Namedropping in Hawaii, with big results
I’m always interested in music history and connecting-the-dots. Upon meeting my new friends in Powerhouse, I asked the leader, Paul Stanley, if the name Nathan Tanouye rang a bell. Indeed it did.
Nathan Tanouye was born in Wisconsin in 1974, and began studying music in elementary school, first with piano lessons and later on trombone. At age 11 he moved to Hawaii, where he attended high school and began college.
While at the University of Hawaii, Manoa, Nathan studied trombone with members of the Honolulu Symphony, including Jim Decker and Mike Becker. After receiving a performance scholarship to the University of Nevada, Las Vegas in 1995, Nathan moved to Las Vegas and completed his degree in both classical and jazz performance. In April 2007, Nathan was the guest soloist with the University of Hawaii at Manoa Jazz Ensemble.
Many Las Vegans know Nathan, first hand, for his composing, arranging, and performing with Santa Fe and The Fat City Horns. His composition, Come With Me, is a standout on the band’s new CD, ‘Let The Healing Begin.’
In 2004, Carolyn Freeman, Russ Freeman’s widow, decided that she wanted to produce a big band album featuring her husband’s music. Knowing that Russ had always promoted younger musicians who had talent that he thought should be recognized she heard an arranger’s work at a concert and decided to ask Nathan Tanouye to arrange several of Russ’s compositions for big band and then organize, rehearse and record the orchestra.
The Russ Freeman Project “Crossings” is the result of this collaboration.
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