Where to start?

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I am still amazed by the popularity of this chart. Firstly, let me say, the irony of a 2nd line style chart written for big band by a composer born and bred in Melbourne, Australia is not lost on me. I do, however, have a long love of New Orleans based music but sadly have never made it there! I started and ran for a decade a New Orleans style brass band in the 1990's in Melbourne, quite some time before it caught on here, completely inspired by The Dirty Dozen and Rebirth Brass Bands. I listened and listened and transcribed and played and loved every minute of it. There's an honesty to it that just draws me to it time and again.

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The NOLA Roller started out as a simple 'head arrangement' for a student Jazz Ensemble that was full of keen, but timid, soloists. So I wrote it to be full proof for improvisers. The whole solo section is just blowin' over an F7 so the kids took to it and I eventually fleshed it out to a full chart. Some time later it also saw some play with my own Jazz/Funk Band.

I was thrilled to travel to Chicago for the Midwest Clinic in 2016 to hear the excellent (and very young!) Edison Middle School Jazz Band perform the chart as part of their featured program. What I wasn't ready for was to find that the tune was to feature the great Wycliffe Gordon on trombone. I was just knocked out!