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Bio submitted by Robert "A.J." Jackson
 Robert "A.J." Jackson grew up hearing his dad play tunes on the piano from the W.W.I era, tin pan alley through the '40s, 50s and 60s. After his first lesson in seventh grade on trombone, he waited for pop to get home from work that evening. His father promptly went to the piano and AJ tried to pick out the melodies by ear.
He was active in all music activities through high school and played gigs around Schenectady, N.Y., his hometown and Albany. Thanks to his dad, he knew alot of tunes the older cats were playing. He moved to New York City in 1975 and freelanced with Al Haig, Warren Vache, Nick Brignola, Thad Jones, Doc Cheatham, Matrix, the Miller and Dorsey bands among others. In 1977-78 he traveled as a staff musician with Ringling Brothers Circus.In 1979- 80 he freelanced around Reno playing the casino relief bands. Finding the Reno club scene on the wane, he worked in transportation for the next six years playing only occasionally.
Upon arriving in the bay area in '86 he formed his own group playing most notably at the Jazz Workshop in San Francisco with Graham Bruce and Mike Morris. The next few years he played with various dixieland bands; Magnolia Jazz Band, Custer'sLast Band with Jan Sutherland, Mike Vax, Rex Allen and Jack Martin's jazz band. From 1998 through 2001, he quit playing again due to major health problems and surgery. Upon his return to music, he switched to the trumpet, his favorite horn.
AJ relocated to Fresno in 1999 and has been playing with his own group, "American Heritage" as well as other bands; most notably, Paul Kasperian's "Sunnysiders" for the past two years. It has been his pleasure to have the likes of Randy Morris, Corey Dobbins, Nye Morton, Bill Schwimmer, Pete Scafedi, Don Oliver, Gene Doi, Rich Severson, Vince Moats, Dick Douty and Ron Catalano on the band. His main influences are Fats Navarro, Lee Morgan, Dizzy and Miles. Other favorites include Booker Ervin, Bud Powell, Jack Teagarden and Charlie Parker. His approach is “straight ahead.”He is proud to do his small part in keeping a great tradition, jazz, before today's audiences.It is our music, our American Heritage.
Robert “A.J” Jackson
“American Heritage”
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559.233.1148
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Bio submitted by David Baron Stevens
David Baron Stevens a versatile and exciting musician, able to appeal to groups of all ages and backgrounds. With his adept versatility, Baron Stevens has performed in groups spanning various styles and genre. His first major musical experience came at the age of 19 when he opened for Lionel Ritchie at the Mirage Hotel/Casino in Las Vegas on the Millennium New Years' Eve 2000.
As as jazz artist Baron has shared the stage with: Steve Allen (Tonight Show and media legend), Roy McCurdy (Cannonball Adderley), Eric Marienthal (Chick Corea Electrik Band), Jeff Hamilton (Diana Krall), Dave Samuels (Spyro Gyra), Wayne Bergeron (Maynard Ferguson), Bill Cunliffe, Carl Saunders, Pete Christlieb, Harold Mabern (John Coltrane, Eric Alexander), Chuck Findley, Joe LaBarbera (Bill Evans), Gary Foster, Wayne Wallace (Pete Escovedo), André Bush (Nnenna Freelon), Paul Shagoian, Ron McCurdy, Gunnar Biggs (Buddy Rich Big Band), Rick Helzer, and Jim Walker (TITANIC soundtrack).
Stevens is a former student of the jazz great, Jeff Clayton, and has studied under other such world-class artists as Yamaha Performing Artists Phil Woods and Tracy Harris, Wayne Wallace, Rick Heltzer, and Kenny Garrett. In 2005, David Baron Stevens was selected to the IAJE Community College All-Star Jazz Band, matched with some of the most talented young jazz musicians in the country and performed at the annual convention in Long Beach, CA. The same year, he was nominated for the first-ever Berklee College of Music Presidential Scholarship.A lover of choral music, Stevens has even performed in the chorus for Mozart's Requiem, John Rutter's Gloria, and Carl Orff's Carmina Burana. David Baron Stevens also has much experience in the realm of musical theatre, playing in the pit orchestras for such shows as: Give My Regards To Broadway, Guys And Dolls, Bye Bye Birdie, Annie, Annie Get Your Gun, Music Man, Beauty and the Beast, and Evita. His time spend working in the showbands of Carnival Cruise Lines proved to be a great place to galvanize these varied skills.
Currently, David Baron Stevens is working on a self-titled album, due out Fall 2007, featuring compositions spanning two decades. His working band is a latin jazz ensemble, truly a rarity in the San Joaquin Valley. An experienced clinician and soloist, Baron performs jazz clinics and Guest Artist appearances all over Central California. Stevens, a motivating educator, maintains the Stevens Conservatory of Music, a private music institute with a very high reputation of training young jazz musicians, including two-year CBDA/IAJE All-State Jazz Ensemble Lead Alto, Sam Gendel. David Baron Stevens is an active force on the music scene in Central California.
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 Bio submitted by David Hull
In public, David Hull might appear to be an unassuming
character. But the short statured, long haired kid’s credits may look more like
a musical circus than a resumé. As an international Dixieland piano performer,
keyboardist for Hip-Hop group 40 Watt Hype, performer of Mozart on solo bass
guitar, and Warped Tour veteran, David’s perception of normality seems to
emanate from the absurd.
So what do you get when you mix Dixieland, Mozart and
Hip-Hop? You get one artist that conveys not the three styles, but a performer
with an indiscriminate original songbook that suggests the “lions” at this
musical circus are really just purring kittens; Political lyrics about blue
donkeys in a swimming pool. Break up songs about an amputee’s gloves. Made-up
vocabulary derived from pop culture, and tuba superstars. All make for an
entertaining visual while David explores the everyday subject matter which makes
him a human above an accomplished musician.
So while Jamie Cullum plays his revamped jazz standards,
Les Claypool lets his imagination conduct the mayhem, and classical-era
composers are turning in their graves, David Hull is taking note. Breaking
boundaries, being young, wild and eager to test limits, David is an artist of
high musical caliber, turning audiences on their ears to the effect of great, if
not circus like entertainment
http://www.dehamusic.com/
http://www.myspace.com/dehamusic
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 Bio submitted by Ron Catalano
Blazing jazz saxophonist Ron Catalano has performed with artists such as Dizzy Gillespie, Vito Musso, Don Raffell, Plas Johnson, (Nelson Riddle/Linda Ronstadt) Pete Christlieb, Ernie Watts, (Tonight Show Orchestra) Joe Williams, Ernie Andrews, Michael Feinstein, Natalie Cole, Vicki Carr, Little Anthony, The Four Tops, The Ink Spots, The Lawrence Welk Orchestra, The Glenn Miller Orchestra, The Art Mooney Orchestra, The Fresno Philharmonic Orchestra, and a host of others. Throughout the 1980's he served as musical director, orchestrator and performer for Bob Hope while working with artists such as Frank Sinatra, Charlie Pride, and Glen Campbell. He holds degrees in Music Education and Performance. He also holds 18 National Jazz Soloist Awards. The son of drummer Louis T. Catalano and vocalist Anita Clair, Ron began playing professionally around his native Los Angeles at age twelve.
Ron Russell Catalano
The Sound Investment (TSI)
PO Box 9691
Fresno, California 93727-1502
(559) 275-3000
(559) 275-8030
(559) 420-6000
(559) 243-6843
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 Bio submitted by Les Nunes
A graduate of
Fresno State, Les Nunes is a jazz educator, directing the jazz ensembles at
Clark Intermediate School and Clovis High School. He also directs the latin
jazz ensemble at Fresno City College. He has also taught jazz at Bullard High
School and Roosevelt School of the Arts. He is one of the most in-demand
trombonists in Central California, and performs with his own jazz ensemble, and
as a freelance musician throughout California. He is also the leader of the Fresno Urban Jazz Experience. In summer 2009 he took the group on a tour of Germany, which included a performance at the WDR Musikfest in Munster, Fresno's sister city.
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