WHO ARE WE?
JV MUSIC is a Baltimore-based organization dedicated to providing quality musical arrangements and musical performances for a wide variety of venues.
Jari Villanueva graduated from Baltimore’s Patterson High School and then from The Peabody Conservatory of the Johns Hopkins University where he received his BM degree in music education. After teaching music for a few years, Jari attended Kent State University where he received his MM in trumpet performance. He retired from The US Air Force Band after 23 years of performing alongside some of the finest musicians in the world.
What Exactly Is It That We Do?
For nearly 30 years, JV Music has contracted musicians for special events in the Baltimore-Washington area. Jari has played trumpet at countless wedding ceremonies and performed with many orchestras, show bands, and dance bands throughout the Mid-Atlantic region. He was a music contractor at The Fish Market (a short-lived entertainment complex in downtown Baltimore), was one of the founding members of the popular Peabody Ragtime Ensemble, and currently performs with the Potomac Brass Quintet and Baltimore Brass Band.
Jari has arranged music for brass ensembles, concert bands, and orchestras and has also worked as a music editor and music copyist, many times having to copy music overnight for a show or recording session. Now that’s a challenge! Many of his arrangements have been published by Musicians Publications, Music Express, and Ludwig Music.
See the new JV Music Catalog for a list of Jari’s arrangements that are for sale. You can now view pages from the score and listen to many pieces right from the catalog before you buy. Pay by PayPal or credit card and receive immediate PDF download of your order – place your order on-line today!
More About Us
From 1998-2010 Jari was on the faculty at the University of Maryland Baltimore County (UMBC) where he served as Director of Bands, directing the “Down and Dirty Dawg Band” (the UMBC Retrievers Pep Band), UMBC Jazz Ensemble, and UMBC Wind Ensemble. Directing the Jazz Ensemble was especially rewarding, as he had helped found the Peabody Jazz Ensemble during his days at the conservatory. (Jari was instrumental in bringing Dan Morgenstern from Rutgers to teach Jazz History, and performed concerts with Gunther Schuller and Eubie Blake, with whom he also had the pleasure of dining during Blake’s stay in Baltimore.) The UMBC Pep Band recorded its first-ever CD, Dancin’ With the Dawgs, in the spring of 2007, under Jari’s direction and produced by Heather Faust.
From 2008-2010 Jari returned to his alma mater to direct the Johns Hopkins University Wind Ensemble. He has also guest conducted a variety of groups including performances with a faculty brass ensemble at Union College in NY and Newberry’s Victorian Cornet Band in Baltimore, rehearsal with the 257th Army Band (DC National Guard), and in 2013 he was guest conductor of the Salem County high school honor band in NJ.
We are interested in all types of music. Jari taught a class in History of American Musical Theater for a few years at Goucher College, and his hobbies include collecting first edition LP albums of original Broadway cast recordings. He also spent some years as music director and conductor for the Young Victorian Theater Company in Baltimore. Heather composed and directed music for several summer productions at Shakespeare & Company in Lenox, MA. She has also directed and accompanied women’s choruses in Massachusetts and California, and has arranged music for a cappella women’s voices. Heather performed for four years with Donald McCullough and the Master Chorale of Washington and two years with the Baltimore Choral Arts Society Chorus and Chamber Chorus under the direction of Tom Hall.
Our shared love of 19th century brass music led us to form The Federal City Brass Band, a recreation of a typical Civil War regimental brass band, in the summer of 2002. Jari serves as principal musician and drum major for the band. Heather also performs with the group as vocal soloist, and has produced three full-length CDs for the ensemble, Pride of the Regiment (2003), Better Than Rations or Medicine (2006), and Hurrah for the Union! Music of Abraham Lincoln and the Civil War (2009). In June 2005 The FCBB debuted a brand new performing ensemble with the 26th North Carolina Regimental Band, for which Heather helped create the meticulously accurate reproduction uniforms. Heather served as the manager of The Federal City Brass Band and 26th North Carolina Regimental Band from 2002-2010, and from 2007-2010 she was the Executive Director of The National Association for Civil War Brass Music, Inc., a non-profit organization Jari and Heather founded as the parent to the FCBB/26th NC Bands.
In 2001-02 Jari was involved with the movie Gods and Generals as Assistant to the Music Producer, helping to research and facilitate the historical music and bugle calls used in the film. His arrangements have appeared in other films and soundtracks as well, including several historical documentaries featuring music performed by the FCBB. Jari’s arrangement of Goin’ Home was performed by The US Air Force Band in the film Clear and Present Danger, and is now regularly played for ceremonies at Arlington National Cemetery, along with several of his other arrangements.
Since 2009 Jari has been the Commander and Conductor of the Maryland Defense Force Band (MDDF Band), an all-volunteer musical ensemble he founded to serve the state of Maryland within the organization of the Maryland Defense Force and the Maryland Military Department. The MDDF Band supports the Maryland National Guard and the 229th Army Band, performs regularly for the Governor and the Adjutant General of Maryland as well as visiting dignitaries, and gives several concerts annually to the public in addition to performing for ceremonies and parades. Heather has been a member of the Band since its inception and currently serves as Woodwind Group Leader.
Jari is widely regarded as the country’s foremost authority on the bugle call Taps and is an active Civil War re-enactor, bugling for Co. D of the 3rd US Infantry. From 2010-2012 he was the President of TAPS 150, formed to commemorate the 150th Anniversary of Taps in 2012. The CD Day is Done: Music Commemorating the 150th Anniversary of Taps, was produced by Heather with Jari as Music Director, and is available from this website. Much more information on Taps, other bugle calls, and buglers can be found at www.tapsbugler.com.
So anyway, where does that bring us? Well…
“If Your Question Has the Word Music in It, Call Us” at (410) 455-0737 or contact us via email.
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