Cleveland TOPS Swingband

Dick Wooley
Music Director

Jim Wonnacott
Assistant Music Director

Joe Trzcinski
Personnel Director

Buddy Sullivan
Business Manager

George Ellis
Music Librarian

Ron Davis
Marketing Director

Don Day
Music Business Advisor

To make a TAX-DEDUCTIBLE
donation, please
make your check
payable to:

CLEVELAND TOPS
SWINGBAND FOUNDATION

mail to:

PO Box 721
Aurora, OH 44202

Our first studio CD
"Feelin' Young Again"
is still available. Click the CD cover above to hear some samples.

Our second CD,
"Accentuate The Positive"
is now available.
Click on the
CD cover above to
hear some samples.

Dick Wooley - Trombone
Arranger and
Music Director

TOPS BAND PERSONNEL

SAXOPHONES
Wally Scaffidi
Bob Pattie
Larry Patch
Buddy Sullivan
Larry Patrick

TRUMPETS
Joe Trzcinski
Jim Wonnacott
Al Couch
Ray Rinaldi
Jim Anastasi

TROMBONES
Bruce Lehtinen
Ralph Joseph
George Ellis
Allen Kofsky

RHYTHM
Doug Day, piano
Don Day, bass
Bob McKee, drums

VOCALISTS
Betsy Guy
Ron Davis
Larry Patch
Ruth Griebel

SUPER SUBS
Anthony Anastasi, trumpet
Jack Brndiar, trumpet
Bill Currier, drums
Don T. Day, bass
Doug Day, bass/tbn
Mark DiSanto, sax
Brian Dorr, bass
Mike Fisher, trumpet
Harry Herforth, trumpet
Larry Herman, trumpet
Bruce Koscheck, sax
Ken Mehalko, sax
John Petrone, piano
Jay Ross, sax
Eric Rowles, trombone
Erik Svoboda, trumpet
Gary Twining, trombone
Karl Zahtilla, sax

Our third CD,
"Time After Time " is now available. Click on the CD cover above for samples.

TOPS is supported by:

The Ohio Arts Council

The Kulas Foundation

The McGregor Foundation

The National Endowment
for the Arts

and

Many
Generous
Individuals

TOPS Band members:
March 1 update here.

Site last updated on
March 1, 2010
10:44 a.m.

Want a CD sent to your home or business?

Harry Herforth is on YouTube!

Scroll down to see 90 year old trumpeter Harry Herforth explain playing swing music with TOPS after a career in classical music.

Keep checking back for more TOPS Band YouTube videos coming soon.

Thank you to everyone who attended the fundraiser at NightTown Jazz Club in Cleveland Hts. We will be able to continue providing Classic Big Band music for seniors around northeast Ohio into 2010. Read more...

The school concert/clinic outreach program funds have been used up and we have applied for other foundation funding. If you would like to be considered for a concert and clinic for your students in 2010 (contingent on funds available), contact any member of the TOPS Education Committee: Doug Day, Jim Wonnacott, or Ken Mehalko.

The
CLEVELAND
Tough Old ProS
SWINGBAND

has it's roots in a concert at the A. M. McGregor Home in 2003, one of many such events created and directed by a retired-but then-still-active Cleveland musical legend, Vince Patti. Vince brought together a seventeen-piece big band of mostly retired professional musicians, Cleveland area all-stars really, with varied solid credentials, from dance bands to theater pit orchestras and the Cleveland Orchestra. It was a huge success both for the elderly audience and their helpers but also for the musicians who, almost to a man, ended the concert almost unwillingly...they talked about how there should be more chances to get together and be a part of the great experience such a band of "pros" provides. And so now, after some time, ruminating, wishing, thought, procrastination and effort, comes our new band. Our focus is on three ideas:

1. We intend to serve that huge audience of people who remember and love the great fun and excitement that only a fine big band, playing the great, familiar repertoire, can provide. 2. Just rehearsing and playing together is a source of musical joy that can only be found in a big band where all the players can really SWING in the wonderful traditional sense!

3. We need to generate enough income to cover expenses.

The principal originators: Dick Wooley, Trombone, Arranger and Music Director. Dick came to Cleveland in the 1950's as a music teacher in the Shaker Heights schools and band director at the then Case Tech. A player, arranger and conductor, he became a composer/producer of music for broadcast commercials (think "Patio Enclosures"), TV and films. He spent several years creating music for Sea World's shows and exhibits. He was a long-term fixture in Cleveland theater orchestra pits and recently resumed playing trombone after a twenty-five year health-induced "intermission." Joe Trzcinski, Lead trumpet and personnel director, has an impressive list of accomplishments as a working musician and trumpet teacher. His earliest professional experience was with the band at West Point, continued in Cleveland at Musicarnival, Front Row (lead trumpet and musician contractor), various area bands and tours with the Liberace Orchestra.

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Contacts:
Dick Wooley: 440-871-0480 E-mail Dick
Joe Trzcinski: 216-932-3228

visitors since Sept. 25, 2005