Glenn Crytzer

The big band music of the 1920s, 1930s, and 1940s, is the first great American art form. But since the 1940s, no band has done it as well as the greats. Why? Well it takes a might confluence of factors to make this music at its highest level. It's like a big stew where each ingredient adds to the flavor. The first thing it takes is having All-Star professional musicians who are deep into the style of playing pre-war jazz. This is a specialty way of playing that not just any professional jazz musician can step in and do - it takes a specific dedication to and study of pre-war jazz. NYC is the best spot to build a band of the highest level specialists because the best and brightest musicians from all over the world, all make their way to New York and we are blessed with an abundance of talent. Having the best and brightest in one place allows us to step beyond the all-star pick-up band level of performance. Having a band of all star regulars allows a band to develop phrasing, intonation, intuition, and a group sound the way that no pick up big band can ever hope to achieve. The next thing you need is first-class arrangements. Accurate transcriptions as well as interesting original compositions and arrangements. Everything that goes in our book has been written, arranged, transcribed, or edited by yours truly. This is incredibly rare because it is so time consuming, but it is necessary for a band to function at the highest level. Third, you need a band leader with drive and vision for what a band can become - someone who isn't happy just making a pretty OK thing that will sell tickets, but someone who has skills, knowledge, vision and background to take a band to the highest level. Lastly, you need consistent performance and rehearsal opportunities. Our standing weekly gig has allowed us to develop beyond any band working in our genre today, however to take things to the next level, we need to not only create security for that gig, but begin a program of regular rehearsal as well. This is the final factor missing for us that will allow us to achieve and eventually go beyond what the great big bands of the 1930s and 1940s accomplished. By backing us on Patreon, you'll become a patron of the band on a monthly basis. The funding plan is as follows: 1. Creating a security fund for our weekly gig. The musicians need to be paid to perform, even if ticket sales are slow on a given week. If ticket sales are slow on a given week, it means that the cost of paying the band comes out of my pocket. On a musicians wages, this is not sustainable. So in order to provide for our ability to perform weekly, the first donations will go into an interest bearing account that will serve to make up shortfalls in ticket sales, securing the gig for years to come. 2. Once the security fund is established, funds will be diverted to rehearsal fees. This includes the fee for renting rehearsal space as well as the cost of paying each of the musicians for the rehearsal. 3. Once the monthly fund reaches a level where we can have weekly rehearsals additional funds will be diverted for band equipment and to create a touring fund, allowing us to bring the band to places that might not otherwise be able to afford a group of this caliber due to travel costs. Additionally the band will, at this point, begin phase two of our long term plan: creating a non-profit. The NPO will do community outreach about vintage jazz, give young musicians the opportunity to learn about this kind of music at no cost, present concerts by the GCO as well as by other great traditional jazz artists, and eventually, create a performance and educational space in NYC that will serve as a hub for traditional jazz and swing era music, much as Jazz at Lincoln Center serves this function for mainstream jazz. By supporting this project you will become part of a community that gets exclusive content. Jazz history content, behind the scenes looks at my writing and arranging, live streams of rehearsals and performances, occasional live recordings, and more! Most importantly you'll be ensuring that the art of big band swing, which ceased to be commercially viable after WW2, does not become a lost art form.

Free

Basic membership gets you access to the community. This will include content about jazz history, band leading, songwriting, arranging, performing and more. We'll also send out occasional live recordings, plus you'll get behind the scenes knowledge of and first looks at some of what the band is cooking up.

Member

You'll get the member benefits PLUS each month Glenn will do an "ask the bandleader" feature. Member Plus Patrons will be invited to submit their questions about music, bandleading, etc. and Glenn will choose one question each month that he'll discuss in a live streaming session! 
 
You'll ALSO get exclusive access to live streams of the band's rehearsals.

Member Plus

Every month Glenn will choose a song. He'll give you a brief historical background on it, relevant performance information, and will provide you with a specially created lead sheet with the CORRECT chords and melody for you to study. 
 
You'll also get the Member Plus benefits.

Song a Month

At this level you'll be sponsoring the pay for one musician at the rehearsal, so you'll be welcome to attend, in person, any rehearsals that the band has.
 
Plus you'll get the "song a month" benefits!

Choose your membership