The Nickel and Brass Septet's debut CD "Four-Color Heroes" presents new music for improvising ensemble by composer and guitarist Andrew Boscardin. The music combines elements of jazz, rock and new music and features some of the finest players in the Seattle jazz and improvised music scene.

The Nickel and Brass Septet:
Tom Varner – French Horn
Ben Thomas – Vibes
Chris Stover – Trombone
Clark Gibson – Saxophones
Brad Gibson – Drums
Jon Hamar - Bass
Andrew Boscardin – Guitar

The songs on this CD are dedicated to, and take inspiration from, artists and writers of comic books from the 1960’s and 1970’s. It is a fitting tribute to the talent and creativity of these creators that the characters and ideas developed during this period remain so prominent and beloved today. It is also very telling that despite spending zillions of dollars, casting the biggest stars and utilizing the best technology, efforts to bring these stories to life on the big and small screen remain a mere shadow of their presence on the printed page. With pen and ink and four colors at their disposal, these artists and writers created worlds of imagination that no photographic or computer-generated image could hope to capture.

"I didn’t set out to write a bunch of music about comic books," says Boscardin, "but while the music for this band was being written I was reacquainting myself with some of my favorite comics and they just kind of seeped in there. I didn’t even know it was happening until it was brought to my attention that much of my recent writing sounded 'heroic' and 'positive.' Before I knew it, I had a suite of songs about some of my comic book heroes."

Andrew Boscardin has been performing and writing music for over 20 years. He has appeared on stage with numerous musicians including Tom Varner, Chris Stover, Mack Grout, Jovino Santos-Neto, Julian Priester, Karl Latham, John Lee, Ben Thomas, Brad Gibson, Jon Hamar, Chuck Deardorf, Clark Gibson, Rachael Contorer and the Jim Knapp Orchestra.