Friends

Clint "POPS" McLaughlin
Great Trumpet Teacher and Embouchure Expert
www.bbtrumpet.com

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McClellan Music House
Buffalo's Oldest Music Store
www.mcclellanmusic.com

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The Bar-Room Buzzards
Buffalo "Hall of Fame" Jazz Band
www.barroombuzzards.com

Paul Preston---------Paul Zapalowski---------Warren Stirtzinger

Christina Custode

Lew Custode

The Bourbon Street Brass

From 1995 – 2004, Lew lead “The Bourbon Street Brass”; a New Orleans jazz band that specialized in high-energy entertainment.  Throughout their nine-year tenure, the Bourbon Street Brass performed throughout the Western New York area for jazz festivals, corporate events and private parties.  This coupled with engagements at “Tommy Ryan’s Restaurant” in Niagara Falls, New York and performing as the house band for a New Orleans Sunday Brunch hosted by the Adam’s Mark Hotel in Buffalo New York, propelled the group into local prominence.

Phil Santa Maria, Ph. D. (guitar/banjo/vocals)
Craig “Hurricane” Hodnett (string bass/tuba/vocals) Lew (trumpet/vocals)

The core of the group consisted of Lew (trumpet/vocals), Phil Santa Maria, Ph. D. (guitar/banjo/vocals) and Craig “Hurricane” Hodnett (string bass/tuba/vocals).  The group’s run came to an abrupt end when Phil Santa Maria succumbed to illness and passed away on June 29, 2005.  Remembered as a scholar, musician, gentleman and friend, Phil Santa Maria is sadly missed by all who had the pleasure of knowing him.

Lew with Professor Don Burns