Neil Stubenhaus

Neil Stubenhaus is an American bass guitarist.

Career

He started his musical training playing drums and switched to bass guitar at the age of 12. He studied at the Berklee College of Music where he graduated in 1975. After graduation, he was recommended by Steve Swallow and started teaching while playing in a band with another Berklee student Steve Smith (Vital Information, Journey). While at Berklee, Neil met session drummers Vinnie Colaiuta (who has worked with famous musicians such as Sting, & Frank Zappa) and John JR Robinson (who has also worked with superstars, including Barbra Streisand, Quincy Jones, Chaka Khan, Michael Jackson).

In 1977 he joined Blood Sweat & Tears and recorded David Clayton-Thomas' first solo album. In 1978, he went on tour with Larry Carlton. That led him to move to the West Coast where, following recommendations from Carlton, he met Mike Post and other composers and started doing sessions. Since 1979, Stubenhaus performed on more than 600 albums (of which 70 + have been Grammy Award-nominated), over 20 Grammy-winning songs and 60 + Gold and/or Platinum records. He has also recorded over 150 movie soundtracks as well as countless jingles and commercials.

Vinnie Colaiuta

Vincent "Vinnie" Colaiuta (born February 5, 1956) is an American drummer based in Los Angeles. Originally from Republic, Pennsylvania, he began playing drums as a child and received his first full drum kit from his parents at the age of fourteen. He was inducted into the Modern Drummer Hall of Fame in 1996.

Career

After attending the Berklee College of Music in Boston for a year, Colaiuta had his first big break as a member of the Christopher Morris Band in 1976–77. In 1977, he relocated with the band to Los Angeles. After leaving the band, he played with lounge bands. His next break came in April 1978, after auditioning for Frank Zappa. The audition entailed performing "The Black Page". Colaiuta went on to work with Zappa as his principal drummer for studio and live performances. He played on the successful Zappa albums Tinsel Town Rebellion, Joe's Garage, and Shut Up 'n Play Yer Guitar. Joe's Garage was named one of the top-25 drumming performances of all time in a 1993 Modern Drummer article.

John Robinson (drummer)

John Robinson (born December 29, 1954 in Creston, Iowa, also known as John "JR" Robinson or John "J.R." Robinson) is an American drummer and session musician. He is most known for his work with Quincy Jones, including Michael Jackson's multiplatinum Off the Wall album and the charity single "We Are the World".

Robinson is a prolific studio drummer, having played for other popular groups or artists including:

David Garfield

David Garfield (September 27, 1956 in Chicago, Illinois) is an American keyboardist, songwriter, and producer. David Garfield performs in the Los Angeles music scene. He has recorded with Smokey Robinson, Cher, Larry Carlton, Steve Lukather, Spinal Tap, George Benson, The Manhattan Transfer, Eros Ramazzotti, and The Rippingtons. He has performed with Freddie Hubbard, Boz Scaggs, Oleta Adams, Brenda Russell, Natalie Cole, and Michael Bolton. Garfield is a founding member of “Karizma” and “Los Lobotomys”. David’s production and arrangement of “Let’s Stay Together” featuring Michael McDonald, Don Henley, Richard Marx, Bill Champlain and David Pack from his CD “Tribute to Jeff” made the top ten radio worldwide.

Biography

David Garfield has had the same mission statement since moving from his hometown of St. Louis to Los Angeles as a teenager in the early 70s: “I make music.” During his career—and often at the same time—he has been a songwriter, producer, bandleader (of Los Angeles based contemporary world jazz collective Karizma), arranger, recording artist, record label owner (Creatchy Records), session and touring musician, musical director and composer of various commissioned themes for global organizations.

Michael Landau

Michael Landau (born June 1, 1958) is an American musician, engineer, and record producer. He is a prolific session musician and guitarist who has played on a large number of albums since the early 1980s with artists as varied as Minoru Niihara, Joni Mitchell, Seal, Michael Jackson, James Taylor, Helen Watson, Richard Marx, Steve Perry, Pink Floyd,Roger Daltrey, Glenn Frey, and Miles Davis. Landau, along with fellow session guitarists Dean Parks, Steve Lukather and Dann Huff, played on many of the major label releases recorded in Los Angeles from the 1980s–1990s. He has released music with several record labels including Ulftone Music and Tone Center Records, a member of the California-based Shrapnel Label Group.

In addition to his session work, Landau has also fronted several bands including Raging Honkies and Burning Water. In the early 1980s, he was also in the band Maxus that featured future Los Angeles session musicians Robbie Buchanan, Jay Gruska, and Doane Perry.

His brother Teddy Landau is married to the pop singer, Michelle Branch.