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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 solo CD: "Excalibur: The Steve Wiest Big Band" was released in August of 2006 by Arabesque Jazz to wide critical acclaim (see Blog for reviews). His new Arabesque quintet CD "Out of The New" will be released summer of 2008 and will feature Ed Soph: drums, Stefan Karrlson: piano, Lynn Seaton: bass, and Fred Hamilton: guitar. Steve is now teaching jazz composition and jazz trombone at The University of North Texas, where he was recently appointed Interim Director of the 1:00 Lab Band upon the retirement of long-time UNT Jazz Studies Chair Neil Slater.

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 has 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: "The One and Only". Included on this release is Wiest's arrangements of "Besame Mucho" (nominated for a Grammy in 2007-08 for Best Instrumental Arrangement) 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". 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. For more information about these recordings, please visit the UNT Jazz page.

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 Associate Professor of Jazz at the University of North Texas in 2007-2008 where he now teaches jazz composition and jazz trombone along with directing the new UNT jazz trombone ensemble: The U-Tubes. For more info on the Jazz Studies program at UNT go to: http://www.jazz.unt.edu To read about the UNT Trombone Studio go to: www.untbones.com

Steve has a number of arrangements and texts published with various companies including Kendor, Doug Beach, Hal Leonard, Ron Keezer's Really Good Music and The University of Northern Colorado Jazz Press. All the original music from his Arabesque CD "Excalibur" is available at Wlarus Music: http://www.walrusmusic.com Steve Wiest plays Edwards trombones and Griego Mouthpieces exclusively. (www.edwards-instruments.com)

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