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.

Quincy Jones

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Quincy Delight Jones, Jr. (born March 14, 1933) is an American record producer, conductor, arranger, composer, musician, television producer, film producer, instrumentalist, magazine founder, entertainment company executive, and humanitarian. His career spans six decades in the entertainment industry and a record 79 Grammy Award nominations, 27 Grammys, including a Grammy Legend Award in 1991.

Jones came to prominence in the 1950s as a jazz arranger and conductor, before moving on to work prolifically in pop music and film scores.

In 1968, Jones and his songwriting partner Bob Russell became the first African Americans to be nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Song, their "The Eyes of Love" for the Universal Pictures film Banning. That same year, Jones was the first African American to be nominated twice within the same year for an Academy Award for Best Original Score, as he was also nominated for his work on the film In Cold Blood (1967). In 1971, Jones was the first African American to be named as the musical director and conductor of the Academy Awards ceremony. In 1995 he was the first African American to receive the Academy's Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award. He is tied with sound designer Willie D. Burton as the African American who has been nominated for the most Oscars; each has received seven nominations.

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.

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.

Jeff Porcaro

Jeffrey Thomas "Jeff" Porcaro (April 1, 1954 – August 5, 1992) was an American drummer, songwriter, and producer best known for his work with the rock band Toto. Porcaro is one of the most recorded session musicians in history, working on hundreds of albums and thousands of sessions. While already an established studio player in the 1970s, he came to prominence in the United States as the drummer on the Steely Dan album Katy Lied. AllMusic has characterized him as "arguably the most highly regarded studio drummer in rock from the mid-'70s to the early '90s", further stating that "It is no exaggeration to say that the sound of mainstream pop/rock drumming in the 1980s was, to a large extent, the sound of Jeff Porcaro." He was posthumously inducted into the Modern Drummer Hall of Fame in 1993.

Biography

Personal life

Porcaro was born in Hartford, Connecticut, the eldest son of Los Angeles session percussionist Joe Porcaro and his wife, Eileen. His brothers Mike and Steve were also successful studio musicians and members of the band Toto. Porcaro was raised in the San Fernando Valley area of Los Angeles and attended Ulysses S. Grant High School.