what I'm doing," says Johnson who sees
herself and her talent as a work in progress. "The music is a
vehicle for me to evolve and give something back. We're all
supported by a huge network of friends and family, a community. I
want to be able to give back to that community --- all those friends
and family and teachers who made a difference to me."
Check out Liz's great voice on
this Establishment cut of
Ed
Grooms, started playing with The Establishment in 1993. Ed studied
saxophone under
Dr. John Duke while attending MTSU and is
a regular performer with other area bands
such as The Stardusters and
Bill
Riggs joined The Establishment in 1993 and is currently
the Secretary/Treasurer for the Establishment. While he enjoys
a successful career in computer programming, his first love
is music. He plays with several area bands and has been
fortunate to play with such artists as The Four Tops, Lorna Luft, Helen Ready, Slide Hampton, Vassar Clements, Tito
Puente Jr., Levi John, Marvin Stamm, Steve Wiest, Deborah
Brown, Bob Mintzer, Dick Oats, Dave Liebman, and Ernestine
Anderson. 
Andy
Robinson
Stuart Naylor.
Dr. Greg
Weaver started playing trumpet in The
Establishment in 1996 and serves as the
organizations President. He is a
radiologist and grows chestnuts on his
farm near Nashville.
Greg
Cox is another one of the bands lead soloists.
His solid trombone lead, creative improvisation and smiling spirit
sets an example for others to follow.
John
Fontaine has been playing with the Establishment since
August 2009. John, a native Tennessean, is
currently a Civil Engineering student at Vanderbilt University,
where he also studies trombone with Lawrence Borden. Having had
the fortune of playing with Michael Mulcahy, Michael Davis, Harry
Watters, Matt Neiss, Don Hough, John LaBarbera, Vince DiMartino,
Mark Taylor, Futureman, and Rick Simerly, he recently was a
finalist at the Eastern Trombone Workshop's Solo Jazz Competition.
Jon
Lawson, bass trombonist, reunited with the band in 2003. Jon had
previously been the lead trombonist with "The Establishment" from
1988-1995. He received both his BA and MM degrees in trombone
performance. Jon came to Nashville in 1985 to play in the house
band aboard the General Jackson Showboat. For the last 18 years, he
has been a financial representative with the Northwestern Mutual
Financial Network (
John Arnn,
piano, a professor of music at Belmont University's School of
Music, teaches commercial/jazz piano and related courses in theory
and improvisation. For twelve years he was the Director of
Commercial Music Studies at Belmont. Over thirty years of teaching
demonstrates his dedication to the profession. However, he
maintains an active career as a composer, arranger, and performer
in all types of venues in the Nashville area. Teaching
experience includes 
Loy Hardcastle has played
with greats like Tommy Dorsey, Glenn Miller, Buddy Rich,
Count Basie. Unfortunately it was playing along with their
records! Loy started playing in a rock and roll
band at age 11 in a club in Nashville every Saturday night
from 8:00 until 11:00. So it goes from there with various
rock bands and big bands and so on.
Mike Rinne,
bass