Kyle Athayde

Kyle Athayde is a San Francisco Bay Area based composer, arranger, performer, teacher, and bandleader. A native of Orinda, California, Kyle primarily plays vibraphone, piano, trumpet, and drums, as well as bongo, congas, timbales, string bass, bass clarinet, sousaphone, and vocal percussion.  He is the leader, conductor, and principal writer for the San Francisco/New York based big band, "Kyle Athayde Dance Party", a group acclaimed for its versatility in the wide scope of styles it performs. He is also the composer and arranger for Eddie Barbash’s double quartet, as well as a member of the Nate Sparks Big Band, the Jon Hatamiya Big Band and Nonet, and Ryan DeWeese’s RADJazz Orchestra.

Influenced by the music of J. S. Bach, Duke Ellington, Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, Eric Dolphy, Dmitri Shostakovich, Louis Armstrong, Igor Stravinsky, Charlie Parker, Olivier Messiaen, Art Tatum, and many others, Athayde composes and arranges music in a variety of genres, with an emphasis on jazz, classical, salsa, and electronic. While an undergraduate student at Juilliard, Kyle was heavily immersed in an inter-disciplinary arts environment which included dance, drama, and music, which provided him the opportunity to further develop and refine his programmatic approach to composition.

Athayde’s recent commissioned compositions and premieres include a double concerto for the New York Sinfonietta, a tone poem for Bobby Sanabria and The Manhattan School of Music Afro-Cuban Jazz Orchestra (the title track of their most recent album, ¡QUE VIVA HARLEM!), and music for the ending credits of the film "Diller, Scofidio + Renfro: Reimagining Lincoln Center and the High Line."  He also arranged the music for the halftime show for the University of California at Berkeley Marching Band in their final performance of the 2013 season. Kyle has also written commissions for the Canadian Brass, The New York Trumpet Ensemble, Manhattan School of Music Trumpet Ensemble, The University of Scranton, and the San Francisco Conservatory Brass Choir.

Committed to inter-disciplinary educational outreach in the arts, Kyle has offered classes, clinics, lessons and masterclasses at schools, workshops, and camps in California, New York, Pennsylvania, Texas, and Alaska.  A regular visiting faculty member of the Sitka Fine Arts Camp, he developed and taught classes on video game music, vocal hip hop, and jazz bands.  He is the Director of Curriculum at the Lafayette Summer Music Workshop, and regularly offers clinics and masterclasses to middle school and high school bands throughout Northern California.

Kyle has a wide range of interests, and loves to teach and learn about a variety of subjects, which brings a wide stylistic variety to his music, as his diverse interests inspire his work.  A passionate fan of American football, the ruthless power and strategy of the sport influence his exciting writing style. An avid gamer, the music of these games has inspired some of his most unusual and engaging compositions.

Alex Hahn - Alto Saxophone

Alex Hahn is a Grammy Award Winning saxophonist and composer based in Los Angeles, California. Still early in his career, Hahn has had the opportunity to perform with many renowned artists such as Herbie Hancock, Esperanza Spalding, The Grammy Award Winning John Daversa Progressive Big Band, Bob Mintzer, Gordon Goodwin’s Big Phat Band, Peter Erskine, John Beasley, Patrice Rushen, and many others. He also recorded on Michael Bublé’s last three Grammy Nominated studio albums. In addition, Hahn has performed and taught all over the world including the Panama Jazz Festival, Sitka Alaska Jazz Festival, and at International Jazz Day in Havana, Cuba and St. Petersburg, Russia.

Hahn is a 6-Time Downbeat Magazine Award Winner, 3-Time Next Generation Jazz Festival Outstanding Soloist, 1st Place Winner in the North American Saxophone Alliance Jazz Saxophone Competition, and winner of the 2015 Perform with Mintzer International Saxophone Competition. In 2019, he won 1st Place in the Michael Brecker International Saxophone Competition held at the Red Sea Jazz Festival in Eilat, Israel.

Hahn is a very active as a studio musician in Los Angeles, CA. He has recorded alto, tenor, clarinet, and baritone saxophone on commercials for brands such as Disney, Wayfair, and Devoted Care. He can also be heard on movies such as Bad Trip, written and starring comedian Eric Andre, and is a featured soloist on the Eddie Murphy movie Coming 2 America. Lastly, Hahn is featured on screen on the Emmy Award Winning Television show Glee.

Hahn completed his second Master of Music degree at the prestigious Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz where he studied with jazz legends Herbie Hancock, Wayne Shorter, Jimmy Heath, and many more. He also holds a Master of Music degree in Jazz Studies from the University of Southern California, where he was a graduate student and teaching assistant under Bob Mintzer and Jason Goldman. Hahn graduated with a Bachelor of Music from the University of North Texas in 2014 where he performed and recorded with the 7-Time Grammy Nominated One O’ Clock Lab Band. He was a featured soloist on the Lab 2014 Album. During his time at North Texas, Hahn was selected as a member of the Disney All-American College Band. This ensemble consists of the top college musicians from all across the United States. He was also chosen to return as the Teaching Assistant/Student Director the following summer.

In addition to his work as a side musician, Alex Hahn has recorded and released four studio albums featuring his own original music.  His studio albums include “Traveling” in 2014, “Emerging” in 2017, “New Flight” in 2019, “Second Wind” in 2021, and “Colors” in 2023. His projects have a wide range of instrumentation, genre, and have featured musicians such as Michael Mayo, Amber Navran of Moonchild, and Grammy Award Winning Saxophonist Bob Mintzer. Despite the various genres Hahn explores, his original music always focuses on strong sing-able melodies, great groove, and creative improvisation.

In addition to his professional performing and recording career, Alex Hahn is an incredibly passionate educator. He has given master classes, clinics, and has had guest artist appearances at The University of North Texas, Cal Tech University, San Jose State, Saddleback College, as well as a number of high schools and middle schools around the world. Hahn also has a thriving private lesson studio. He has taught students from all over the world including Egypt, South Korea, Australia, United Kingdom, Mexico, Canada, and New Zealand. His private students have gone on to receive music scholarships at some of the most prestigious schools around the world including the Julliard School, University of Miami, Berklee College of Music, Manhattan School of Music, University of Southern California, New York University, The University of North Texas, and the James Morrison Academy in Australia to name a few. Hahn currently serves as the Director of Jazz at the Los Angeles County High School for the Arts. Since becoming the director at LACHSA, his students have won countless awards from Downbeat Magazine, Spotlight, and Young Arts. Five of his students have been selected to participate in the Herbie Hancock Institute National Peer-Peer All Star Jazz Septet. This group is hand selected by Dr. JB Dyas, Vice President of Education at the Herbie Hancock Institute, and consists of the top high school musicians from across the country.

Hahn has also published several educational resources. These include four different volumes of transcription etudes, The Blues Book, and the Alex Hahn Saxophone Technique Essentials. His products have been sold in over twenty-five US states and in over twenty countries.

Alex Hahn is an endorsed artist of D’Addario Woodwinds and Andreas Eastman Saxophones, and Key Leaves.

Will Reardon-Anderson - Alto Saxophone

Called a “virtuoso on clarinet and saxophone” (New York Times), Washington, D.C. born Juilliard graduate Will Anderson is crueently serving as the lead saxophonist in the Grammy Winning Vince Giordano's Nighthawks. Anderson has also performed with the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra, Village Vanguard Jazz Orchestra, and can be heard on soundtrack of HBO’s Boardwalk Empire and Martin Scorsese's Killers of the Flower Moon .  Along with his twin brother Peter, Will has headlined at Carnegie Hall, The Blue Note, The Kennedy Center, New Orleans Jazz Festival, and live on Garrison Keillor’s Prairie Home Companion.  The Andersons have created, produced, and starred in eight sold-out off-broadway productions at Manhattan's 59E59 Theaters.  Recently, they raised over $25,000 to establish the Joe Temperley Juilliard Student Scholarship Fund and tribute album in honor of their late great saxophone mentor.

Tommy Gardner - Tenor Saxophone

Thomas Gardner is a saxophonist and multi-instrumentalist from Washington, DC. He graduated with a Bachelor of Music degree from the Juilliard Jazz program, studying saxophone with Joe Temperley and Victor Goines. He has performed as a saxophonist with a variety of jazz musicians for over 15 years, as well as drumming for the indie rock band Beach Fossils from 2010-2017. He recently lived in China for several years, and since returning to the US has been based in Washington, DC. 

Ryan DeWeese - Trumpet

A rising young talent in the Los Angeles jazz and commercial music scene, Ryan DeWeese’s powerful sound, musicality, and stylistic versatility make him a highly sought-after performer and recording artist. He has performed with groups such as Gordon Goodwin’s Big Phat Band, the Tom Kubis Big Band, and Joey Sellers’ Jazz Aggregation, and has shared the stage with Sean Jones, Wayne Bergeron, Candido Camero, John Clayton, Terell Stafford, Wycliffe Gordon, and Donny McCaslin, to name a few. DeWeese has also recorded on Michael Bublé’s love and Higher albums, Idina Menzel’s Christmas: A Season of Love, Beto Hale’s No Hay Marcha Atrás, episodes of “Will and Grace,” “Duck Tales” and the movie, “Bullet Train” . He currently serves as a member of the Disneyland Band, the Kyle Athayde Dance Party, the Jon Hatamiya Big Band and Nonet, the Craig Cammell Large Band, the Afro-Peruvian Jazz Orchestra, and the Clare Fischer Orchestra.

Joe Boga - Trumpet

New York City based trumpeter Joseph Boga is sought after as a performer in both jazz and classical genres. He has performed professionally in a wide variety of venues, from Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center to Birdland Jazz Club and the Newport Jazz Festival, across the United States and abroad.

Boga is a member of the legendary ensemble Vince Giordano and the Nighthawks, specializing in music of the 1920’s and 30’s, and leads his own small ensemble, The Scranton Ramblers. In addition, he performs regularly with highly acclaimed artists and ensembles including Stephane Wremble, Gordon Webster and his Band, Tatiana Eva-Marie and the Avalon Jazz Band, Adrian Cunningham, Wycliffe Gordon, David Ostwald and the Louis Armstrong Eternity Band, James Langton and the New York All-Star Big Band, the Kyle Athayde Dance Party, the Nate Sparks Big Band, and many others. 

Classically he has performed with a variety of orchestras and small ensembles as a soloist and as an ensemble player, including The International Contemporary Ensemble, The New York Trumpet Ensemble, The Garden State Philharmonic, The Bucknell Wind Ensemble, and The Northeastern Pennsylvania Philharmonic, among others. 

An avid educator, Boga has offered masterclasses and clinics nationally and internationally. In 2023 he was the director of the Pennsylvania Music Educator Association’s All-State Jazz Band, comprised of some of the most talented young musicians in the state.

Boga was a student of Wynton Marsalis, and is a graduate of the Juilliard School, where he studied with Mark Gould, Chris Jaudes, and Joe Magnarelli

Jon Hatamiya - Trombone

Since first arriving in Los Angeles in 2014, trombonist, composer, and Davis, CA native Jon Hatamiya has firmly established himself as one of LA's go-to creative and improvising musicians, particularly on the trombone. Jon's work as a sideman spans the breadth of LA's vast music scene, with performance and recording credits as wide ranging from Louis Cole (GRAMMY nominated in 2024), Knower, David Binney, Logan Kane, Luca Alemanno, Paul Cornish, and Jacob Mann, to Michael Bublé (GRAMMY Winning in 2023), Bob Mintzer, Ryan DeWeese's RAD Jazz Orchestra, and Jason "Spicy G" Goldman. Previously based in New York, Jon has also played lead trombone with the Kyle Athayde Dance Party since 2013, and performed with the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis.

Jon is active as a bandleader, composer/arranger, and educator, leading the Jon Hatamiya Big Band (with

headline performances at Angel City Jazz Festival and Minaret Winter Jazz Festival), as well as other small group projects. His debut album as a leader More Than Anything was released on Orenda Records in early 2020.

His work as a composer and arranger (beyond in his own groups) includes commissions from Los Angeles trombone quartet Skinny Lips and the Sound Malfunction, Oakwood Brass, SFJAZZ, Fernando Pullum Center, the Third Herd Orchestra (Kyoto, Japan), the Los Angeles Jazz Society, and numerous

high school and college level big bands around the world. Jon's arrangements have been performed by such major artists as Michael McDonald, John Mayer, Aloe Blacc, Jhene Aiko, the Earth Wind and Fire Horns, and Jackson Browne.

Jon is a graduate of Manhattan School of Music, University of Southern California, and the prestigious

Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz Performance (now known as the Herbie Hancock Institute). He is currently the instructor of jazz trombone at the University of Southern California Thornton School of Music, where he also directs the Thornton Honors Combo and Concert Jazz Orchestra.

Eric Miller - Trombone

Eric Miller was the winner of the 2010 International Trombone Association’s Carl Fontana Jazz Trombone Competition. He also taught at and was a featured guest artist at Jazzopolis, a festival in Palermo, Italy during the summer of 2010. 

Eric received a bachelor’s degree in Jazz Studies from the Manhattan School of Music, where he performed as a soloist in the Jazz Orchestra, the Jazz Philharmonic Orchestra, and the Concert Jazz Bands.

He also has performed with the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra led by Wynton Marsalis, the Mingus Big Band, the Dizzy Gillespie Alumni All Star Big Band, the Christian McBride Big Band, John Ellis, Jonathan Batiste, Michael Dease, Gordon Webster, Ulysses Owens Jr., Emilio Solla Tango Jazz Orchestra, Remy Le Boeuf's Assembly of Shadows, and many others.

Eric graduated with a Master’s degree in Jazz Studies from UCLA while also studying at the Herbie Hancock Institute of Jazz in a dual degree program. After graduating, the alumni of the Institute collectively formed a band called Holophonor. The band's debut CD was released in 2014, and the band released a second album ("Light Magnet") in 2017 that was produced by Wayne Shorter.

Eric was also one of the six students to graduate from the 2015-2017 Juilliard Jazz Artist Diploma program.  The Juilliard ensemble has been involved in several international performance and teaching collaborations.

Substituting for Michael Dease, Eric taught jazz trombone lessons and studio classes at Michigan State University for a semester.  Eric is currently teaching a student at Five Towns College in Dix Hills NY and he is performing with many different bands in the Long Island NY and NYC areas.

Jon Seiberlich - Tuba

Over the past 10 years, Jonathan Seiberlich has become a prominent member of the San Francisco Bay Area’s vibrant music scene. On any given night you may hear him perform with the the San Francisco Symphony, the Nomad Session Wind Octet, Jazz Mafia Collective, Grateful Brass, Honor Brass Band, Circus Bella, Kyle Athayde Dance Party, or playing solo at MacArthur BART Station. Jonathan has also performed alongside internationally renowned acts such as Sigur Ros, Veronica Swift, Peter Apfelbaum, Josh Jones, and The California Honeydrops.

In addition to his work as a tuba player, Jonathan is an accomplished producer, composer, arranger, and songwriter. Since 2015 he has been producing albums of music under the name Jensen Engineering. These albums include a variety of original songs and collaborations with other renowned Bay Area instrumentalists, singers, and rappers. More recently, Jonathan has formed the Jonathan Seiberlich Quintet, which performs original instrumental music featuring a blend of New Orleans “brass band” instrumentation, classical composition and improvisation.

Jonathan was born and raised in Concord, CA. He began his musical studies at Los Medanos College, then went on to earn a Bachelor’s degree in Tuba Performance from the Oberlin Conservatory and a Masters degree in Tuba Performance from the University of Southern California. Over the course of his career he has studied with Peter Wahrhaftig, Ron Bishop, Jim Self, Norm Pearson, Doug Tornquist, Roger Bobo, and Zachariah Spellman. He is currently the Tuba Faculty at Sonoma State University and has been teaching students of all ages for over 15 years.

Nate Sparks - Piano

Nate Sparks is a composer/arranger/performer who grew up in Runnells, Iowa. Nate began playing the piano at age 7, trumpet at 11, and pursued jazz throughout his middle school and high school years. His acceptance into several national high school honor bands and music festivals led him to a post-secondary study of jazz at the Juilliard School, where he also began his career as a writer.

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Since then he has been commissioned to write music for Lucky Chops, the Juilliard Jazz Orchestra, Bobby Sanabria and the Multiverse Big Band, the MSM Afro-Cuban Orchestra, Vince Giordano and the Nighthawks, among many others. In 2018 he made arranging contributions to a Grammy Nominated album, West Side Story Reimagined, by Bobby Sanabria and the Multiverse Big Band. While he regularly takes commissions for freelance work, his main outlet as a writer is with his own band, the Nate Sparks Big Band, a New York/Des Moines-based 18-piece jazz orchestra. Playing exclusively his own compositions, arrangements, and transcriptions, the Nate Sparks Big Band performed regularly at Dizzy's Club Coca Cola in New York City in 2016-2019, and now takes root in Des Moines Iowa where he currently Resides.

In May of 2017, Nate graduated from Juilliard with a Bachelor's degree in performance, and now in addition to writing and performing, actively pursues a career as a jazz educator. Since then, Nate has been a faculty member of the Lafayette Summer Music Jazz Workshop, the Sitka Jazz  and the Simpson College Jazz Workshop. In 2020, he founded and continues to direct the Des Moines Youth Jazz Orchestra, an elite high school ensemble in Central Iowa. He has also been a guest clinician for the New York Youth Symphony Jazz Orchestra (New York, NY), The University of Scranton (Scranton, PA), Drake University (Des Moines, IA), Delaware Valley High School (Milford, PA), and Southeast Polk High School (Des Moines, IA). Nate also teaches private lessons in Jazz Piano, Piano Fundamentals, Theory, Jazz Improvisation, Composition and Arranging, and Trumpet.