Colter Frazier

Date/Time/Cost

Jim Connolly is a composer and performer living in Santa Barbara, California. He writes music for The Gove County Philharmonic, The Gove County String Quartet and Lit Moon Theatre. He has composed for choir, musical saw, five string violin, string quartet and various chamber ensembles. He plays the double bass, saw, banjo, piano and sings. He attended New England Conservatory.

Jim has received five Independent Theater Awards, numerous commissions, grants, ASCAP Plus Awards and in 2001 was listed as one of the twenty-five most intriguing people in Santa Barbara.

The Gove County String Quartet is Laura Hackstein and Sally Barr on violin, Nick Coventry on viola and Jim Connolly playing bass. The Gove County Philharmonic has included Ron McCarley on clarinet, Jeff Kaiser playing trumpet, Bruce Bigenho on piano, Jim Bement and Brett Larson on accordion, Gilles Apap and the members of The Gove County String Quartet are the strings.

Veteran brass players of the L.A. improvising scene, Michael Vlatkovich (trombone) and William Roper (tuba), have finally done what everyone has been telling them to do for years - document their zany antics. "Chobraty" is a co-led project with compositions by Vlatkovich.

Michael Mull, Alto Saxophone

Tim Fischer, Electric Guitar

Emilio Terranova, Acoustic Bass

Colin Woodford, Drums

http://www.timfischermusic.com

The Roberta Piket Trio, featuring extraordinary drummer Billy Mintz, sets a new standard for modern piano jazz. In addition to performing originals by all three band members, the trio play rarely performed compositions by Bill Evans and Herbie Hancock, several underplayed standards from the popular American songbook, and a polymetric arrangement of The Fifth Dimension's "Up, Up and Away" that has become a "special request" among the trio's fans. Every performance is filled with spontaneity and creativity.

Roberta Piket has played professionally as a sidewoman with David Liebman, Rufus Reid, Michael Formanek, Lionel Hampton and the BMI/New York Jazz Orchestra and has twice been a featured guest on Marian McPartland's Piano Jazz, on National Public Radio. Roberta, who holds a B.S. in Computer Science, turned away from a future as a software engineer after a year in that field to pursue what now seems an inevitable path in creative music. A gifted composer, Roberta placed second in the 1993 Thelonious Monk-BMI Composers' Competition. She has six CDs released as a leader on various independent labels.

In an extraordinary career spanning nearly 40 years, Billy Mintz has played with some of the biggest names in the jazz world including Lee Konitz, Eddie Daniels, Harold Danko, Mose Allison, Mark Murphy, Bobby Shew, Charles Lloyd, Vinny Golia, and the
Alan Broadbent Trio. Mr. Mintz has written two books: Different Drummers, originally published by Aamsco Music Publishing and Advanced Sticking and Sight-Reading (BM Publications). In recent years, Mr. Mintz has taken on new roles as a bandleader and a
composer, performing his own compositions with various ensembles. He also performs solo drumset concerts with increasing frequency.

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One of Southern California's most exciting up-and-coming bands, PLOTZ! blends the sounds of Eastern European folk music with creative jazz improvisation and progressive rock. The six members of PLOTZ! have backgrounds in many different styles of music, including jazz, world-percussion, classical, rock, metal, experimental, and many others. Dedicated to a unified and harmonized world-view, PLOTZ! draws inspiration for original compositions from styles, stories, and experiences from all over the world, from ancient Greek mythology and Iceni history to the experience of modern city life and surfing. Bringing rock-god energy and intensity to every performance, PLOTZ! explodes off the stage in a jubilant musical celebration of life!

With Daniel Rosenboom on trumpets, Gavin Templeton on saxophones, Brian Walsh on clarinets and saxophones, Jake Vossler on guitars, Orest Balaban on bass, and Austin Wrinkle on drums, PLOTZ! is made up of some of California's most accomplished and innovative young musicians. Each member of PLOTZ! is a composer in his own right, and each has been trained at some of America's most respected musical institutions, including the Eastman School of Music and California Institute of the Arts.

Formed in March of 2005 PLOTZ! has played all over Southern California on various stages, clubs, and colleges. In early 2007, they released their first studio album, Extraordinary Renditions on their own PLOTZ! Music Productions label. This CD won international acclaim when it received "Best International Instrumental CD" in the 2007 Toronto Exclusive Magazine Music Awards, as well as "Best Instrumental CD" and "Best Instrumental Song" (Splash, by Daniel Rosenboom) in the 2007 M.A.V.R.I.C. Awards in Ventura County, CA. PLOTZ! recently released a new album, Live 2008, in the fall of 2008. Get PLOTZ!'s albums from CD Baby, or download it from iTunes and other international digital distributors!