Yes, we want you to like NRB’s “Live at the Nugget” Classic live jazz CD.
But first, we’d like you to listen.
We believe you will have as good a time listening as we did playing our kind of music in front of a standing room only crowd in the Celebrity Showroom at the Nugget Casino Resort in Sparks, Nevada.
NOTE: if the link above is not clickable for you, simply copy and paste into your browser, or go to www.YouTube.com and search for New Reformation Dixieland Band. (We’re working hard to figure out this linking thing, and our apologies if we haven’t got it right yet.)
BACKGROUND
July 5th, 1986 The Nugget Casino Resort, its Celebrity Showroom, and NRB came together for a historic collaboration of OKOM (Our Kind of Music). In the mid to late 80s, a global hot jazz revival was in full swing and the NRB traveled to its epicenter, the west coast of America. It appeared Memorial Day weekend at the Sacramento Jazz Festival, which claimed to be the “world’s largest” with over 100 national and international groups.
In nearby Nevada, a new festival began at The Nugget Casino Resort. Noted trumpeter Mike Vax, formerly with Stan Kenton and the Dukes of Dixieland, produced it. Vax selected ten bands he believed were strong musically, excellent entertainers, and good fits for a casino atmosphere. The NRB was among the select invitees. (Yes, we’re very proud he selected us. No, rumors of payola are false. Yes, we deny everything.)
The New Reformation Band (NRB) celebrates anything. Dave Oppermann, bandleader, and self-proclaimed resident humorist, pokes fun mostly at himself while linking NRB’s joyous yet subtly notorious sets of jazz, Dixieland, big band, and swing. He is the catalyst for the fine music and great fun that blend boisterously at NRB events and recordings.
But, unless you have talent, there is no use for a catalyst. That is where the NRB really shines. Consider the huge amount of classic jazz talent among these NRB stalwarts*:
Trumpet and vocals — Dave Tatrow
Trombone and vocals — Keith DeWitt
Clarinet/Saxes — Vincent O’Keeffe
String Bass — Ted Harley
Banjo/Guitar — Dave Miller
Drums — Rick Bryant
Piano, Patter, vocals, and ‘patter’ (you’ll understand when you see the CD) — Dave Oppermann
*(Love any excuse to use a bigger word)
instrument says
April 6, 2016 at 11:29 pmThe Daily Collegian – Official Site
Dorothy Cameron says
August 28, 2016 at 4:56 pmI got you guys a gig for sadly only one day at Cypress Gardens and you were great. The Gardens closed
down shortly after hot because or you. I will always remember that day and I only wish I could see you again
but I live in Florida. I always attend the Sun Coast Festival but Wally’s Warehouse Waifs is not appearing
this year. I would love to find a CD of The Joy of Six, I have worn my copy out.
admin says
September 6, 2016 at 5:18 pmDear Dorothy:
So good to hear from you and to remember how much you helped us to get the gig at Cypress Gardens and we have used it in our patter ever since, boasting about how we were personally responsible for the closing of that famous attraction.
I would like to send you a replacement copy of the Joy of Six (NRB Album #6) but it was originally issued as a cassette tape and we are currently in the process of re-issuing that group of albums on CDs.
I’d sure love to have you go back to the Website (www.newref.com) and see our current availabilities and you can sample some of the tracks as well. While you are there, please sign up to be on our mailing list so we don’t lose touch with you. And if that works out, please encourage any other jazz fans you know to do the same.
Feel free to call me anytime to discuss any of the above at 989-793-0123.
Thanks again for your past favors. -Dave Oppermann, Leader, New Reformation Band