Newtown High Alum Is Flying High With Airmen Of  Note

By John Voket

Newtown High School alum Joseph Grasso, Jr has at least two great music lovers to thank for his career in the entertainment business: his dad and Air Force Major and bandleader Glen Miller

The younger Mr Grasso departed the NHS halls where his father – Joseph Grasso, Sr – was himself the band director, in June of 1980. Since then, he has enjoyed the subsequent quarter-century gigging across the country and around the globe as a concert trumpet player and tour manager for one of the world’s premier jazz bands, the United States Air Force Airmen of Note.

According to one “unofficial website” the group was created in 1950 to carry on the style and tradition of the Glenn Miller Army Air Forces Dance Band. Today the Note continues the innovative course set by Major Miller over five decades ago.

The band will be performing at Newtown High School on Thursday, July 14. Admission to the 7:30 concert is free, but tickets are required for guaranteed seating; those who arrive after 7:15 will be allowed entry if seats remain open.

Over the past half-century the Airmen of Note have made literally thousands of appearances all over the world. They served the Air Force, performing for everyone from airmen stationed at remote airfields to the Commander-in-Chief at the White House. The public has also had many opportunities to hear one of the world’s finest big bands in concert, on the radio and on television.  

The site suggests that so little has been written about the group, because in the early part of the band’s existence, it operated almost entirely within the military sphere. At that time, the few civilian big band enthusiasts who knew of its existence referred to the Airmen of Note as “one of the Air Force’s best kept military secrets.”  

Mr Grasso started hearing about the Note and was invited to audition during his second year of grad school while he was performing in the US Coast Guard Band. But his love for music goes back much further – to fourth grade at Middle Gate School, when he first picked up the trumpet.

Having a dad who kept a wary but appropriately distant eye on his son as he moved through the Newtown School system was a great benefit to Joseph, Jr. But he kept practicing and excelling as a performer, with dad ready in the wings ready to offer support and a tip or two, when invited.

“I always knew he kept an eye on me, but he kind of played it cool around the house,” Mr Grasso recalled about his father. Today the Newtown native is living and working in Washington, D.C., where the Note is headquartered.

He went on to major in music, and graduated with a degree in from Western Connecticut State University in 1985. While schlepping tables and managing banquets, the grad school-bound musician never stopped performing, taking weekend gigs in local theater orchestras, in jazz bands and concert ensembles across the region.

He graduated to playing high profile roles in the bands whenever the Ice Capades and the Ringling Bros. circus was in the area, and landed a spot in a popular touring outfit called Hot Cross Brass.

That spot matched him up with several of his future Coast Guard bandmates, who clued Joe in when the organization was holding auditions.

In May 1989, he picked up his trumpet case and successfully capped a tryout for the USCG Brass Quintet. With only 24 hours to think over what could surely be a life-changing career decision, Joseph Grasso, Jr. bid the rolling hills of Connecticut farewell and headed to Montgomery, Ala.

After mastering his aim on military firearms at basic training in Texas, Mr Grasso traded his AR-15 for a trumpet and spent the next three years touring with the quintet around the country. He transitioned to principal trumpet in the US Air Force Band in 1991, and worked in that capacity performing for civilian audiences, troops and worldwide political leaders for more than a decade.

From there he took over the management of the Air Force Band, and in June 2004, he joined on with the Airmen of Note.

One of the best aspects of working with the Note, he says, is the opportunity to interact and play with seasoned musicians, 90 percent of whom come to the stage with advanced music and performance degrees.

“These are the musicians who are the exceptions,” Mr Grasso told The Bee. “If they weren’t playing in our band, you’d be paying to see them play in show bands, and with the top touring jazz bands in the world.”

Today, aside from occasionally jamming with the Note and performing low-profile ceremonial activities at Arlington funerals and Presidential inaugurations, Mr Grasso is running the show.

“I set up the tours, and handle everything from accommodations, transportation, and I travel along with the band on the road making sure everything is all set for them every night,” he said.

Mr Grasso oversees the 19-member ensemble and two sound techs. Like a small-scale rock show, his entourage includes an 18-wheeler to carry the staging and sound equipment, a tour bus, a multi-passenger shuttle van and a car for quick trips and errands during stops.

The band’s upcoming July 14 show at his alma mater will be sandwiched in between previously booked shows at The Warner Theater in Torrington and The Hartford Jazz Festival. And before he looks forward to representing our nation’s military with the Note, he’ll even get to kick back at the old homestead on a rare afternoon off.

“I usually show up about an hour and a half before the show to make sure everything is all lined up,” he said. “It’s really great to be back with a band like this because it really puts a human face on all our military service members you don’t see. And we think it gets their message across.”

While Mr Grasso has lived and performed around the world, he says he still considers Newtown home. And while his dad played an invaluable role in supporting his young musician, the manager of the Note believes it was the entire school system that helped foster his career.

“I’m pleased to have gotten a well-rounded education in a system that included a lot of the arts, especially the exceptional music program,” he said. “I don’t think I’d have this job today without it.”

Mr Grasso also believes the arts are what define us as a society, and with that in mind, he is thrilled to be returning with The Airmen of Note.

“When I was in the position of doing something, to give something back to the town, I jumped at the chance,” he said.

Editor’s Note: As part of the ongoing celebration of Newtown’s Tercentennial, the Newtown Lions Club is sponsoring next week’s concert by The United States Air Force Band Airmen of Note. The 7:30 pm concert will be performed at Newtown High School.

“We’re lucky to have them. They usually play much larger venues, but I think once they learned it was part of our Tercentennial summer they agreed to come here,” Jason Hsu, who is coordinating the tickets for the concert, told The Bee last week. The Lions Club has been bringing USAF bands to Newtown for four years.

Tickets are free, but should be reserved in advance. There is a four ticket limit per family.

Tickets can be obtained by sending an SASE to Jason Hsu, c/o Newtown Lions Club, 17 Old Castle Drive, Newtown CT 06470. Requests for tickets should be sent right away so that there is enough time for tickets to be sent out. Ticket-holders must be at the high school by 7:15 in order to receive a seat.

Previous USAF concerts have filled the auditorium at the high school. In the event that all tickets are not reserved for July 14, the doors will open for non-ticket-holders at 7:15, at which point any remaining seats will be open for anyone.

Lions Club members will also be continuing the group’s fundraising drive to replace the seats in Edmond Town Hall Theater in the high school lobby the night of the concert.