Trombones under the Tree

All the warm weather we have been having has made me thought about Christmas, naturally, and when it comes to Christmas there is one trombone quartet album that never goes out of style: Trombones Under the Tree.

This is a super group consisting of Joseph Alessi, Mark Lawrence, Carl Lenthe, M. Dee Stewart. Joe, Mark, and Carl were former students of Dee Stewart at Curtis and came together at Indiana University one hot summer to record this album on the Musical Arts Center stage. This was all done over a week when they also held a summer seminar for students to pay for the album. Following the completion of the album, the quartet went out to a go-cart track in Brown county where Joe's go-cart malfunctioned and infuriated him as the rest of the ensemble lapped him over and over.

I asked Carl when they would reunite and come out with another album, but he said the best part about doing a Christmas album is that it comes back in style every year, so there is no need for another one.