Next sit-in night: April 2024. Check back for the exact date.

To give community members a chance to see what it's like to play in the band, the Roseville Big Band holds sit-in nights twice a year. A sit-in night is a regular rehearsal, 7:00 p.m. - 9:30 p.m., with the exception that additional musicians join the band for the rehearsal. On sit-in night we play a variety of music, to give our sit-in guests a chance to experience several big band styles. Improvisation is optional, but we give our guests an opportunity to play solos if they are interested. We also sight-read at least one new piece of music on sit-in night so that guests and members will all be starting at the same point as we learn to play the new song.

Sit-in night April 12, 2011, at St. Michael's Lutheran Church.   Community musicians join the Roseville Big Band for a sit-in night. Bigger picture is 55K. Bill Frank Irene Struck, guest Dave Anderson, former trumpeter with Roseville Big Band; guest trombonist Mike Bratlie Bill Pearson Dave Dahlgren, guest Steve Crumley, guest Rich Eyman Harvey Skow Mark Lee Kay Foster Sarah Wasmundt, guest Tim Meyer, guest
  Sit-in night at Roseville Area Middle School.
Sit-in night April 6, 2004, at St. Michael's Lutheran Church. Community musicians join the Roseville Big Band for a sit-in night. Bigger picture is 53K. Glen Peterson Kay Foster Bill Frank Debbie Clapp, guest Mark Stevens, guest Pat Gefre, guest Pat Blyth, guest George Henly Rich Eyman Pat Flahaven, guest Greg Michnay, guest

Sit-in nights are held in the Fellowship Hall of St. Michael's Lutheran Church, 1660 W. Co. Rd. B in Roseville, about a block and a half west of Snelling Ave. N. The Fellowship Hall is in the southeast corner of the church, next to the parking lot. Click here for a map (23K).

If possible, please call or send E-mail in advance so we know to expect you.

Here's the email director Glen Newton sent to our subs to invite them to the first 1990 sit-in night at Parkview Center School.

Some Typical Sit-in Nights

At the October 22, 2019, sit-in night, four of our 13 guests were attending their first sit-in night. We sight read four new additions to the Roseville Big Band repertoire: Len Yaeger's 3-Minute Annie, based on his longer Little Annie, which the Roseville Big Band premiered this summer; Sammy Nestico's arrangement of Skyliner; Bill Holman's arrangement of June is Bustin' Out All Over; and Jim Mahaffey's For Lillian. Our longer-than-usual break gave band members the opportunity to talk with our guests and enjoy Kay Foster's homemade cookies and other treats. We enjoyed playing the big band classics Fly Me to the Moon, Little Brown Jug, and American Patrol, admired the sax solos on Brazil by guests Len Yaeger and Ira Adelman, practiced horn moves on Cha Cha Cha for Judy, and got into the seasonal spirit with Glen Newton's arrangement of Monster Mash.

At the May 5, 2015, sit-in night, we had 12 guests, including four who were attending their first sit-in night. We gave sit-in guest Stephen Heaney's ballad She Wore Black its first reading and rehearsed several of the songs the band is preparing for summer performances, starting with Glen Newton's All Saints Go Marching Out, which gave all who were interested an opportunity to improvise to a familiar chord progression.

At the October 22, 2013, sit-in night, we had 10 guests, including three who had not come to a previous sit-in night. Among the songs we played were Sweet Georgia Brown and Alegria Latina. In consideration of Halloween being just a week and a half away, we also played Witchcraft, That Old Devil Moon, and Glen Newton's arrangement of Monster Mash, which includes musical quotes from Phantom of the Opera, Rock Around the Clock, In the Mood, Don't Get Around Much Anymore, Pennsylvania 6-5000 (or in this case, "Transylvania 6-5-Oh-Oh-Oh"), Alley Cat, That Old Black Magic and Yakety Sax. We also sight-read two songs from the Roseville Big Band archives, as part of our periodic sweep through our entire repertoire. On these and several other songs, we read through twice, switching parts in the sections to give people a chance to play two different parts.

At the October 28, 2008, sit-in night, we had 17 guests, including nine trombone players. Seven guests were attending their first sit-in night. Guests came from as far away as Red Wing, Minnesota, and Rice Lake, Wisconsin. Musical selections for the evening included the first reading of trumpet sub Pat Gefre's first big band arrangement, All of Me, Mike Bratlie's arrangement of I'll Remember April (based on Tom Padveen's trombone band arrangement) , and Glen Newton's arrangements of Yardbird Suite and Monster Mash. They also included Glen's composition, Dance to the Big Band Swing, which is the Roseville Big Band theme song, as well as several published arrangements.

At the October 18, 2005, sit-in night, we once again had a 12-person evenly balanced sax section, including two guests who attended their first sit-in night, and Carolyn Rosdahl (tenor sax), who had played in the band in its early years. Three guest trombonists and trumpeter Dan Theobald also sat in. We played a number of selections from the band's rich repertoire, including Falling in Love with Love and Carnaby Street, one of the tunes in the Doc Severinson showpiece Doc's Holiday, which the band performed as part of its concert series in Acapulco, Mexico. Since Halloween was less than two weeks away, we also played Glen Newton's arrangement of "Monster Mash."

At the second sit-in night of 2004, we had a 12-person evenly balanced sax section, including two guests who attended their first sit-in night. Former band members Fred Christiansen (trombone) and Beth Chapdelane (alto sax, formerly Beth Olsen) were among the eight guests. George Henly played his new 1950's-era Olds small-bore trombone in its first Roseville Big Band rehearsal. The evening included sight-reading Horace Silver's Doodlin', with many improvised solos. We also played Glen Newton's new arrangement of Bei Mir Bist du Schoen, on which guest saxophonist Len Yaeger, bass trombonist Keith Miner, and Glen Newton sang three-part harmony, sort of like the Andrews sisters in a lower key. Other selections we practiced included songs that are on the program for the October 24 concert at Edinborough Park, such as Bob Mintzer's Computer and Keith Miner's Still Love You. As with other sit-in nights, Ann Booth's homemade bars were the culinary hit of the evening.

At the first sit-in night of 2004, band members and eight guests were treated to a second reading of Mike Bratlie's arrangement of Jordu. Many also played solos on All of Me, either improvising from chords or playing the melody from a lead sheet. Other activities included sight-reading an arrangement of Bill Evans' jazz classic Waltz for Debby and playing the perennial favorite All the Things You Are plus several other songs.

The second instrumental sit-in night of 2003 was held October 21. Eight of the 14 instrumentalists who joined the regular members of the band that evening were saxophonists. What a rich sound the sax section had that night! The music for the sit-in included Mike Bratlie's original composition Casa del Sol, standards such as Life is Just a Bowl of Cherries, and several others.

The first sit-in night for 2003 was held April 8, and twelve instrumentalists joined the regular Roseville Big Band members for an evening of playing a variety of music, from Miles Davis' Four to guest trumpeter Tim Altmann's new arrangement of Tico-Tico.

Unsolicited comments from sit-in night attendees:

"I really enjoyed playing with your band tonight. I sub a fair amount, and tonight was a highlight! I look forward to the next open session."

"Thank you for the opportunity to play with the band on Tuesday night. It was a great time!"

"Again, thanks for the wonderful experience we all had last night at the sit in."

"I had a really good time and look forward to the chance to do it again at the next sit-in night."

Former Roseville Big Band director Paul Pizner initiated the sit-in night tradition in the late 1980's. In recent years, we held sit-in nights on the following Tuesday evenings; click the date for pictures from the sit-in night:

  August 4, 1998 March 16, 1999 October 26, 1999
May 2, 2000 October 3, 2000 April 17, 2001 October 16, 2001
April 16, 2002 October 8, 2002 April 8, 2003 October 21, 2003
April 6, 2004 October 19, 2004 April 19, 2005 October 18, 2005
April 4, 2006 October 3, 2006 April 17, 2007 October 23, 2007
April 22, 2008 October 28, 2008 April 9, 2009 October 27, 2009
April 6, 2010 October 19, 2010 April 12, 2011 October 11, 2011
April 17, 2012 October 9, 2012 April 9, 2013 October 22, 2013
April 22, 2014 September 30, 2014 May 5, 2015 October 6, 2015
April 19, 2016 October 25, 2016 April 25, 2017 November 21, 2017
April 10, 2018 October 9, 2018 April 16, 2019 October 22, 2019

Because of the Covid pandemic and continuing concern about new Covid variants, we held no sit-in nights in 2020 through 2023. Rich Eyman Greg Michnay, guest Mike Bratlie

This page was last updated
Friday, December 29, 2023.


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