PHHS Solar Jazz band

Update October 24, 2010: Six new recordings added below, from Angela LeCompte (see [AL] tags). Thanks Angela!

I played trumpet for Pleasant Hill High School’s competitive big-band Solar Jazz band from 1987-1990, directed by Mike Wiggins. The recordings below were captured from cassette tapes of Solar Jazz’s performances, tapes that I rescued from a box in my garage. They sat untouched for two decades before I stumbled over them and decided to extract them from their analog cocoon. The quality of these recordings varies from OK to lousy … but it’s the best I could do with the media. The Willamette and KUGN recordings are the highest quality. Everything is MP3 format, 256kbps stereo.

I could use help adding metadata to these files. If you have information that might add to the fun (song names, exact dates, etc.) I’d be happy to update this page accordingly. Shoot me an email or add a comment on this page and I’ll post the info here.

If you have additional recordings that you’d like to share, please let me know and I’d be happy to host them here.

I’d love to hear feedback from old friends and bandmates on this stuff!

Pleasant Hill Jazz Festival, 1989. Recorded at Pleasant Hill Junior High School, Pleasant Hill, Oregon.

Clackamas Community College Jazz Festival, 1989. Recorded at Clackamas Community College, Oregon City, Oregon.

Live on KUGN radio, 1989. Recorded at South Eugene High School, Eugene, Oregon.

Clark College Jazz Festival, 1989. Recorded at Clark College, Vancouver, Washington.

Willamette University Jazz Festival, 1989. Recorded at Willamette University, Salem, Oregon.

Clark College Jazz Festival, 1990. Recorded at Clark College, Vancouver, Washington.

Willamette University Jazz Festival, 1990. Recorded at Willamette University, Salem, Oregon.

If you are curious, here’s what I used to produce these files:

7 thoughts on “PHHS Solar Jazz band”

  1. Sometimes it sounds like a large truck crashing into an elephant that is carrying trash cans on its back….but it’s cool to listen to. Brings back a lot of memories. We were actually pretty good for a bunch of high school kids. Thanks!

  2. Yeah, that’s what I thought too. With the elephants and garbage cans. But yeah … we were pretty darn good. I shared this with a friend at work and he called me “wasted talent.” I think that was a compliment, not totally sure though.

  3. I just found this old post from Google. These songs bring me back some nice memory from when I’m still young. It’s nice thing that you rescued these from the cassette tapes before they gone forever.

    I think the quality is good enough, some noises were normal for the recording in those days in the past.

    Thanks for sharing this.

  4. I remember all of these recordings. I am here in Reno Nevada and I can tell you this music is special. Mr. Wiggins got us to play at an amazing high level that is hard to find now days. I remember the goose bumps I got when I heard you guys play bang that wall harvey. Wow!. Thanks Brian for doing this. I have a few recordings I might be able to share.

  5. Thanks Doug, I agree this was pretty darn awesome stuff. If you are able to share some recordings, I’d be happy to post them here.

  6. Hey Brian, I think I stumbled upon this by searching for “Spring Can Really Hang You Up The Most”. Nice page. Brings back memories. Nice to hear Wiggins’ voice again on a couple of these. Let me know if you want some recordings from 1984 Solar Jazz to add to this.
    Cheers,
    Ross

  7. Hey Ross! Your comment fell into a spam trap for some odd reason, just seeing it now. Would love to get those 1984 recordings. I’ll connect with you via email to grab them.

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