Blue River Express

Blue River Express is a small jazz ensemble that  was created to meet the needs of musical venues that do not require or are not able to accommodate a full big band.  Blue River Express consists entirely of members of The Blue River Big Band and is an extremely flexible group able to perform for concerts or dances or simply provide light background music for any occasion.  The size and instrumentation of the band can vary from as few as three players to as many as eight (including a vocalist) depending on performance needs.

To hear samples of music from Blue River Express, click on the links below or hit the play button in the audio player.

Fly Me To The Moon—A classic easy swing tune made famous by Frank Sinatra featuring Rolly Stellhorn on tenor sax.

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Mercy Mercy Mercy—Featuring Todd Ward on trumpet, this tune has a steady rock beat and is always a crowd-pleaser.

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Smoke Gets In Your Eyes—Mark Fritz plays the melody to this 1950’s ballad on alto and Rolly Stellhorn finishes with a tenor sax solo.

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Take The A Train—This Duke Ellington chart begins with Jason Klingaman’s trombone solo, followed by Kevin Haydl on a drum fill.

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So What—One of Miles Davis’ best.  Casey Stansifer plays the popular bass melody, leading to an alto sax solo by Mark Fritz.

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Norwegian Wood—Todd Ward plays a flugelhorn solo on this well-known Beatles song.

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Members of Blue River Express include:

• Todd Ward, Trumpet
• Jason Klingaman, Trombone
• Mark Fritz, Alto Saxophone
• Rolly Stellhorn, Tenor Saxophone
• Carolyn Clifford, Piano
• Casey Stansifer, Bass
• Kevin Haydl, Drums
• Dawn Ward, Vocalist

Some past performances of Blue River Express include:

• 4th of July Celebration, Columbia City
• Northeast Indiana Mayors’ Roundtable, Columbia City
• Kachman Art Gallery, Fort Wayne
• Indiana Warbirds Banquet, Fort Wayne