McConnell Makes L.A. Gig Permanent

Sometimes our images of public personalities differ radically from their own reality. Rob McConnell, the composer, arranger and valve trombonist long respected as leader of Canada’s best and best-known big band, the Boss Brass, typifies that disparity.

His 22-man ensemble has built a library of music now played throughout the United States by thousands of students in hundreds of colleges. Records by the Toronto-based band have enjoyed considerable U.S. sales and air play at the Monterey Jazz Festival and in recent years has appeared three times in Los Angeles. It has won two Juno Awards and has been nominated three times for the Juno’s American counterpart, the Grammy.

A great success story? Hardly. Dissatisfied with his life in Canada, McConnell, now 53, made a radical change: He pulled up stakes and moved with his wife to Los Angeles, where he started work this week at the Dick Grove School of Music in Van Nuys as head of an instrumental program.

“It seemed like the right time for a change,” said McConnell, a laid-back, cheerful figure, as he relaxed the other day in California sunshine. “You see, people around the country think I have this band together, but it wasn’t like that. Sure, we were playing gigs for 20 years and made 20 albums, but our best year was 1984, when we worked a total of 60 times. I don’t mean weekends or weeks, just 60 days out of 365; and it’s been a lot less since then.”

The reasons, of course, have to do with economics. All the band members worked mainly as free-lance musicians in Toronto. “In fact,” said McConnell, “some of my musicians--the saxophonists Moe Koffman, Jerry Toth, Rick Wilkins, the trumpeter Guido Basso--played jobs of their own, and they were employers of me more often than they were employed by me.”

The band became “an albatross around my neck. Here were 22 people, some of them quite a bit older than me, very few younger, none of them eager to travel fifth class on a bus. Could I take a job in Chicago? The answer was no, because the band couldn’t draw enough people to pay enough money to get us there and back. Could we work our way there by stopping for gigs in Hamilton and Detroit? Probably not, because several of the men didn’t want to leave town, and I wouldn’t do it without them.”

When the Boss Brass did get to leave town for its three California excursions, a portion of the expenses was covered by the Canadian government’s Department of External Affairs. Despite the sporadic nature of its appearances, the Brass achieved a unique level of cohesion in its performances of colorful and vigorous arrangements mainly written by the leader.

Some of the earlier albums released here on Pausa are now hard to find, but the most recent, recorded in tandem with Mel Torme, is available on Concord Jazz CJ 306. Now ensconced in an apartment in Sherman Oaks, not far from the Grove School, McConnell is happy with the relative lack of pressure involved in his new assignment. “I’m in charge of what they call PIP--the Professional Instrument Program. We’re going to have a PIP student band, playing mostly my music, at least for the present. It will be 20 hours a week, spread over three days.

“Having a four-day weekend will give me a chance to keep up my other activities, such as conducting college clinics. I’ll be doing a lot of appearances like that. In fact, working at the Grove School is the same kind of thing I’ve been doing for years at various colleges. That kind of work is always gratifying.”

Ever since he arrived here a few weeks ago, McConnell has been obliged to answer the inevitable question: will he be organizing an American counterpart to the Bass Brass?

“I just can’t envision that. After all, when you’ve spent 20 years performing that music with most of the same familiar faces and sounds, I’d feel strange about doing the same thing with other people. For the time being, of course, I’ll be hearing my music anyway, played by the students.”

What intrigues him most for the moment is the lack of responsibility for keeping 22 men together even on an occasional basis. Since a heart attack a couple of years ago, he has been conscious of the need to avoid saddling himself with unnecessary problems.

“You know what? Right now I enjoy not having the band. The other evening I subbed for a trombone player in Bob Florence’s orchestra, and it was a real pleasure. Just being a member of the band--gee, it’s lovely! Bob Florence and Bill Holman and the others out here are all carrying on the good work. Meanwhile I’ll be carrying on the good work at the school, and that’s good enough for me.”