Rob McConnell Dies at 75; Valve Trombonist Who Led the Boss Brass

Rob McConnell, a celebrated composer, arranger and valve trombonist who led the Boss Brass, one of Canada's best and best-known big bands, has died. He was 75.

McConnell, a three-time Grammy winner, died May 1 at a Toronto hospital, his family announced. He had cancer, the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences said on its website. Although he formed the band in 1968, it was almost unknown to American audiences until 1981, when McConnell brought the 21-man ensemble to California for a series of concerts, The Times reported in 1981.

By 1986, Times jazz critic Leonard Feather had declared it the jazz band of the year.

Don't miss a thing. Get breaking news alerts delivered to your inbox. McConnell “paints in pastels," Feather wrote in The Times in 1984, but “for all its attention to shadings, the orchestra never loses touch with the essence of swinging jazz." Begun as a brass band that emphasized pop music, Boss Brass added a saxophone section in 1971 and started playing more jazz. Eventually, it grew into a big band with 22 musicians, many of them among Toronto's best, and released a steady lineup of albums.

McConnell won his first Grammy in 1984 as an artist for his recording “All in Good Time" and received two more in the 1990s for his work as an arranger. The group also won at least three Juno Awards, the Canadian equivalent of the Grammy. Many band members were freelance studio musicians who stayed with the Boss Brass for most of its nearly 30-year run. It was expensive to tour with such a large group, and when big-band work began drying up, McConnell reinvented the group in 1997 as a 10-piece all-star ensemble he called the Rob McConnell Tentet.

Born Feb. 14, 1935, in London, Canada, McConnell grew up in Toronto. In high school, he took up the slide trombone but later switched to a trombone that has valves like a trumpet. He was one of the few modern masters of the valve trombone, according to Feather. As a young man, McConnell worked on oil rigs and as a stockbroker before settling on music as a career.

After playing in Toronto for a few years, he moved to New York in 1963 and worked mainly in the orchestra of Maynard Ferguson. McConnell soon returned to Toronto and a productive life as a studio musician. He lived in the U.S. one more time, in 1998, when he spent 16 months teaching at the Grove School of Music in Van Nuys. “I played with all the great bands down there as I became the 'trombone sub' of the city," McConnell said in 1995 in Ontario's Hamilton Spectator newspaper. Boss Brass broke up when McConnell moved to Los Angeles, but by 1991, it was back together.

Onstage, he was “a dryly funny announcer," whose infectious personality induced “a team spirit," Feather wrote in The Times in 1984, “that has few if any equals on today's big-band scene."
http://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/news.php?id=56200

RobMcconnell & The Boss Brass at Howard Rumseys Concerts by the Sea, from 1981, sound recorded live by Hank Cicalo. All credits at the end.

Rob McConnell (1935-2010)

Reprinted from http://jazzwax.com

Used with permission by MarcMyers

Rob McConnell, a revered Canadian bandleader, valve trombonist, arranger and composer whose swinging versions of standards raised him to near cult status among his many global fans, died May 1st in Toronto. He was 75.

In an age when many big bands are viewed today as uneven relics, McConnell's crisp arrangements and straight-shooter stage presence helped him build a significant following. Part of McConnell's success was his ability to stand still and deliver what fans wanted. By clinging to a brass-centric sound made famous in the 1960s, the McConnell band was able to wait out the demise of its competition.

McConnell's arranging style was always deceptive. To the uninitiated, his renditions of Tin Pan Alley tunes and jazz standards often were misconstrued as "Canadian Pops." But to the careful listener, McConnell's music revealed intricate and sophisticated patterns and passages—all wrapped in a swinging tempo. Deep down, McConnell remained a life-long fan of the dance band—the type that was popular on college campuses in the very late 1950s.

McConnell's stylistic approach was a blending of several major influences. In a typical McConnell arrangement, one hears the powdery elegance of Claude Thornhill, the brassy bickering of Gil Evans and the sectional swagger of Stan Kenton. There also is a dash of Les and Larry Elgart, whose bands also specialized in straightforward but smartly arranged versions of well-known tunes.

But the essence of McConnell's orchestral sound also owe a debt to the flamboyance of Maynard Ferguson's early 1960s bands and the finger-snapping arranging style of Sammy Nestico in the 1970s. In McConnell's hands, a song was sure to receive a clearly articulated interpretation, with an emphasis on the brass section.

Unlike many Canadian musicians, McConnell remained in Canada, even after a recording opportunity in New York with Maynard Ferguson in 1964. His decision not to relocate to Hollywood or New York was always remembered and admired by Canadians, who for years watched their nation's most talented artists leave for fame-building and moneymaking opportunities in the U.S.

McConnell grew up in London, and played with several Canadian bands before forming the Boss Brass in 1968. At first, the band did not feature saxophones, preferring instead to emphasize the power and excitement of the trumpet and trombone sections. But by 1971, the need for reeds as a sound softener was apparent, and McConnell added a sax section. In 1976, McConnell's band included 22 musicians.

For the next 34 years, McConnell's band turned out a steady lineup of big band albums, receiving a Grammy Award in 1984 for All in Good Time. The band also toured extensively, particularly in Canada, where it often was regaled by more fans than there were seats. Back in late 2008, several JazzWax readers sent me emails hoping I could tell them how to get tickets to a sold-out Boss Brass appearance in Toronto sponsored by JazzFM.91.
I couldn't. Even the VIP seats were long gone.



http://www.jazzwax.com/2010/05/rob-mcconnell-19352010.html