Dave Bargeron

b. 6 September 1942, Athol, Massachusetts, USA. A vital component of several important jazz groups, Dave Bargeron’s trombone has appeared on recordings by Johnny Griffin (3 Dances Of Passion), Michel Camilo (One More Once), Gerry Mulligan (Re-Birth Of The Cool) and Miles Davis / Quincy Jones (Live At Montreux). Bargeron also recorded 11 albums over an eight-year career with Blood, Sweat And Tears, before joining the Carnegie Hall Jazz Band in the 90s. It was 1995 before he recorded his first album. He commented to the press that, ‘for a long time I never felt comfortable making a record myself. It was me and this unwieldy trombone that I wanted to wrap around a post most of the time. Can you imagine having this music run around in your head, your soul, your heart, for 30 or 40 years, and not be able to play it?’ It was only when he developed what he calls the Bargeron Articulating Valve Option (or BRAVO) - a special valve for his trombone’s mouthpiece - that he found himself able to express himself as a true soloist on his instrument. This release came in the form of Barge Burns... Slide Flies, recorded with Larry Willis (ex-Blood, Sweat And Tears) on piano, Kenwood Dennard on drums and Steve Novosel on bass. It featured a number of original compositions, some written by Bargeron and others by Willis, as well as one standard, ‘There Is No Greater Love’. Bargeron has also recorded with Howard Johnson’s Gravity and Michel Godard.