It is with no small amount of melancholy that we bid adieu to founding member and sax wizard Ben Reece. Ben has decided to leave the band to pursue other musical opportunities and spend more time with his family. To say that he will be missed is a massive understatement; we will be forever grateful to him for his musical acumen and, more important, his friendship (on and offstage) since we began this craziness way back in 2008. Keeping the original lineup of a band intact this long isn’t exactly common, so we consider ourselves very lucky to have shared so many good times and great gigs together. But all things change, and in that regard we are extremely pleased to announce that Austin Cebulske, a young sax phenom who recently earned his Masters degree from Northern Illinois University, has joined the band and truly hit the ground running. While Ben will still turn up at gigs here and there (the Holiday Brasstravaganza, for example), we are very excited to move forward with Austin. As it has been since the very beginning, the saxophone position in the Funky Butt Brass Band remains in very good hands.
