Tulalip Casino Gig

The Jazz version of our band is even more versatile than the dance band.  It all began ten years ago when I met the piano player Yogi McCaw and joined his Latin jazz ensemble.  This kicked off a musical journey that opened up a universe of possibilities.  We went on to make records and form or join several reggae bands, blues bands, funk bands, and world beat bands.  We were playing every kind of jazz, and exploring various forms of Latin music in the Brazilian, Caribbean and Afro-Cuban traditions.  We launched a world music fusion project merging classical Indian music with western styles.  The same small circle of friends was the rhythm section for all these bands.  Along the way we grew an ever-widening circle of musical friends and collaborators, developed an expanding repertoire in a broad array of styles.  And we learned a lot.  It's all one great big band!  What it means is that we can give you just about anything you need and then some.  Whether you like ballroom dancing, a concert, a show, a party, or just some nice background music while you're sipping wine, we've got what it takes to make your event a unique and memorable experience.

We first encountered Stacey Israel several years ago when she began showing up at our jam sessions bringing her world-class vocals with her.  It was clear that she was exceptional, but luckily she must have liked us since she is still around.  Yogi started playing duo gigs with her in piano bars and soon she had become an essential member of our jazz band.  We weren't the first ones to discover her.  Years earlier she had attracted the attention of record producers who had invested a lot of money in her.  And she had the look.  She had been working as a professional model.  A prolific singer/songwriter, Stacey, has spent her life in the studio.  And having been on stages since she was a small child, she knows how to put on a show.  Much like us, she has a broad musical background with splashes of Hip Hop, R&B, Blues and Gospel.  She is an awesome Jazz singer.  She will melt your heart with a Billie Holliday song and then turn around and blow the walls down with her powerful voice.  When Stacey hits the stage, know that she's going to give it everything.

Terri “Yogi” McCaw was one of those military brats whose father dragged him around the world, exposing him to a multitude of cultures and musical styles at a very young age.  With all this stuff swirling around in his head, it is not surprising that it would influence his music.  Playing with him has been like a musical world tour.  Not only does he play in several different bands of various genres, he has a habit of combining them all together when he is composing, creating new musical styles of his own.  This comes in handy for a jazz player because what is jazz if it is not about combining influences?

A multi instrumentalist with a degree in music from the University of Washington, Bob Antolin is well known as an educator and highly sought after stage and studio player.  Currently teaching at Seattle Central Community College, he is also a producer and excellent studio engineer.  Although he has formidable technique, what makes him one of my all time favorite people to work with is a singular, almost religious devotion to playing the music in the moment.  This zeal for keeping an open channel with the Muses makes him an extraordinary improvisationalist and assures that when he plays it is as pure and honest a spontaneous expression possible in the language we call music.  Combined with his encyclopedic knowledge and mastery of style, it means that the band could take off in any direction at any time, without notice.  In all the time I've spent playing with Bob, there has never been a dull moment.

My name is Ed Mays and I began studying drums in 1967.  I was playing in dance bands by 1971, and soon thereafter I also joined a brass band.  My marching "carrier" culminated in our last gig- the 1976 New York bi-centennial parade.  It was the other section leaders of this band who turned me on to jazz.  We played in countless variations and incarnations throughout the 70's revolving around the same core group of musicians -rhythm section and horns.  These people also told me that "a musician should be able to play anything."  This is something I never forgot.  I began to study jazz with some of the foremost educators and greatest names in the business -too many to mention here, and haven't stopped.  All modern western music comes from jazz.  I'm quite certain that this background in jazz and marching drum technique combined with the constant exploration of new styles and genres has not only helped keep me working over the years, it has proven to be an even more valuable asset since I have been teaching.  And lest I forget, it's fun!  When I look back at it, I realize that what I was doing back then is not all that different than what I'm doing now.   I haven't changed much.   -Still taking a small core group of people and pushing the envelope.   It has just gotten progressively more extreme.