Composed and arranged by Paul Faatz.
Performance by the Peabody Jazz Orchestra, directed by Michael Formanek.
Solos by Dan Cherouny, alto sax, and Robert Walliczek, trumpet

Performance materials available for purchase. Please contact the composer.

Slippery Elmer - Peabody Jazz Orchestra

Here's Johnny! This is my take on the Tonight Show Theme, staple of my formative years. Once in the hands of, uh, analog musicians, solos will be for trumpet and trombone. I had particular fun writing the sax soli here. Please enjoy!

Johnny's Theme (Tonight Show Theme)

My tune Grooving the Goat as recorded by Four Zoas on our album "Fire Jump"

Grooving The Goat - Four Zoas

Here's my new big band arrangement of an original tune of mine called "Hambone's Wobble." Hambone was a cat. A fat and happy cat.
Solos will be for trombone and tenor sax.

Hambone's Wobble

Here's a little 3-horn arrangement of a be-bop head I wrote this morning.  Templeton is the cat pictured; he has many quandaries.

Templeton's Quandary

My newly-finished big band arrangement of the 1941 Earle Warren number "9:20 Special", a tune often played by the Basie band among others.  Solos will be for trumpet, clarinet, tenor sax, trombone, and another trumpet. Fun will be had by all. It's 9:20, and it's time.

9:20 Special

Featuring myself on bari sax, Mark Kelly on trumpet, and Mark St. Pierre on drums, this is my new big band arrangement of a tune I wrote for the salsa band Nuevo Cache back in the 20th Century.  The performance is by the Baltimore Jazz Alliance Big Band, directed by Anthony Villa.

Rio Espresso - BJA Big Band 2014 - Carroll Community College

My 2-part arrangement of this lovely waltz by Brazilian composer Dilermando Reis, with whom I share a birthday. 
I wrote this to use as a counter line when playing with a guitarist, but I like the sound of it with just the two voices alone, presented her on violin and clarinet.

Se Ela Perguntar (If She Asks)

I've just unearthed a box of about 90 mini-disc recordings I made of gigs of the Totally Confused Band back around 1998, and am slowly posting them here unedited and with are their flaws. One of our members is transitioning off-planet, and I'm posting these recordings for him to listen to.

Totally Confused at the Towson Armory, 10/17/98

Totally Confused live - City Paper gig, 10.15.98, set 1

City Paper 10.15.98

The Totally Confused Band, 1998 style. Tunes heard here:
Someday Baby
Good Rockin' at Midnight
Dangerous Woman

City Paper gig 10.15.98

City Paper gig 10.15.98, start of Set 2

Buzz Conway, Trumpet; Paul Faatz, tenor sax; Rob LaCount, trombone; Dick Tracey, vocals; Steve Enslow, guitar; David Kaminkow, keys; Danny Powell, bass; Dale Mauck, drums
Hey Bartender
Dangerous Woman
Cash/Trash
I'm Sorry
Shake, Rattle & Roll
Every Day I Have the Blues
I've got Dreams to Remember
Can't Judge a Book
Back to Louisiana
Linus & Lucy

Totally Confused at Cobblestones, York PA, last set 11.14.98

Buzz Conway, Trumpet; Paul Faatz, tenor sax; Rob LaCount, trombone; Dick Tracey, vocals; Steve Enslow, guitar; David Kaminkow, keys; Danny Powell, bass; Dale Mauck, drums
Chicken Shack
Bloodshot Eyes
I Don't Want no Woman
Zoot Suit Riot
I Don't Know Why
Is You Is
Don't You Lie to Me
Caldonia
Sweet Home Chicago
Someday, Baby
One O'Clock Jump

Cobblestones, York PA 11.14.98

Totally Confused at Cobblestones, York PA, first set 11.14.98

Q's Blues
Bloodshot Eyes
Every Day I Have the Blues
Froggy Went a-Groovin'
Don't you Lie to me
The Hustle is On
Is You Is
The Chicken & the Hawk
That's the Groovy Thing
Spanish Moon
Someday Baby
Jump, Jive & Wail

Totally Confused Band unknown gig 1999

Now that Ultraman's in retirement, the Kraken Cowboys are trying to pick up some of the slack. And they're fierce; no doubt. Problem is, they've all got major issues with women and alcohol both, and sometimes exhibit poor judgment.  You'll hear a little of all this in their theme song. Please give a listen.

Kraken Cowboys

There he is, all snuzzly nuzzly cozy in his nocturnal bliss, dreaming perhaps of lichen and sugarplums, when *RINGGGGGG*. The alarm clock. Oh no! It's *that* day....

And he's off!

It's Time, Rudolph! - A 5/4 journey through our favorite reindeer's anxiety dreams.

My Sax Quartet, "Leafy Spurge," performed by a student group in Griswold Hall at Peabody Conservatory about 15 years ago. Apologies for not crediting the performers; my data seem to have migrated to different locations.

Leafy Spurge - Sax Quartet

Get up and dance! Here's my arrangement of Miriam Makeba's classic hit "Pata Pata," composed by Dorothy Masuka. Much of the form of my arrangement is adapted from the way the amazing Angelique Kidjo performs it live. This is a digital demo of my arrangement, this time complete with solos for trumpet, bari, flugelhorn, and tenor. I've tried to pay tribute to Bra Hugh in both the trumpet and flugelhorn solos. The bari solo came out kind of yakkety-sax like, which isn't really much the way I myself play, but I kinda like it.

Please enjoy, dance, play it again and dance some more. Thanks!

Pata Pata

Paul Faatz is up to stuff. Having comfortably settled into retirement following a harrowing and disorienting career, Paul has been diligently working toward reclaiming his self of old and is making up for lost time with a vengeance. He is happy to have reunited with the dreams and fancies of his youth, choosing to build and expand on that model while shedding the shell he'd grown in order to deal with the expectations of an untrustworthy and superficial world.

Though rusty to the point of decay, when active, Paul has been known to perform on soprano, alto, tenor, and baritone saxophones, clarinet, bass clarinet, contrabass clarinet, and a host of pennywhistles and small instruments.

His list of previous performing experiences is broad and alarming, heavy on the blues, rock, jazz, and swing fronts, but also including Brazilian music, traditional Irish music, a decades-long stint playing polkas and traditional Bavarian music with the Edelweiss Band, and a number of performances on contrabass clarinet with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra. Paul has been a member of the rock group Four Zoas, New Orleans funk aggregate Funk Master General, Doc Scantlin’s Imperial Palms Orchestra, Dave Tucker's Roaring Big Band, Gene and the Cadillac Cruisers, the Bayside Big Band, The Majestics, the Hank Levy Legacy Band, the Melting Pot Big Band, jump blues band Totally Confused, salsa band Nuevo Cache, and the Intergalactic Liberation Front.

Paul's been writing big band charts for years, and realizes he's got enough material for a CD or two. If he can get his act together, maybe he'll assemble a big band to do a live performance and recording. His original big band compositions have been featured in performances by the Melting Pot Big Band,  the Baltimore Jazz Alliance Big Band, the Peabody Jazz Orchestra, the Bayside Big Band, the Michael Raitzyk Jazz Orchestra, and the Paul Faatz Big Band.

Paul’s primary composition studies took place at Berklee College of Music, where his teachers included the legendary Herb Pomeroy, Bob Freedman, Allan Chase, and Ken Pullig.  Besides works for big band, Paul also writes the occasional piece of chamber music, and has arranged the horn books of several bands with which he’s worked.

When not writing or playing music, Paul enjoys reading, hiking, history,  photography, chess, Scrabble, and spending time with his lovely and talented wife, Kris, and their cats Alafair, Templeton, and Fergus.

Paul Faatz

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