Aron Callard and the Prospect Brass Band

There is a phrase used sometimes in music where we say someone has “arrived.”  Sometimes it literally means someone moved to a region from another location, but more often it is used to signify they have come of age or reached a new level as a player.  Sometimes it means both.

That’s as good a place to start as any for Aron Callard, leader of the Award-winning Big Jazz Band known as The Prospect Brass Band, and this year’s winner as Best Jazz Musician. Since moving here with his then fiancé, Megan, in 2022 it is fair to say Callard has made a unique imprint on our musical community.

For the Review Award’s purposes that usually means the music performed on the local club scene.  But one of the underrated aspects of this area is how rich it is in community, professional bands and orchestras. 

It’s one of the reasons this area also presented a unique opportunity for Callard, whose instrument of choice is trombone. He is one of the few people who seamlessly navigate both of those worlds. As he described it, “I know that I don’t play a ‘popular’ instrument.  I was warned I was going to have to stay busy to make it.”

On any given day (or evening), you might find Callard playing with an ensemble like the Saginaw Eddy Band, The Mid-Michigan Brass Band or The Saginaw Elite Big Band.  You also might catch a glimpse of him playing in pit orchestras for local musical theater.

He crosses over to jazz as a regular member of Lauren Rongo’s Calzones.  Along with Rongo, current regulars Mike Brush, Jacob Webster and Chuck Flores, the group hosts a regular jazz jam session at Brooklyn Boyz in Bay City, with sit-ins from some of the more accomplished players in the area.

For the truly adventurous, you may have seen Callard sitting in with Kush Robinson playing a funk classic, like Brickhouse  one moment before segueing into a Phishified version of Billy Strings.  Yes, you apparently can play bluegrass on trombone.

All of this is in addition to his “day / early evening” jobs as a Band Instrumental Specialist and brass instructor at Herter Music Center.

He and Megan also managed to find time to get married in 2025.

Despite a list of activities like this, if you were to ask Callard his professional “focus,” it would be the Prospect Brass Band.   Prospect is a New Orleans-style “second line” band, formed in the tradition of informal jazz ensembles that followed parades through the streets of the Big Easy.  It had long been a goal for Aron and Megan to put together this kind of combo, based on their foundation as low brass players.

In this unit, Callard serves as the band leader, arranger and a soloist.  With Prospect Callard mixes interpretations of brass band jazz classics with innovative arrangements of more current pop classics.  It is an engaging - and now award winning - mix that is fast gathering fans with diverse musical tastes.

The Prospect line up also includes Megan Callard on tuba, Morgan Lillie on trumpet, Hannah Loiselle on tenor sax and flute, Chandler Wayne on bass trombone and Ryan Wilson on drums.

Callard grew up in a musical family.  His mother was a clarinetist and music teacher in the Syracuse, New York area.  Family legend has it that his grandfather was an uncredited trombone player with Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass. 

He was “dead set” on being a drummer until he saw a trombone, which he started on in fourth grade.  He was enamored immediately and even more so when he found out he had a family history with the instrument.

His trombone journey took a brief detour in late middle school and early high school as he tried to transition to bass.  But, as he put it, “I wasn’t very good at it.”

He matriculated at Ball State University at Elmhurst College, earning a Bachelor’s and Master’s, respectively. It was here that he had his biggest “a-ha moment’ meeting Doug Beach, his college jazz professor.    “Once I saw the environment of a college jazz band I fell in love with it.”

College and jazz gave him several life-changing experiences, including the opportunity to tour Europe.  He also had the privilege of accompanying Doc Severison and serving as a guide and “chaperone” when the Count Basie Orchestra came to town.

Like many people in the middle of this kind of whirlwind of activity, Callard hadn’t really processed how it was all coming together and the kind of resume and reputation he was building. 

This extended to the 40^th Annual REVIEW Awards Ceremony. 

Callard stated, “I did not expect to win.  I was just happy to be included as a nominee.  It’s surprising when you think of all the established musicians in these categories.”

The plan for the near future is “more of the same.”

The Eddy Band season fires up soon.  Some early rehearsals have taken place for something called The Aron Callard Big Band.

Most exciting might be that Prospect’s first album is due for release on 6/26/24.  Recorded “live” by Andy Reed, the album will give people a taste of the Prospect Brass Band formula and put one more stake in the ground for a career that really seems to be on the rise.