Well known in the industry as an influential advocate for musicians’ rights, Dennis Dreith served as International President of the Recording Musicians’ Association (RMA) for 15 years and is currently Executive Director of AFM SAG-AFTRA’s Intellectual Property Rights Distribution Fund.
On the creative side, he has scored independent films and composed for TV and commercial jingles––but his bread and butter has long been his work as an orchestrator and conductor of top film scores (Jurassic Park, Braveheart, Sleepless in Seattle, The Addams Family). Dreith has provided services for everyone from John Williams and Lalo Schifrin to Marc Shaiman and Hans Zimmer.
Now, in his mid-60s, this multi-talent is emerging as a band leader and recording artist, conducting an ensemble of session and touring musicians on his new recording dB Reunion, credited to the Dennis Dreith Band, released by Perseverance Records and distributed by MVD Entertainment Group.
Dreith explains, “I had been thinking about doing a reunion concert and a recording with musicians who played in my band during my formative years.” He gathered the 14-piece ensemble, performed at the Studio City jazz club Upstairs at Vitello’s and began recording the album’s seven original tracks at EastWest Studios in Hollywood.
“It’s fun to make uncompromising jazz music for its own sake.”
Robin Esterhammer, founder of Perseverance Records, attended a session and liked what he heard. Because of Perseverance’s renown as a soundtrack label, Dreith was reticent at first. He became excited, however, when he heard about the owner’s commitment to developing jazz artists and his distribution with MVD, an international company with a major foothold in Europe, where Dreith hopes to secure major dates for his ensemble.
“It’s fun to make uncompromising jazz music for its own sake,” Dreith says, “and we’re excited to see how people are connecting with it.”
- Jonathan Widran
