For those still unaware, as a freelance jazz musician, Rich Willey plays trumpet, cornet, flugelhorn, bass trumpet, and has recently begun playing tuba (look out!). Rich has freelanced in literally thousands of situations and his experience is diverse and varied.

As a bandleader, Rich has presented music at functions and events with a quartet, quintet, sextet, septet, octet, nonet, dectet and even a sixteen-piece big band. Rich’s jazz bands are versatile, playing Latin, swing, dixieland, or bebop styles and employ some of the best players in the Asheville and Western North Carolina region.

As a composer, Rich has written music that has been in the Tommy Dorsey Orchestra book for nearly two decades. With over two hundred compositions to his credit, he continues writing and experimenting.

As an arranger, Rich’s charts have been played around the world. He has done arranger-for-hire work for bands in Spain, Brazil, France, and all over the USA.

Rich is also a recording engineer, recording brass tracks in his Pro Tools studio using a Royer R-122 ribbon mic, a Neumann TLM 193 large-diaphragm condenser mic as well as an Electro Voice RE20 dynamic cardioid mic to add tracks to various recordings from across the USA and also internationally.

And now trumpeter-composer Willey introduces seven groove jazz tunes on Laid Back Vol. 1 that feature an 11-piece group with John Swana playing innovative solos on the EVI. The arrangements of Wally Minko blend horn lines with accessible rhythms, leaving space for many colorful solos.

1. “Laid Back (Night Lite)”
2. “Triple Play”
3. “Relax & Take It Easy”
4. “Long Lost Brothers”
5. “Ladies First”
6. “That’s My Little Girl”
7. “Hip Slick & Cool”

Recalling the era when jazz was rooted in feeling good rather than just thinking deeply, Willey opens his new recording on the funkily-grooved “Laid Back (Night Lite)” and then brings us the beautiful hipsway of “Triple Play,” the ornately sculpted “Relax & Take It Easy,” the resoundingly confident “Long Lost Brothers,” and then we are gifted the luxuriant “Ladies First,” the set rounding out on the robust flare of “That’s My Little Girl,” coming to a close on a shimmering beauty inherent within “Hip Slick & Cool.”

Musicians / Instruments:
Rich Willey — Trumpet, Tuba; John Swana — EVI; Carey Deadman — Trumpet; Jim Gailloreto — Flute, Soprano Sax, Alto Sax; Geof Bradfield — Tenor Sax; Steve Duncan — Trombone, Bass Trombone; Paul Mutzabaugh — Piano, Keyboard, Hammond B3 Organ; Chuck Webb — Electric Bass, Upright Bass; Felton Offard — Electric Guitar, Acoustic Guitar; Charles Heath — Drums; Rich Trelease — Percussion

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