Mark Your Calendars for Saturday, February 1, 2025
On Saturday, February 1, 2025 we will welcome Bill Reichenbach as our featured guest artist. | UPDATE: WORKSHOP is SOLD OUT! Please come to the 7 p.m. Grand Concert — FREE admission. A legendary trombonist and tuba player who has been a fixture in the Hollywood studio recording industry, Bill Reichenbach has played on more than 1,000 recordings, 600 movie soundtrack, numerous TV shows, countless jingles and more.
After graduation from the Eastman School of Music, Reichenbach joined the Buddy Rich Band and was immediately featured because of his ability to play jazz on the bass trombone. In 1975, he moved to L.A. were he started playing the jazz tenor trombone chair on Toshiko Akiyoshi’s big band. At the same time, he was also the solo jazz trombone player on Don Menza’s big band.
The technically skilled Reichenbach has recorded with Quincy Jones, Barbra Streisand, Michael Jackson, Elton John, Toto, the Yellowjackets, Seawind, Frank Sinatra, Buddy Rich, Tony Bennett, David Foster, Aretha Franklin, Al Jarreau, Earth Wind & Fire, Dr. John, Ray Charles, Toshiko Akiyoshi, Don Menza, Tom Scott, and so many others.
As a writer and arranger, Reichenbach has worked on records for many well-known musicians including Michael Jackson, Quincy Jones, Aretha Franklin, Dr. John and Diana Ross. He has brought this history, knowledge and expertise to fresh, new arrangements of classic Christmas carols in an album called More Christmas Carols From the Bells. Here, Reichenbach has gathered some of the most talented trombone session players in Hollywood to create an album that sets the tone for a festive, reverent and jazzy Holiday season.
Saturday, February 1 at JMU
(All Workshop events are held in JMU’s Forbes Center for the Performing Arts room 1115, the JMU School of Music Building and Forbes Center Concert Hall)
TENTATIVE SCHEDULE
- 8:30 a.m. Registration and Sales Tables Open
- 9:30 – 10:45 a.m. Group Warmups & Sight-reading Session
- 11 – 11:45 Mass Trombone Choir rehearsal conducted by Dr. Andrew Lankford
- 11:45 a.m. – 12:45 p.m. BREAK FOR LUNCH
- 1:00 – 2:00 Bill Reichenbach Workshop
- 2:15 – 3:00 p.m. Shenandoah Trombone Collective – directed by Dr. Matt Niess
- 3:20– 4:30 p.m. Session 3 with Leland Matsumura — JMU grad and current US Navy Band member
- 5 – 6:30 p.m. Dinner Break (on your own)
- 7:00 – 9:00 p.m. Grand Concert Free and open to the public
- JMU Trombone Choir, directed by Dr. Andy Lankford
- Bill Reichenbach
- Mr. Jefferson’s Bones
- Mass Trombone Choir finale
Every participant gets a Tromblow’in T-shirt!
A World-Class Venue
Experience JMU’s Forbes Center for the Performing Arts as a student and a performer! You’ll spend the day in the largest rehearsal hall on the main floor of the Forbes Center, room 1115. Then we move upstairs to the state-of-the-art Forbes Concert Hall, where (and your friends and family) will have great seats for the featured performances. Then you’ll take the stage as we finish the Grand Concert with our 80+ member Mass Trombone Choir.
Win a pBone or pBone Mini at Tromblow’in
Thanks to the generosity of Warwick Music Group, we will have a pBone Mini to raffle! The pBone Mini is a smaller version of the original pBone and is basically an E-flat Alto Trombone (but light as a feather!). Raffle tickets are $2 each, 3 for $5 or $10 for an arm’s length. The drawing held during the afternoon of Tromblow’in. Raffle proceeds help offset expenses of our Tromblow’in Workshop.
JMU’s Forbes Center for the Performing Arts
All events for Tromblow’in are bring held at JMU’s Forbes Center for the Performing Arts. For specific driving directions, please click on the green-color “Forbes Center” marker in the map below. The street address for the Forbes Center is 147 Warsaw Ave. or 871 S. Main St., Harrisonburg, VA 22807. Parking in the Warsaw Parking Deck is free, and on Saturdays you can park in any spaces (including staff/faculty) with no special permits required.
Tromblow’in 2023 Photo Gallery
Enjoy these images shot by award-winning music photographer, Bob Adamek
A Tradition of Excellence
Since 2008, Tromblow’in has attracted a world-class faculty of professional trombonists.
