Dan Barrett

I was eleven years old when I hit one of Life’s lotteries, and began playing the trombone. I thought it might be fun. Because of

So, there I was in the back seat of my friend John Smith’s 1969 Mercury Cougar. The car was nine years old by then; it

Prologue I was in high school—still a freshman, I think—when I first heard the iconic recording of “Sing, Sing, Sing” by Benny Goodman’s band. Goodman

I have often thought about how much chance, or fate, dictates the direction of one’s life. Some—including me—might also attribute surprising occurrences in their lives

One morning not long ago, I’d awakened to the sound of music. It wasn’t from the neighbor’s all-rock radio station. It wasn’t my son Andrew

My wife Laura I lived in New York City for nearly fourteen exciting years, from early 1983 until the summer of 1996. It seemed that

In our March issue, Dan Barrett recalled a gig with trumpeter George Orendorff and the story that George told about playing the trumpet break before

Along with the dearth of jazz clubs around the country, especially clubs which feature anything resembling traditional jazz, another venue for the music that has

See, Part 1 A Real New York Story We had been recording double sessions, often earning overtime to complete more difficult or complicated arrangements. We

I could not have been more pleased when Mike Zirpolo contacted me, and asked me to share my memories about having played for the soundtrack

I owe a debt I can never repay to the community of African-American musicians who had settled in the Los Angeles area years ago. They

Dan Barrett shares some of his experiences in playing with legendary trombonist Spiegle Willcox (1903-99) and gives insight as to the interplay among musicians while

I was twenty-two years old, on my first trip to Europe with a now-legendary band called the Sunset Music Company. People often ask me for