Robbie Schlosser and The Magnolia Jazz Band will be joining our Dream Team as the cocktail hour musicians.  Around since 1975, these seasoned musicians have got what it takes to make any party sparkle.  Their donation is worth approximately $1,000.00.

Robbie is a fantastic person who exemplifies community spirit.  A very giving man, who is involved in the community around him, it is an honor to welcome him and The Magnolia Jazz Band to The Dream Team.  He is also a talented and prolific blogger, and his writing can be seen here on his BLOG.

What Robbie loves most about his job is “…helping people have a good time and making their special events memorable.”. 

The band is participating in the contest for three reasons, according to Robbie:

1: “I’m glad to contribute to a fantastic experience for a worthy contestant.”

2: “Through the nationwide attention this contest draws to the Bay Area, I’m helping “give back” to the community that supports all of us participating, as well as our colleagues. “

3:  “I’m glad to help “raise the bar” and inspire other groups of professionals, in other locales,  to come together for similar purposes.”

How The Band Formed

Robbie formed The Magnolia Jazz Band in 1975.  He was a graduate student then, studying Education, and music was always his main hobby. He began learning violin in the third grade, cornet the next year, and string bass 27 years later. During high school and college, his musical interests focused on playing cornet in marching bands and French horn in concert bands and orchestras. Afterwards he lived in New York state and worked as a scientist and a science teacher. He also played occasionally with several informal dixieland bands, including one in Buffalo named “The South Happiness Street Society Skiffle Band”.

Moving to northern California in the early ’70s, I joined the South Bay Traditional Jazz Society, where he met many musicians he’s worked with over the last 30-plus years.

In January 1975, a Milpitas nightclub owner heard him playing at an after-hours jam session in San Jose, and hired him to lead a jazz band to entertain his customers.  Robbie called five friends and organized the original Magnolia Jazz Band . The job lasted six weeks, every Friday and Saturday night. He went out of business a few months later, but  Robbie insists “…it wasn’t my fault!”

Their Repertoire

Robbie’s specialty has always been to entertain people. These days, the band performs nearly every day, and Robbie manages the band’s business. Although they began as an old style New Orleans band, they’ve learned to be flexible. Now selecting music from a wide repertoire, they play all the popular standards, Latin favorites, and hot jazz classics from the ’20s, ’30s, ’40s and ’50s. Listeners and dancers enjoy echoes of Frank Sinatra, Louis Armstrong, Elvis Presley, Duke Ellington, Benny Goodman, Nat King Cole, Glenn Miller, and the songbooks of George Gershwin, Cole Porter,
Rodgers & Hart, Lennon & McCartney, Antonio Carlos Jobim, and more.

The Early Years

The Bay Area traditionally boasts plenty of wonderful musicians and lots of parties, and Robbie learned early on that he prefers local work to life “on the road”.  Still, when time permits, he enjoys an occasional out-of-town performance with a few well-known musicians across the country. In the
early 1980’s,  The Magnolia Jazz Band made seven recordings, toured through the west coast, the midwest and the east coast, and was a popular favorite at many jazz festivals.

During those early years, in addition to working regularly with The Magnolia Jazz Band , Robbie performed occasionally at informal parties with the Preservation Hall Jazz Band in New Orleans.  A few years later, he worked throughout the Bay Area as a regular member of the Royal Society Jazz Orchestra, performing on a PBS TV special, several international cruises and jazz festivals, and numerous special concerts nationwide.

1991-1997

Robbie worked frequently with the Butch Thompson Trio, which received national fame on Garrison Keillor’s PBS radio program, “A
Prairie Home Companion”. Robbie still free-lances occasionally with other Bay Area bands, and he keeps in touch with dozens of musicians each month. He continually learns from all his fellow jazzmen, and every day brings something new.

 Welcome abouard Robbie and the Magnolia Jazz Band!!!  The lucky winners are sure to LOVE you and your fabulous music!

 Robbie Schlosser
Magnolia Jazz Band
www.MagnoliaJazz.com
P.O. Box 2739, Sunnyvale 94087
408-245-9120