Here’s Giovanni Russonello in the NY Times, 12.31.2018: “Quietly, beneath the radar of even most jazz lovers, the big band has been charging back. For a long time, the large ensemble has seemed a clunky vestige of American music’s past — outmoded since bebop supplanted swing in the 1950s — but a bumper crop of enterprising, conservatory–trained composers sees it differently: as a vessel of grandiose possibility.” The 2016 album Real Enemies by Darcy James Argue’s Secret Society was nominated for both a GRAMMY Award nominated for Best Large Jazz Ensemble Album and for Jazz Album of the Year (Group) in Canada’s JUNO Awards. Darcy James Argue’s Secret Society, writes Giovanni Russonello, “is now renowned in the jazz world. At 43, he has become a mentor to many of today’s young big–band composers…‘It seems like no matter what, the possibilities of writing for big band are so musically irresistible that people keep finding a way to make it work,’ Mr. Argue said. ‘Which is really inspiring.’"
Darcy James Argue – composer, conductor
Dave Pietro, Rob Wilkerson, Sam Sadigursky, John Ellis, Carl Maraghi (4/23 only), Brian Landrus (4/24 only) – woodwinds
Seneca Black, Matt Holman, Nadje Noordhuis, Nathan Eklund, David Smith – trumpets
Mike Fahie, Natalie Cressman, Kalia Vandever, Jennifer Wharton – trombones
Sebastian Noelle – guitar
Adam Birnbaum – piano
Matt Clohesy – bass
Jon Wikan – drums