Lou Caputo's Not So Big Band

Lou Caputo, a native of Williamsburg, Brooklyn, has been a professional musician for over thirty years. He has done almost every kind of job that a musician can be asked to do. A multi-instrumentalist (saxophones, clarinets and flutes) he has performed in show bands with the likes of Lou Rawls, Frankie Valli, Shirley Basey, Jack Jones, Bobby Short, Frankie Avalon, and a host of others. As well as the many of the famous Motown acts like the Temptations and the Four Tops. Aside from this he has performed along side of Salsa legends like Candido, Bobby Sanabria and Lou Perez. However playing jazz is really closest to Lou’s heart and he has had the opportunity to perform with people like trumpeter Richard Williams, pianists Duke Jordan and Jaki Byard, drummers Walter Perkins and Mousey Alexander (in his short lived big band) vocalist Joe “Be-Bop” Carroll and Dakota Staton, bassist Chris White (including a Carnegie Hall appearance). He also had the good fortune to record with jazz legend Dr. Billy Taylor on guitarist Ray Rivera’s album Night Wind. He has also had the pleasure of performing in the Richie Cole octet .A high point is having had the chance to play Birdland with the Ellington band under the direction of Paul Ellington and Jack Jeffers. Through the years Lou has appeared in many of the areas leading jazz clubs as both a leader and side man. He also played for former President Bill Clinton on the occasion of Clinton’s 50th birthday. In 2003, Lou released his first CD Urban Sill Life to a positive response from the press and jazz radio disc-jockeys around the country. Currently, Lou is leading an eleven piece group he likes to refer to as the “Not So Big Band” which appears regularly at The Garage. The group features great New York musicians like Howard Johnson, Bill Crow, Jon Eckert and Virginia Mayhew to mention a few. The group plans to record in the near future. Aside from that, he can be heard with his own Quartet, as well as a member of the big bands of Howard Williams and Jack Jeffers.