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“Whenever I put iTunes on shuffle, this great stuff comes on and I say ‘wow what is this?’ and it’s Panorama!

Gig History Highlights

Spotted Cat Music Club (Frenchmen St, New Orleans, Saturday nights, 2006 – Present)
Copenhagen Jazz Festival and Fringe Jazz Festival (Denmark, July 2017)
Maribo Jazz Festival (Denmark, July 2017)
New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival  (2002-Present)
French Quarter Festival (New Orleans, 2006-2019)
Tønder Festival (Denmark, August 2016)
Hällevik Trad Jazz Festival (Sweden, August 2016)
Lotus World Music Festival (Bloomington IN, September 2012)
Istanbul International Jazz Festival (Turkey, June 2010)
Veracruz Festival Internacional de Jazz (Mexico, June 2005 + 2006.  Now defunct)

0_Panorama Jazz Band
“Thanks again for your music – I’ve been a fan since stumbling across you all at French Quarter Fest several years ago and I never miss a chance to catch you when I am in town.” — Brendan, visitor from Chicago

Band Bio

Acoustic Party Music of the World via New Orleans

Panorama has been bringing all sorts of music into all sorts of situations since the mid 90s, always with a strong New Orleans party vibe cultivated over years of entertaining locals and tourists alike in their native Crescent City.  They have been playing weddings, funerals, parties, nightclubs, parades, concerts, corporate events and music festivals locally, nationally and internationally ever since.
The Panorama Jazz Band took shape in November 1995 when a friend asked New Orleans clarinetist Ben Schenck to organize a combo for her wedding.  Originally a trio, the group gradually evolved by 2006 to include seven players (clarinet, alto saxophone, trombone, accordion, banjo, tuba and drums).  The original concept was to perform New Orleans Traditional Jazz and drop in an occasional number from the Caribbean or Eastern Europe.  Before long, however, the musicians in the band gradually became more fascinated by Jewish klezmer, the Creole biguines of Martinique and folk music from the Balkans and Latin America, occasionally dropping in music by Jellyroll Morton, Louis Armstrong, Sidney Bechet, Professor Longhair or Fats Domino to remind listeners where the band is from.
In 1997 they began playing Mardi Gras parades, a project which eventually grew into a separate marching outfit, the Panorama Brass Band.  That group has been active primarily during Carnival time in New Orleans as an official brass band of the the Krewe of Red Beans, Krewe du Jieux, Krewe of ‘Tit Rəx and the St. Anthony Ramblers as well as marching in such parades as Krewe of Muses, Knights of Babylon, Krewe of Tucks, Krewe of Morpheus and Box of Wine.   The brass band does also perform in New Orleans nightclubs as well as for weddings, funerals, private parties and other events.

Discography

Beginning in 2003, Panorama began producing and releasing CDs to sell at gigs.  Their discography now includes seven albums plus dozens of digital-only singles released monthly online since May, 2014, through their Bandcamp subscription club, Good Music For You (Panoramaland).
Another Hot Night in February (Panorama Jazz Band, 2003)
Panoramaland (Panorama Jazz Band, Panorama Brass Band and vocalist Jane Harvey Brown, 2005)
Come Out Swingin’  (Panorama Jazz Band and Panorama Brass Band, 2009)
17 Days  (Panorama Brass Band, 2011)
Dance of the Hot Earth (Panorama Jazz Band and recorded live, 2013)
Best of the Good (Selections from the Good Music For You club – Panorama Jazz Band, Panorama Brass Band and special guests, 2016)
The Next One (More selections from the Good Music For You club – Panorama Jazz Band, Panorama Brass Band and special guests, 2017)
Let The Music Play You (Even more selections from the Good Music For You club – Panorama Jazz Band, Panorama Brass Band and special guests, 2018)

Performance History

Panorama Jazz Band has held down a weekly gig at the world famous Spotted Cat Music Club on New Orleans’ Frenchmen Street since 2006.  Since 2008 they have occupied the Saturday night 6-10pm slot there.  For three and a half years before Hurricane Katrina they appeared weekly at Bourbon Street’s Seaport Café which went out of business after the flood.  The Jazz Band has also performed annually at the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival since 2000 and the French Quarter Festival since 2006 as well as other local festivals.  Other music festivals include the Copenhagen Jazz Festival and Fringe Jazz Festival (Copenhagen, 2017), Tønder Festival (Denmark, 2016), Hällevik Trad Jazz Festival (Sweden, 2016), Strænd Festival (Berlin, Germany, 2016), Istanbul International Jazz Festival (Turkey, 2010), Veracruz International Jazz Festival (Mexico, 2005 and 2006), Lotus World Music Festival (Bloomington, Indiana, 2012) and the Landfall Festival (Cedar Rapids, Iowa, 2012).  Appearances at national theaters include The Grand Opera House (Wilmington, DE, 2015), The Old Town School of Folk Music (Chicago, IL, 2012) The Franke Center for the Arts (Marshall MI, 2012) and The Glema Mahr Center for the Arts (Madisonville, KY, 2012).

Personnel

Panorama Jazz Band:

Ben Schenck – Clarinet / Leader
Aurora Nealand – Alto Saxophone
Charlie Halloran – Trombone
Michael Ward-Bergeman – Accordion
Mark Rubin – Tenor Banjo
Matt Perrine – Sousaphone
Doug Garrison – Drums

Panorama Brass Band:

Ben Schenck – Clarinet / Leader
Aurora Nealand – Alto Saxophone
Dan Oestreicher – Baritone Saxophone
Jack Pritchet, Reid Poole – Trumpets
JR Hankins – Truba (Rotary-valve Fluegel Horn
Jon Ramm, Colin Myers – Trombones
Shaye Cohn, John Gerken, Shin Ishida – Tenor Horns
Jimmy Williams, Todd Burdock – Sousaphone
Boyanna Trayanova – Snare Drum
Chris Davis – Bass Drum