Today we’d like to introduce you to Big Blitz.
Hello Big Blitz, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstories with our readers?
Our band, Big Blitz, includes Nicholas Grabigel on drums, Lucas Ciesielski on tenor sax and bari sax, and Mason Ciesielski on tenor sax, bari sax, and modular synthesizer. Lucas and Mason are brothers, and they met Nick in middle school jazz band in their hometown of Lower Burrell, Pennsylvania. They started jamming together in their families’ garages, and they quickly began to play on street corners and in parking lots for tips. They were soon offered “real” gigs in Pittsburgh venues and festivals. From there, things really took off! Today, Lucas, Mason, and Nick are all Jazz Performance students at Youngstown State Univerisity. They now perform regularly at large venues and festivals throughout the United States.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
We have always been a coehsive band, and we have always known that we like to play in our own jazz/dance/electronic style, but it has sometimes been hard to classify our genre and explain to people where we fit in musically. We write all of our own original music, but we are not a typical jazz or electronic band. Our musical style is unique and often hard to pinpoint. In addition, when we started playing gigs in venues in Pittsburgh and Ohio, we found that we had to work very hard to prove ourselves. We were just three teenagers, and when we showed up for gigs with only our saxes and a drum set, people would sometimes walk out without even waiting to hear us play a single note! We quickly learned how to be confident and make the most of our performances from the moment we hit the stage by interacting with the audience and each other through dueling sax solos and breaks to feature each of our specific musical skills.
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
Big Blitz is a saxophone and drum trio that originated in Pittsburgh, PA. We play our own original muisc in a jazz/dance/electronic style. We are known for putting on an energetic, dynamic show with a surprisingly big sound from a group with only 3 band members. We are most proud of the fact that we are an independent band and we don’t have any friends or family with special connections in the music industry to help us along. We have earned evey gig ourselves, through hard work and dedication to our music. Our audiences typically include people of all ages and musical preferences–people who love jazz, EDM, rock, even heavy metal seem to connect to our music. We are also very proud of the charity work we’ve done with our music. We have performed to raise money for many different, worthy organizations in the past 4 years. What sets us apart from other musical groups is our particular instrumentation. There are very few musical groups in the world today that feature only saxes and drums.
What matters most to you?
What matters most to us is making a positive impact on others through music. We love the style of music we play, and it is always terrific to see an audience have fun, dance, and enjoy what we’ve created. Connecting with others and brightening their days through music is very important to us.
Contact Info:
- Email: BigBlitzBand@gmail.com
- Website: https://www.bigblitzband.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bigblitzband/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bigblitzband/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/bigblitzband
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/bigblitzband
- Other: https://bigblitz.bandcamp.com/
