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Band Bio and Noble Statement of Purpose

Ben Baldwin and the Big Note played their first gig at a Wesleyan University frat party. A rotating mirror ball threw a myriad of colored dots on each dancing couple.

There was laughter, cocktails, romance...

Many more frat parties, wedding receptions, smoky bars, day care benefits, proms, political fundraisers, clambakes, ‘big’ concerts, and other tribal rituals later, Ben Baldwin and The Big Note powers on, into the new millennium!

Ben Baldwin and the Big Note play a unique brand of swing and rock-and-roll, music for dancing, created by the likes of Fats Waller, Louie Jordan, Sam Cooke, Cole Porter, Ray Charles, and The Band.

Like the R&B territory bands of the forties, Ben Baldwin and The Big Note plays primarily on the Seacoast and Eastern New England. We sometimes venture forth to New York, Ohio, even Florida to spread our musical message. We were the house band at the Cape Neddick Lobster Pound, long ago. We rocked The Rosa in Portsmouth, New Hampshire and The Tam in Brookline, Massachusetts in those days.

This century, The Big Note has been playing many wedding receptions, out-of-control garage dances, and barn jamborees.

Ben Baldwin and The Big Note can be a rockin’ little jazz quartet or a powerhouse 6-piece band, as budgetary or artistic considerations require.

Band members include the following wonderful players:

KENT ALLYN has been playing piano and guitar with The Big Note, basically, since the beginning. He sings a lot of our fun, more raunchy material.

RAY BRUNELLE is our excellent drummer.

JESSE WILLIAMS plays stand-up and electric bass and sings our sophisticated harmony parts.

DAVE SHOLL, DEAN CASSELL, and MILT REDER have their own awesome group called Four Piece Suit, and they join us whenever they can. We then become a legendary Super Group!

Tenor Sax great GORDON BEADLE, internationally acclaimed, has been playing with The Big Note for years, driving audiences wild.

FLY AMERO brings his charisma and showmanship and guitar prowess and mighty vocals to The Big Note, whenever he isn’t touring with Orleans.

Bass legend MARTY BALLOU, who has worked with everyone from Jay McShann to John Hammond to Pete Francis has been playing with us, off and on, since the 70’s.

New Orleans Tenor Man AMADEE CASTANELL brings his great sound to The Big Note.

And then there is me, BEN BALDWIN. I play alto and baritone sax and sing the pretty tunes…Thanks to my Wesleyan Brothers, MIKE MINARD, JABEZ McCLELLAND, and RAY HERMANN, this band, Ben Baldwin and the Big Note, came into existence, and thanks to so many talented players over the years, we continue to keep this music that we all love, alive and swinging, in the spirit of its creators.

I love Ben Baldwin. He combines the best combination of New Orleans blues, classic rock and easy jazz so that a diverse crowd of 20-year-olds and 80-year-olds all tap their toes to the cool beat if they're not up dancing by the end of the evening.

I have a restaurant in Maine and I have had Ben Baldwin play for at least a dozen of my Dinner Dance Parties which we do in the off-season. Our restaurant is one large room and the band is right there on the floor and it is never overbearing. People can dine comfortably and if they choose to dance he can turn up the tempo and the mood in an instant. It is fun, it is cool, they can sing and they can jam. Great sounds from what I think is great talent, and Ben is a great guy who is entertaining and wonderful to work with.

He made our New Year's Eve a spectacular event.

Kate Morency, Owner
Pier 77 Restaurant
Cape Porpoise, Maine
207-967-8500