ON the Beat | Keeping the Big Band Torch Afire, on Mondays

Monday Madness big band at SOhO, April 7, 2025 | Photo: Josef Woodard

No, the vital force fondly known as Monday Madness is not a state of mind or a bad case of start-of-the-week blues. It is a force of tight, swinging musical nature, and the finest example of jazz big-band culture in Santa Barbara.

And when the band, boldly led by Andrew Martinez and officially linked to Santa Barbara City College, plays one of its periodic SOhO gigs — as it did last week — the 19-piece ensemble literally fills and spills off the stage. Likewise, the band’s big but detailed sound fills the room in the most delightful way.

Many familiar faces in these ranks maintain a continuity to the band’s sound and vision, but new voices appear as some move on. At the moment, the all-important drum chair has been held down by the dynamo Dick Wells — long a top-drawer drummer in Los Angeles who has recently moved to Santa Barbara. The returning hero award goes to trumpeter Phil Rodriguez, raised in Santa Barbara and now having returned after years away.

In each of his solo turns, including the Woody Shaw tune “The Moontrain,” Rodriguez dazzled with the requisite blend of technical prowess and musicality. He and tenor saxist Justin Claveria, another Santa Barbara native, offered the most compelling and smartly-sculpted solos of the night.

In recent years, Claveria leapt into a higher public visibility, playing on tour with Kenny Loggins and in other high-profile pop settings, but hearing his commanding jazz cred this night, he clearly has been honing his already potent jazz chops. Over in the rhythm section, Santa Barbaran go-to bassist Randy Tico stepped up and out on his limber solo on famed bassist Christian McBride’s “In a Flurry,” with apt flurries in the solo mix.

Monday Madness big band at SOhO, April 7, 2025 | Photo: Josef Woodard

An impressive new voice in the mix came courtesy of Brit-in-Ojai vocalist Sophie Holt, who confidently tackled and personalized Dianne Schuur material and Peggy Lee’s “I Love Being Here with You.” With luck, Holt will be a regular feature with the Madness clan.

One running theme in last Monday’s musical menu was a spotlight on trombonist/composer/bandleader Ben Patterson, who will be the guest of honor at SBCC’s Garvin Theater on Monday April 28 (these Garvin triple-header jazz ensemble concerts also feature the college’s other two big bands).

The SOhO show kicked off with Patterson’s arrangement of Joe Henderson’s fast swing tune “A Shade of Jade,” a ripe preview of the musical machinery to come. It was also the only tune showcasing Martinez’s ample skill as a tenor saxophonist, on a punchy solo. (Martinez started his Monday Madness connection as a saxist, during the tenure of the late legend Ike Jenkins at the helm.)

Patterson’s palette shifted into a more sensitive mood with the waltz ballad “Anne Marie,” but then kicked up a gear (or three) on the rhythmically complex set-closer “The Mix-Up.” The maze-like chart kicks off in a deceptive cool temper (Martinez’s advice to the band during his count-off was “stay frosty”), but the energy goes double-time, and then, seemingly, triple-time, making for an altogether exhilarating ride.

Another satisfying Monday Madness show ended on the elegant note of Thad Jones’s “Once Around,” followed by a mad run through Martinez’s handpicked “break” tune, a fragment from Freddie Hubbard’s “Take It to the Ozone.”

See you at the Garvin on April 28 (info here). At this gig, the band will fit handily on the stage, adult beverages are not part of the picture, and solid big-band culture is sure to once again flourish.

Midday Concert-let Report

By some measure, proof of a city’s cosmopolitan credibility can be found in the presence of classical concerts presented on weekday afternoons. It happens too rarely in Santa Barbara: Camerata Pacifica used to present pared-down versions of its Friday night program in the afternoon, but not in recent years.

There is some hope over in the ever-inviting Gothic Revival ambience of Trinity Episcopal Church, where occasional live performances, organized by the enterprising bassoonist Bill Wood, convene under the self-evidently truthful title “Noon Concerts & Trinity.” From 12:15 p.m. to 12:45 p.m., audiences can lap up a compact but satisfying dose of music over lunchtime, free of charge (although donations are not refused).

Last Monday, a sizable gathering of weekday listeners were treated to an inspiring dose of music by Wood, but mostly featuring Santa Barbara/the world’s superb and flexible pianist Natasha Kislenko. Kislenko is linked, locally, to UCSB, the Music Academy of the West, the Santa Barbara Symphony, and more, and has international plaudits to boast of, but she’s content to humbly suit the material at hand. On this Monday, the list included three short pieces from Erik Satie’s enigmatic charmers, the Gnossiennes (nice to hear something other than the oft-played Gymnopédies), the rippling hypnosis strategies of Philip Glass’s Glassworks opening, and a Brahms intermezzo for straight repertoire’s sake.

Wood joined in for the opening and closing bookends — Henri Sauguet’s impressionistic Barcarolle for bassoon and piano and, to close, Arvo Part’s timelessly moving and spiritual mantra Spiegel im Spiegel, sounding fresh via the bassoon’s lead role. Coincidentally, the same piece was centrally featured in Yo-Yo Ma’s memorable night of music and words at the Arlington two nights before. But, alas, that event heeded the old school concert-programming school of thought: It was a Saturday night outing.

Classical fans be alerted: The next “Noon Concert at Trinity” is on Friday, May 30, in which Wood takes the spotlight for a program called 50 Years of Bassoon, with a string ensemble.

To-Doings:

Speaking of Monday-night jazz worth savoring, Italo–Santa Barbaran jazz pianist Antonio Artese swings (pardon the pun) back through SOhO on Monday, April 21, with his fine trio — bassist Santino Tafarella and drummer Matt Perko. Artese has made a number of fine Euro-flavored and sometimes classically tinged albums under his name, the latest of which was the particularly notable Two Worlds (listen up here).