Jay Mason and the Grammys

Concordia Adjunct Professor of Saxophone Jay Mason contributed to three Grammy nominated albums/songs this year:

 Category 14: Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album, “The Sinatra Project”, Michael Feinstein.  Jay played lead alto saxophone, baritone saxophone, flute, oboe, and bass clarinet. 

 Category 49: Best Large Jazz Ensemble Recording, “Act Your Age”, Gordon Goodwin’s Big Phat Band.  Jay played baritone saxophone, flute, and bass clarinet. 

 Category 85: Best Instrumental Composition, “Hit the Ground Running”, track from “Act Your Age”, Gordon Goodwin’s Big Phat Band.

 Jay also contributes to two high profile current soundtracks, for the film The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (Jay plays a baritone sax solo in one scene) and several United Airlines commercials for the Olympics and Super Bowl.

Bah Humduck!

Last year, Warner Bros. released another cartoon version of "A Christmas Carol," this time featuring Daffy Duck as Scrooge. This is worth your time to watch (especially if, like me, you have little kids and will be watching cartoons anyways!) because of the outstanding soundtrack composed by Gordon Goodwin and performed by his Big Phat Band. It is a throwback to the old days of fully-orchestrated soundtracks, full of great jazz licks. "Yo Tannenbaum," one of the tracks from this soundtrack is up for a Grammy Award.
http://www.gordongoodwin.com/index1.html for more information about the Big Phat Band and this soundtrack. (GG and the Big Phat Band are behind another popular cartoon soundtrack: The Incredibles.)

One additional note: Jay Mason, Concordia's professor of saxophone, is playing bari sax on this soundtrack (and his name is listed in the movie's credits).