Bob is a graduate of the Berklee School of Music and the Boston Conservatory of Music. He taught music for 30 years in the local public schools, and has since retired. His professional performing experience has been in both the Boston area and on Long Island, with proficiency in jazz, rock, country and commercial work. In his spare time he collects Model A Fords.

 

Carol graduated from Wilkes University in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania and has been the female vocalist with the Big Band East for the past 25 years. She has been singing and dancing in front of audiences since the age of 5. As a youngster she performed with a modern dance troop, then in choruses, church choirs, school plays and musicals. For the past 27 years Carol has also sung in the Sweet Adelines Chorus and Quartets as well as with the local Eastern Suffolk Chorus. She is also the lead singer in her own quartet,  Moondance, which just recently won their quartet regional contest in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. They will next be competing for their 4th time in the International Contest in Phoenix, Arizona this September. Aside from her fabulous vocal talents with the Big Band East, Carol is also our secretary and co-librarian.

 

John Conley - Trombone

John is a native of Rochester, New York, where he attended the Eastman School of Music. He is retired from the USAF, obtaining the rank of Major General. During World War II he was a Navy musician, and while doing active duty in the USAF spent one season with the Anchorage Symphony. He plays locally with many of the community organizations on Long Island, including the East End Brass Quintet, the Gordon Hurley Band. He was an aviation consultant, and has been happily married for 54 years!

 

Mike graduated from the Ithaca College School of Music with a Bachelor of Science degree in Music Education and later received his Master of Science at C. W. Post College. While studying at Ithaca, he was a woodwind major specializing in clarinet and saxophone. He regularly performed in numerous jazz, orchestral, and woodwind ensembles and was a four-year member of the renowned Ithaca College Concert Band directed by the late Walter Beeler. Mike is best known for his work as a jazz saxophonist, jazz ensemble clinician, NYSSMA jazz adjudicator/All County Jazz Ensemble Director, and recording musician. After a two-year stint as stage band director and professor of jazz studies at Five Towns College, Mike went on to become jazz ensemble director at Suffolk County Community College. Mike continues to remain busy playing with and promoting his jazz groups, The Mike Ficco Jazz Quartet, The Mastercraft Jazz Quartet, and The Long Island Jazz Orchestra.

 

Fred is a graduate of the University of Kentucky where he proudly played in his alma mater's marching band. He has since played professionally in several dance bands in and around Lexington, Louisville and Cincinnati. In the Army he played with the 2nd Division Army Band, and directed the 2nd Division Army Dance Band. Coming to Long Island, he taught public school music for 27 years in Sag Harbor before retiring. Aside from his work with the Big Band East, Fred is an accomplished pianist and also conducts the Sag Harbor Community Band.

 

Matthew Hurst - Alto Saxophone, Flute

 

Glenn is an honors graduate of the Crane School of Music of the State University of New York at Potsdam where he also earned the prestigious Level III performer's certificate in clarinet. His graduate degree was in Music History at Queens College. He started playing professionally at 16 in the Catskill Mountains of New York and later played principal clarinet with both the 19th Army Band and the 319th Army Band. He taught high school music in the local public schools of Long Island for 20 years. He has been seen as a frequent soloist on both clarinet and saxophone in individual recitals and as a featured guest with various professional and community organizations. Since 1985 he has been the Principal Clarinetist for the Sound Symphony Orchestra.  He is a member of the International Clarinet Association, and has attended numerous master classes on clarinet throughout the United States and Canada. Glenn serves as the rehearsal and music director for Big Band East.

 

Jim began his early musical career in Ligonier, Indiana, starting first on the tuba and then the string bass. After high school, Jim joined the Navy, but as the string bass was a bit too big, he traded it for a new 1953 EB Gibson electric bass and amp. While in the service, Jim could be seen around the Boston and Providence area playing Country and Western music. Jim later moved to Sag Harbor, New York,  where in 1958 he began playing tuba for the newly formed Sag Harbor Community Band. In 1975, with the "Big Band" sound coming back, Jim joined a few musicians and started the Big Band East. Today, Jim is the last of the original members of Big Band East and is still using the same 1953 EB Gibson electric bass. Jim also serves the Big Band East as equipment manager, and heads the set-up crew.

 

Earl is a graduate of Ithaca College and the State University of New York at Fredonia. He taught music in Broadalbin, New York, and later at Southampton High School on Long Island, where he additionally directed the chorus. He has been choir director at the Methodist Church in Johnstown and at St. John's Episcopal Church in Southampton. Earl has been performing locally on Long Island for more than 30 years, and is currently a member of the East End Brass Quintet. He has proficiency on the French Horn as well,  and currently plays that instrument in the Monday Night Band (Riverhead). Earl is also a talented arranger, and has done various charts for the Big Band East.

 

Sue is a graduate of the Hartt School of Music where she studied clarinet with the famed teacher Kalmen Opperman. Additionally, she has studied saxophone with the great Jackie McLean. She has taught instrumental music for over 20 years, primarily in the Southampton public schools. Her Intermediate School Jazz Band has won awards while competing at different music festivals throughout the East Coast. Sue played with the Big Band East in 1987 and in 1988, and we are happy to have her back with us again in 2003.

 

Josh received both his undergraduate and graduate degrees from the Crane School of Music at the State University of New York at Potsdam. A most talented trombonist, Josh currently teaches music at  Westhampton Beach High School, where he conducts both the symphonic and marching bands.

 

Vic Yannacone - Baritone Saxophone