Alumni Spotlight – Dennis Good ’60

From Glen Rock to Nashville and points in between, a “Have Trombone – Will Travel” philosophy, along with superb musicianship and hard work, have given Dennis Good, a proud member of the Class of 1960, a life with which most professional musicians can only dream.

Good was born in Glen Rock in 1942 and attended Southern schools for every grade, beginning in the Glen Rock Elementary School, where he was a member of its last sixth-grade class. Pennsylvania was undergoing unprecedented school consolidation in that time, collapsing from nearly 3,000 school districts to 500, and Southern was in the forefront with its construction of Susquehannock – the first consolidated high school in the state.

But the improvement was not without some chaos. Good recalls a brief period in his elementary career when he was temporarily relocated to Kings School House in Railroad – since demolished – complete with all the trappings of a Norman Rockwell rural setting, including a pot-belly stove and two outhouses. In fact, much of his life in Glen Rock is reminiscent of a time much earlier than its real chronology – the town band, for example.

“I could hear the Glen Rock Band practices from my house on Monday nights,” he remembered. “They played in the community building and I started hanging around. I wasn’t yet good enough on trombone to perform, so they let me pull the bass drum wagon in parades. From that time, I knew what I wanted to do – play an instrument in a band.”

Good began taking trombone lessons from SHS director Prowell Seitzinger and gained proficiency at a remarkably early age. In fact, after only two and half years, he was playing with the Les Hildebrand swing band in York on weekends. He also had a very active musical life at school, performing in the band, orchestra, and chorus. Also he attended all the festivals – county, district, and state – for each. In addition, he was in the junior and senior play, the riding club, the photography club, and played basketball for a year. He was also the principal trombonist of the York Youth Symphony.

In the summers, he played with the Glen Rock Bank at festivals, picnics, and parades and was the featured soloist. By his junior year, he was taking lessons from the principal trombonist of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra.

But even with this focus, as Good approached graduation, he was unsure of what to do with his life. He knew it would have something to do with the trombone, but he did not know how. In the summer of 1960, a friend suggested he audition for the U.S. Army Field Band – one of the Army’s premier musical organizations, and he was awarded a position – almost unheard of for someone without college level training.

“It was the best thing for me at that time,” he said. “The band was a combination of World War II veterans who had played professionally in a civilian life and recent college graduates. With their advice and experience, I knew what I wanted to do next.”

While in the service, he traveled from Fort Meade to New York City to study with Lewis Van Haney, a trombonist with the New York Philharmonic that helped him perfect his technique. After serving his three-year enlistment, Good auditioned for the prestigious Eastman School of Music. His performance was so impressive, he was awarded a four-year scholarship. While at Eastman, he was principal trombonist and soloist with a range of the school’s performing ensembles, including the Eastman-Rochester Orchestra.

In the summer of 1965, he was asked to play with the Si Zenter Band in Los Angeles. Zenter was a well-traveled big band trombonist and studio musician and had started his own recording band. Good spent the summer in Los Angeles performing with the group, but decided to return to Eastman to continue his studies. The next summer, he was called to Las Vegas by drummer Buddy Rich. Rich was another veteran big band player, who was starting his own group. Good had the good fortune to play on the classic, “Swinging New Big Band” LP, the record that launched Rich’s career as a band leader and re-energized a nation’s interest in big-band jazz.

“I never had a problem changing playing styles,” he said. “I could go from classical to jazz without thinking about it. I actually credit my Susquehannock band director for that. Mr. Seitzinger had me playing all kinds of music from the time I started.”

But again, Good resisted the temptation to stay in Los Angeles and returned to Rochester to finish his degree, doing so in 1967, with a bachelors in music and a performance certificate.

His career path choice at the time was to play in a symphony orchestra and he auditioned for the Nashville Symphony as it was passing through Rochester. He was hired on the spot as principal trombonist and moved to Tennessee.

He performed with the symphony for a year, but was working so much on the side with the likes of Al Hirt, Johnny Cash, Chet Atkins, the new Glen Miller Orchestra and Boots Randolph that he decided to make his living as a touring and recording musician. “I got to travel the world doing what I loved and got paid for it,” he said.

In his life off the road, Good taught at Tennessee State University, was an adjunct instructor and artist in residence at Vanderbilt, as well as a mainstay of Nashville recording studios. He also started his own ensemble, the Nashville Contemporary Brass Quintet, nationally known for performing and recording only new music.

After it provided him a good living for more than 40 years, Good retired his trombone, but not his passion for the music business. He currently works, as manager, with his wife, Karen Taylor Good, a gifted singer/songwriter and recording artist. Karen has a Grammy nomination and three #1 records to her credit, along with an impressive resume of singing credits, including recordings with Dolly Parton, Willie Nelson, Kenny Rogers, and George Jones.

Looking back on a rich professional music career that has touched seven decades, he said “It’s been great. I’ve done almost everything I set out to do.”

Thanks to Dennis Good – Class of 1960 – for making us Warrior Proud.