A big band in the Cariboo might seem a bit unusual, but Williams Lake's own Cariboo Gold Dance Band has been playing together for 40 years.
This all-amateur 16-piece band played its first dance in the spring of 1984 and has performed for a wide variety of occasions ever since that first gig. Each year the band brings to the community a professional to work with the CGDB and then perform as a featured artist.
This year the dance band will be hosting the sensational trumpet player, Nicholas Dyson.
Dyson discovered his love of music at age four with piano lessons and at age 10 expanded his talents to include flute and trumpet.
In high school, the trumpet became his focus and during his university studies at Boise State in Idaho, he worked with jazz trumpet legends Jon Faddis and Bobby Shew. Dyson began performing and teaching professionally in 1995.
From 2000 to 2008, he travelled the world and performed as the lead trumpeter and musical director for the Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines. Dyson settled in Ottawa in 2008, where he quickly established himself as a first-call trumpet player, working the east coast in Canada and the U.S.A.
Over the next few years, as a performer, educator and recording artist, he has worked with many other incredible trumpet players including Ingrid Jensen, Bria Skonberg, Dave Dunlop, John Ellis and Roy Hargrove. Dyson recently moved to central B.C. and now resides with his wife in Kamloops. This year's show is titled “Then and now” and will be a tribute to many of the big band greats.
Starting with some of the early swing and blues of the 20s and 30s, the first set will showcase the traditional sounds from back 'then.' In the second set, the band will work up to some of the more recent 'now' big band hits, including a newly-released chart yet to be performed.
From Count Basie to Michael Bublé, traditional to contemporary, there will be plenty of great music to get people up on the dance floor. This will be one show only, so mark your calendars, November 9, the CGDB with Nicholas Dyson, 'Then and now' in the Gibraltar Room of the Cariboo Memorial Complex.
The doors will open at 7:00 p.m. and the show will start at 7:30 p.m. This family-friendly performance is sponsored in part by the Central Cariboo Arts and Culture Society, the City of Williams Lake and the Cariboo Regional District. Tickets are available at The Open Book and at the door if still available. If you enjoy live music and dance, this will be another show you will definitely want to take in this fall.
