Arabesque
Recording artist and Grammy-nominated arranger Steve
Wiest is in great demand as a featured soloist,
composer/arranger and clinician. He has performed extensively
in the U.S., South America, Australia, Japan, and Europe.
Wiest's debut solo CD, Excalibur: The Steve Wiest
Big Band was released in August of 2006 by Arabesque
Jazz to wide critical acclaim, and his newest
relase for Arabesque Out of The New was
released in September of 2008.
From
1981-1986, Steve was the featured trombonist and one of
the arrangers for Maynard Ferguson's
Band. While with Maynard, he recorded two CDs: Storm
and Live From San Francisco, and one
two-volume video "The Playboy Jazz Festival."
During this time, Steve and the M.F. band also performed
with a number of guest artists including Freddie Hubbard,
Slide Hampton, Wynton Marsalis, David Clayton Thomas,
Lew Soloff, Billy Eckstein, and Mel Torme. Maynard recorded
a number of Steve's compositions and arrangements including
"South 21st Shuffle" (Live From San Francisco),
"Portuguese Love" (The Playboy Jazz Festival),
"I Love You" (Brass Attitude) and "I'm
Old Fashioned" (MF Horn VI). Steve reunited with
Maynard for a final performance at the Blue Note in New
York for 12 sold out shows in July 2006. The all-star
MF alum group then went into the studio to record what
would be Maynard's final CD, released in early 2007. Included
on this release were Wiest's arrangements of "Besame
Mucho," for which he received a Grammy nomination,
and "Ain't No Sunshine When She's Gone."
Following
his years with Ferguson, Steve completed a Masters Degree
in Jazz Studies at the University of North Texas. While
at UNT, he was the lead trombonist and one of the featured
arrangers for the UNT 1:00 Lab Band. His composing, arranging,
and trombone playing can be heard on the following UNT
CDs:"Lab '86, Lab '87,
Lab '88, With Respect To Stan,
Live From Australia, The Best
of The 1:00, and Fifty Years of Jazz
at North Texas. Steve also contributed a chart
to Lab '89, and most recently Lab
2008. In 1997 in celebration of the 50th year
of the UNT Jazz Studies Program, Steve was a featured
soloist with an all-star band of UNT alumni that included
Tom Malone, Ed Soph, Marvin Stamm, Lou Marini, and Jack
Peterson.
After
a two-year stint as Assistant Director of Jazz Studies
at The University of Texas at Arlington, [1988-1990],
Steve became Director of Jazz Studies and Trombone at
The University of Wisconsin-Whitewater. During his tenure
at UW-Whitewater, Steve was also a regular member of the
Doc Severinsen Big Band and recorded "Swingin' The
Blues" with Doc on Azika Records in 2000. Steve was
appointed Assistant Professor of Jazz at the University
of North Texas in 2007 and was nominated for the
Best Instrumental Arrangement Grammy Award for 2007
by The Recording Academy for his arrangement of Besame
Mucho on Maynard Ferguson's One and Only
CD. After a one-year position as Interim Director, Steve
was named permanent Director of the One O'Clock
Lab Band as a result of a national search in
2009. In his first year as director, the One O'Clock was
nominated for two Grammy awards: Best Large Jazz
Ensemble for Lab 2009 and Best Instrumental
Composition for Wiest's original work
Ice-Nine.
