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Mike Kaplan Big Band in Bradley Beach Memorial Day Festivities
May 24, 2025 @ 11:00 am – 12:30 pm EDT
We are proud to have one of iconic bands participating in the 2025 Borough of Bradley Beach Memorial Day festivities. if you are down the shore you stop through and join in the fun.
The Bradley Beach 3-Day Memorial Day Festival is a lively event that kicks off summer with a mix of parades, food vendors, live music, and family-friendly activities..
- Parade: The festival begins with a Memorial Day Parade along Ocean Avenue, featuring marching bands, pipe bands, and community groups.
- Entertainment: Expect live performances, including bands playing at the beachfront gazebo.
- Food & Vendors: A variety of food stalls, craft vendors, and local businesses set up along the Beach Front Promenade.
- Kids’ Activities: There are rides, bounce houses, and games to keep younger attendees entertained.
- Memorial Ceremony: A special tribute to honor fallen service members takes place at Riley Park.
The festival runs from morning to evening, making it a great way to celebrate the holiday weekend at the shore. Want to know more details or plan your visit? You can check out the official event page here.
Mike Kaplan Big Band
The Nonet Big Band features 6 horns out front, an intuitive rhythm section and plays original arrangements in a variety of styles, grooves and genres all filtered through the 21st century Jazz sensibilities of the leader and band members. A set from the band can often feature styles ranging encompassing swing, funk, post-bop, Latin jazz, New Orleans 2nd line rhythm and blues, Samba / Bossa nova, free, ballads and much more. In addition to featuring Kaplan’s original compositions and compositions by other band members, the band also re-examines and re-works deserving compositions of others ranging from Jelly Roll Morton & Duke Ellington to Marvin Gaye.
Mike Kaplan (arranger/tenor saxophone) has been writing for and leading a Jazz Nonet for almost 50 years. He envisioned it as a unit combining the strength, cohesion and varied tonal colors of a big band with the spontaneity and flexibility of a small group. Mike studied saxophone with Charles McPherson, Warne Marsh, Joe Lovano, Bob Mover, Mack Goldsbury and Fred Amend and graduated William Paterson University with a Bachelor of Music in Jazz Performance. Among the groups and people he’s recorded and played with are Slide Hampton, the Glenn Miller Orchestra, Chico Mendoza’s Latin Jazz Dream Band, Steve Turre, Russell Malone and Rob McConnell. In addition to freelancing in the NJ/NY area, Kaplan has had his arrangements performed by the Composers Big Band and recorded by Orquesta Royal and la Progressiva. In 2008, Mike was the recipient of a Middlesex County Cultural and Heritage Commission Bits and Pieces grant to write an original composition for the ensemble for a performance at the Barron Performing Arts Center (Woodbridge, NJ) , the first such musical grant awarded in over 10 years.
Vinnie Borselli (lead trumpet) has worked in many different settings. He has performed in the Broadway pit orchestras of Crazy For You, Big, A Christmas Carol, Damn Yankees, and Kiss Of The Spiderwoman. He has also appeared with Aretha Franklin, Johnny Mathis, The Temptations, The Tommy and Jimmy Dorsey Orchestra with The Pied Pipers, Sister Sledge, Gloria Gaynor, The Spinners, The OJays, The Harry James Orchestra, Michael Feinstein, Peter Nero and The Philly Pops, Bobby Rydell, Linda Rondstadt, Olivia Newton-John, Lou Christie, Shirley Alston, The Duprees, Jerry Vale, Wayne Newton, The Irish Tenors, Connie Francis, Vince Giordano and the Nighthawks, Recordings with Jazz Organist Joey Defrancesco, The Real Deal Big Band, The Dalton Gang, Richie Cole’s Alto Madness Orchestra, LaBamba’s Big Band, Philadelphia’s City Rhythm Big Band, and many others.
Liam Sutcliffe (trumpet/flugelhorn) performs regularly as a freelance musician and bandleader in the Philadelphia/New York metro area. As a New Jersey native, Liam Sutcliffe graduated from Rutgers’ Mason Gross School of the Arts and attended Manhattan School of Music. Liam has performed multiple times at John F. Kennedy Center in Washington DC, Dizzy’s Club, Birdland in New York City, Chris’ Jazz Cafe and South Jazz Kitchen in Philadelphia, and many more. He is a member of the 2019 Betty Carter Jazz Ahead Program and the 2022 JAS Academy Big Band led by Christian McBride. Sutcliffe was the winner of the 2020 US Army Blues Solo Competition and the 2022 New Jersey Jazz Society Scholarship. Liam Sutcliffe’s music is strongly rooted in the jazz/bebop tradition and employs modern elements as well.
Ben Williams (trombone),lauded by the New York Times for his “sassy and barrel voiced trombone” has extensive performing experience in the jazz and commercial music fields. In Jazz, he has performed with artists such as George Coleman, Claudio Roditi, Oliver Lake among many others. A co- recipient of a Jazz Fellowship Grant from the National Endowment of the Arts, Ben has led and co-led numerous groups under his own name, performing in many venues in the NYC area and across the country. He has worked with scores of major acts such as The Spinners, The Temptations, Frankie Avalon, Lou Christie to name but a few. Ben has recorded for many independent labels, and has done much work for TV, including Nickelodeon, MSNBC and the Golf Channel. His role as featured soloist with The Composers Big Band is highlighted on the group’s recent CD. Hot House says of Ben, “Like Jimmy Knepper, Williams is a distinctive and resourceful trombonist. He’s also not afraid to let the horn sound like itself, slurs, bleats, blares and all.”
Greg Grispart (alto saxophone/clarinet/flute) is a multi-instrumentalist with accomplished skills as a performer in a wide range of genres. Early on, Greg earned his Bachelor’s Degree in Music Education and Classical Clarinet Performance from Mason Gross School of the Arts, Rutgers University. Greg has gone on to play as a side man with jazz musicians including Gary Mazzaroppi, Chris Pinnella, Greg Gisbert, Steve Turre and Larry McKenna, David Glasser among many others. Grispart is an in demand and versatile freelancer who has performed The Duprees, Lou Christie, The Skyliners, Sonny Geraci, The Four Lads, The Four Aces, Lenny Welch, Little Anthony, Chuck Berry, Gerry Lee Lewis, BJ Thomas, Shirley Alston Reeves, Bruce Springsteen, The Jazz Lobsters Big Band, The National Wind Ensemble under the direction of H. Robert Reynolds, The Brookdale Big Band, Danny V’s 52nd Street Billy Joel Tribute Band, The Garden State Symphonic Band, The New Jersey Pops and The Metropolitan Woodwind Ensemble Greg has performed in such venues as the New Jersey Performing Arts Center, The Izod Center, Carnegie Hall, The Museum of Natural History, The Hammerstein Ball Room, Trumpets Jazz Club, Chris’s Jazz Club in Philadelphia, the Count Basie Theater, House of Blues at Show Boat of Atlantic City, Westbury Music Fair, Keswick Theater, Patchogue Theater, Bethel Woods Center for the Arts, The Bickford Theater, The Grand Opera House of Wilmington and The Lyric Opera House of Baltimore just to name a few.
Craig Yaremko (baritone sax/bass clarinet/flute) is a dynamic and forward-thinking musician whose aim isto bring joyful exuberance to any musical situation. Hailed by the New York City Jazz Record as a saxophonist “who can realize each of the distinctly gorgeous tones within the soprano, alto and tenor… add to this a weighty sound on flute and alto flute ,Craig Yaremko may be the only player left standing.” His diverse musical tastes have led to performances with world-classjazz, classical, rock and pop artists, establishing himself as one of the mostexciting and versatile artists on the New York-area music scene. Yaremko has led his own groups since and released several critically acclaimed recordings. Yaremko is also an in-demand sideman known for his impeccable section playing and energetic solos. He has worked with some of the New York area’s finest big bands, including the Water Gap Jazz Orchestra, Tommy Igoe and the Birdland Big Band, One More Once Big Band, Diane Moser’s Composers Big Band, the BMI Composers Workshop (with Jim McNeely, Mike Holober and Michael Abene), as well as the bands of Bill Mobley and Bill Warfield. Craig has appeared on numerous recordings, including the recent projects “Echos” (with guitarist John Ehlis and percussion virtuoso Glen Velez) and several projects with trumpeter Glenn Makos. He has performed with jazz artists including Geri Allen, Jerry Bergonzi, Randy Brecker, Rufus Reid, John Riley, and Dave Stryker. Yaremko has also performed with the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra, New York City Symphony, and numerous Broadway and Off-Broadway pit orchestras. He has backed-up such artists as Frankie Avalon, Michael Feinstein,Aretha Franklin, Johnny Mathis, and Frankie Valli.
Ted Brancato (piano/keyboard) has spent most of his 40+ year career in the New York City area. For 15 years he was musical director and pianist for singer Jeanie Bryson, creating arrangements and touring the world with her. Ted also had a fruitful 30+ year collaboration with singer/songwriter Eugene McDaniels, penning songs together for Nancy Wilson, Les McCann and others. Ted’s first solo cd “The Next Step” featured Ted helming a trio with Ron Carter on bass and Terry Silverlight on drums. His 2nd cd, “Bicoastal” features a quintet with “Blue Lou” Marini, Ben Williams, Brad Jones and Lee Finkelstein. Ted also has a busy freelance career and has backed up many of the area’s leading jazz vocalists. He is also the Director of Music Ministry at Clinton Presbyterian Church.
Jay Sweet (bass) is a multi-instrumentalist, educator, writer and researcher known for his extensive contributions to the music industry. He has performed with many of jazz’s finest including Ted Curson, Norman Simmons and Bob Ackerman. Jay teaches bass, Jazz History, American Music History and Music History at Monmouth University and has also taught related courses at Middlesex College and Rutgers University. Jay is also the owner of Sweet Music Academy in Howell, NJ where he and his staff have successfully instructed over 4,000 students in 20+ years. As a contributing editor of Jersey Jazz Magazine, Jay has interviewed legends such as George Benson, Ron Carter, Joshua Redman and Stanley Clarke. Sweet also has 2 successful podcasts with listeners world wide: 30 Albums For 30 Years (1964-94) and the Jazz Real Book. Sweet is also a published author: A History of American Music 1730 – 1930 (Kendall Holt) and the upcoming Ray Brown: His Life and Music (Equinox Publishing)
Nick Scheuble has performed with Classical and Jazz Grammy winner, Wynton Marsalis, as well many of the world’s greatest jazz musicians. He has remained Grammy-nominee, Chico Mendoza’s percussionist for over 30 years. Recently completing a US Embassy tour of Uzbekistan (April & May 2022) and before that, Moldova (2019), Nick has also performed at Birdland, The Village Gate, Café de Muze (Belgium), Aaron Davis Hall, John Harms Center, Mechanics Hall, Merkin Concert Hall, Weill Recital Hall, Selena Auditorium, The Stanley Kaplan Penthouse at Lincoln Center, and other noted venues throughout North America, Eastern and Western Europe and Central Asia.
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