LMR JAZZ ORCHESTRA
LMR JAZZ ORCHESTRA is made up of award-winning musicians who have played and recorded jazz across the world. This truly extraordinary ensemble was founded in 2013 for the Annual TIMOTHY HALL FOUNDATION Benefit Performance at Farmstead at Long Meadow Ranch.
Held in October each year, the benefit performance has become one of northern California’s most outstanding jazz events. Every performance by this extraordinary ensemble is a notable event given the very high demand for its members across the globe. LMR Jazz Orchestra’s new album, Missa Iubileum Aurem: Golden Jubilee Jazz Mass is available on the Origin label, including Apple Music, Amazon and Spotify. Watch the official trailer on YouTube.
TRUMPETS
NIEL LEVONIUS (trumpet), musical director of the LMR Jazz Orchestra, has performed and recorded around the world with leading jazz, pop, and hip-hop groups including Dave Brubeck, Gladys Knight, Martha & the Vandellas, Frankie Valli, Temptations, Four Tops, Pacific Mambo Orchestra, Seal, and hip-hop supergroup Deltron 30/30.
STEFFEN KUEHN (trumpet) is a German-born Trumpeter, Composer, Arranger, Producer & Educator who resides in the San Francisco Bay Area and performs internationally. His Latin Big Band ‘Pacific Mambo Orchestra’, which he co-founded in 2010, is the recipient of the 2013 GRAMMY© Award for ‘Best Tropical Latin Album’.
BRIAN SWITZER (trumpet) has been an active player and educator member of in the Bay Area music community for over twenty-five years. Brian has helped many students achieve college music scholarships and also led a public middle school jazz band to the NextGen Festival in Monterey. Brian is the solo trumpet player for the GRAMMY© Award-winning band Train. Following hundreds of performances around the world. Brian developed and released JazzDeck, an innovative educational resource that has quickly become an international hit among players. He is a current member of the Bob Weir Wolfpack.
JOHN L. WORLEY JR. (trumpet/flugelhorn) is an accomplished trumpet/flugelhorn artist and leader of the Mo-Chi Ensemble. John is a Lecturer (Jazz Trumpet) at Stanford University and has played with many leading artists, including Ella Fitzgerald, Gregory Porter, Stanley Clarke, Wayne Shorter and Pete Escovedo. John is a Yamaha Performing Artist.
SAXOPHONES
MARY FETTIG (alto), a Bay Area native, was the first woman to play in the Stan Kenton Orchestra while attending UCLA. Currently residing in the Bay Area, Mary maintains a busy recording and performing schedule as the “first call” player. She has toured with Flora Purim and Airto, Marian McPartland, Tito Puente, Toninho Horta, and Joe Henderson, and regularly performs at jazz festivals across the world.
DR. GREG JOHNSON (alto) is quickly becoming recognized as a luminary figure in the Jazz community. His distinctive saxophone sound has found its way into multiple genres of Jazz, Classical and Popular music. Greg has appeared in concert and on over 40 mainstream recordings with jazz legends Curtis Fuller, Billy Taylor, Bob Mintzer and many more. He has toured with notable pop and rock musicians at some of the biggest venues and festivals.
CHARLIE MCCARTHY (tenor) is a legendary SF Bay Area musician that has played and recorded with many of the greats in jazz including Ella Fitzgerald, Dizzy Gillespie, Joe Henderson, Sarah Vaughan, Bobbie Hutcherson, George Shearing, Madeline Eastman, Radcliffe (the Cal Tjader Alumni Band), Frank Sinatra, Nancy Wilson, Bruce Forman, Lena Horne, and Joe Williams. In addition to his storied legacy in jazz he has also toured and performed with well known pop acts including the Beach Boys and Van Morrison.
ROB SUDDUTH (tenor) is a Bay Area native, a saxophonist whose direct, soulful style is the result of his experience in San Francisco’s eclectic music scene and years working in New York City’s dynamic environment. He is equally comfortable performing with blues, jazz, and rock bands and blends the genres effortlessly. He brings the honesty of the blues to jazz, and the swing and melodic conception of Jazz to blues music, without compromising the essence of either. His CD Just One of Those Things received international recognition and airplay. From 1994 to 2018 he toured and recorded with Huey Lewis and the News nationally and internationally.
DR. AARON LINGTON (baritone), GRAMMY© award-winning baritone saxophonist and composer, is Professor and Coordinator of Jazz Studies at SJSU. Dr. Lington has worked with the San Francisco Symphony, Bo Diddley, Maynard Ferguson, and many more.
TROMBONES
DR. JON BRUMMEL (tenor) is a freelance performer, educator, and technologist. With a DMA in Trombone Performance, Dr. J has performed in many styles and venues including Skywalker Symphony, San Francisco Symphony, and Carnegie Hall.
JEFF CRESSMAN (tenor) From 2000-2016, he toured internationally with the Carlos Santana Band, while recording the blockbuster “Supernatural” and the recent release ‘Corazón’. Jeff has recorded and toured with such diverse artists as Don Cherry, the Peter Apfelbaum Sextet, the Hieroglyphics Ensemble, Trey Anastasio Band, the Charlie Hunter Trio, Tito Puente, Sheila E., Pete Escovedo, and the Machete Ensemble
TED HALL (tenor) is a co-founder of Monarch Records, has performed with many jazz greats, including Arturo Sandoval, John Handy, and Tom Scott, and has been a 20-year voting member of the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences (GRAMMY©). He is a late-night veteran of the Mel Lewis/Thad Jones Monday Night Band at the Village Vanguard in New York City and performed on the national PBS broadcast in 1969 of The Requiem Mass for Robert Kennedy, composed by Ralph Lewin. He is also a Co-Founder of Long Meadow Ranch.
DAN GORDON (bass) is a tenor and bass trombonist and the Gordon Biersch brewmaster, grew up in Los Altos, CA. Dan has recorded with Michael Davis on ‘Absolute Trombone II’ and Curtis Campbell’s blues album, ‘Live at the Sweetwater.’
RHYTHM
COLIN HOGAN (piano) has performed on 5 continents playing everything from jazz, funk, salsa, and hip-hop to tango and Balinese gamelan. He has performed with James Moody, Peter Erskine, Bob Brookmeyer, Roy Ayers, and Maria Schneider. Colin has also performed with electric bass revolutionary Larry Graham of Sly and the Family Stone at the California Music Awards. Colin is currently involved in many projects including hip-hop/r+b group Dynamic, local experimental collective, Jazz Mafia, international cafe music group Trio Zincalo, and jazz/funk/fusion band The Hogan Bros. with brothers Steve and Julian.
DREW ZINGG (guitar) is an American rock, blues, soul, and jazz guitarist best known for performing with Steely Dan and Boz Scaggs. He was born and raised in New York City and spent about ten years playing the NYC club scene. He has done Broadway production and session work and has played on a variety of albums including The New York Rock and Soul Revue: Live at the Beacon and Alive in America, a live Steely Dan album.
TERRY MILLER (bass) is a bassist, composer and educator, and his musical credits reflect a long and diverse career. His unique skills on both acoustic and electric basses led to collaborations with a wide range of artists, including jazz icons such as Stan Getz and Dave Grusin, and rock legends like Prince, the Grateful Dead, Steve Miller, Zac Brown Band, and the Doobie Brothers.
GARY NOVAK (drums) is a leading session drummer and has collaborated with numerous artists including George Benson, Maynard Ferguson, Chick Corea Elektric Band, Lee Ritenour, Michael McDonald, Natalie Cole, David Sanborn, Anita Baker, Robben Ford, Jimmy Haslip, and Alanis Morissette.
COMPOSER/CONDUCTOR
TOM SCOTT is a renowned composer, arranger, producer, music director, saxophonist, and educator. His 33 solo recordings have earned him 13 GRAMMY© nominations and 3 GRAMMY© awards. In 2013 he produced a CD for young ukulele master Brittni Paiva which won a Hawaiian GRAMMY© for ‘Ukulele Album of the Year’, and in 2017 received his first Emmy Award nomination for Musical Direction of the Tony Bennett 90th Birthday TV Special on NBC.
Tom’s career as a guest artist spans more than 2000 recordings—by such diverse artists as Barbra Streisand, Quincy Jones, Thelonious Monk, the Blues Brothers, Frank Sinatra, Aretha Franklin and Aerosmith. His numerous contributions as a player and arranger include Joni Mitchell’s Court and Spark and Miles of Aisles, Steely Dan’s Aja and Gaucho; hit singles like Carole King’s “Jazzman,” Paul McCartney’s “Listen to What the Man Said,” Rod Stewart’s “Do You Think I’m Sexy,” Blondie’s “Rapture,’ Toto’s “Rosanna,” Whitney Houston’s “Saving All My Love for You” and on countless movie soundtracks such as Taxi Driver, The Jerk, Three Days of the Condor, Heaven Can Wait, Sea of Love, Who Framed Roger Rabbit?, Toy Story 2, Monsters Inc. and the latest release of A Star Is Born.
Other achievements include composing film scores, among them Conquest of the Planet of the Apes, Uptown Saturday Night, Stir Crazy, Hanky Panky, The Sure Thing, Soul Man and Shakes the Clown. His television composing and conducting credits include the themes for Family Ties and Starsky & Hutch, background scores for Baretta, Cannon, Barnaby Jones, Streets Of San Francisco, numerous T.V. Movies and Specials. He has served as Musical Director for the Academy Awards, the Emmy Awards (9 times), the People’s Choice Awards, Comic Relief, the Carol Burnett Show, the Pat Sajak Show, Joni Mitchell, George Harrison, Olivia Newton-John, and the GRP All-Star Big Band, among others—and composed the score for the recent HBO documentary The Bronx, U.S.A. He teaches Master Classes in Woodwinds, Arranging & Film Composing, and is currently on the faculty of the New York University Summer Jazz program.
SPECIAL GUEST
LILAN KANE is an Oakland-based soul singer and composer Lilan Kane (LEE – lawn) is authentic, on and off stage. The sultry honesty in her voice is as raw as her lyrical stories of love, life and self-discovery. A graduate of the prestigious Berklee College of Music, Kane has sold out numerous residencies at Yoshi’s Oakland and SFJAZZ as well as performances at Minton’s Playhouse (NYC), Chris’s Jazz Cafe (Philly), French Quarter Festival (New Orleans), Concord Pavillion, The Mint (LA), Fillmore Jazz Festival and many others. Her songs have been featured on KCSM, WGBO, Jazziz.com, Soulandjazz.com, Soultracks.com, Thisisrnb.com and others. Her most recent release, TKMO, was produced and recorded during the quarantine. The album features Chase Jackson on vibraphones and is reminiscent of the vintage Roy Ayers sound.
“Every immaculate detail in making “TKMO” happen was guided by Kane in her debut production turn. At a time of a lengthy lockdown, Kane’s artistic spirit appears to have soared even further.” – Soultracks.com
Kane has sung with Pete Escovedo Latin Jazz Orchestra, and opened for Hall & Oates, Lenny Williams, Freddie Hughes, The Doobie Brothers, Chicago, Sharon Jones, Trombone Shorty, and Morgan James.