Cubist Band includes: Jerry Leake, Randy Roos, Stan Strickland, Steve Hunt, Ken Schaphorst, Rohan Gregory, Brad Hatfield, Dave Harris. Percussion instruments include: kidi, sogo, kagan, atsimivu, boba, totoji, gung-gong, lunga, djembe, tabla, udu, naqqara, damaru, tambora, clave, cajon, Chinese, Gamelan, and Japanese gongs, tam tam, Tibetan and Chinese cymbals, which intermingle with funk-rock and smoky jazz, as international instruments speak to audiences of ancient cadences and modulations. Modern adaptations catapult the music through the 21st Century, as a highly charged orchestration of universal sounds from all corners of the globe. It reflects and retracts music, people, their cultures, and their experiences, interweaving human experience with global music.
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CUBIST "Live" CD available January, 2011. Mobeus CD available January, 2011. Enjoy the multi-cultural, full immersion, jazz/rock/World music in riveting syncopated rhythms. This music, highly charged, rock/world fusion influences, unseats its audiences, and is perfect for film or television. Sophisticated playing by world class musicians, this music simply cannot be duplicated.
Randy Roos
Randy Roos was one of the original members of Orchestra Luna, a theatrical rock group with a fanatical following and an ill-fated record deal with Epic. Randy released an LP entitled Mistral on the Spoonfed label, a result of a band he had for about a year with guitarist Mike Stern. Years past, bands evolved and more recordings were made including Photogenic Memory (Agharta, Japan), two with George Jinda and World News (JVC), three on the Narada label, and others. He is currently working on two band and recording projects, Vertigo-Z and Van Gogh Shadowtree, and often performs with world/jazz/jam band Club d'Elf. Randy began composing music for television in 1989, and has scored hundreds of shows, including the last twelve seasons of Scientific American Frontiers, a PBS science series hosted by Alan Alda, as well as several from the NOVA series. Randy is Associate Professor of Guitar and Music Synthesis at Berklee College of Music in Boston. (http://www.squamsound.com)
Steve Hunt
After recording and performing with top Boston jazz musicians in the early 80's such as Randy Roos and Tiger Okoshi, and leading his own jazz fusion band, Steve spent the next ten years on the road with several renowned jazz artists such as Billy Cobham, Stanley Clarke, Angela Bofill, Tom Brown, and Allan Holdsworth. During this time, Steve also served as musical director for the famous touring Jazz Explosion where he led the trio which headlined artists Freddy Hubbard, Gato Barbieri, Stanley Turrentine, Ramsey Lewis, violinist Noel Pointer, Kenny G, and the late Phyllis Hyman. Steve's desire towards challenging himself is no where more evident than with his long time association with Allan Holdsworth, whose more recent CD releases include Secrets, Wardencliff Tower, and Hard Hat Area, and include Steve's original tunes "Maid Marion," "Joshua," and "Dodgy Boat." Other noteworthy recording contributions include two of Stanley Clarke's CD releases If This Bass Could Only Talk and East River Drive. Steve reached a major milestone, producing his solo jazz CD From Your Heart and Your Soul (BMI). Steve also serves as an instructor at the renowned Berklee College of Music in Boston and runs his own recording studio, 'The Kitchen,' which has gained an outstanding reputation for its professional and technical capability. (http://www.stevehuntjazz.com)
Stan Strickland
Singer, saxophonist, flutist, actor Stan Strickland has performed throughout the world in venues from New York's Carnegie Hall to touring South Africa with The Village People. He has opened for jazz greats Miles Davis and Sonny Rollins and performed and collaborated with over a dozen choreographers including Alvin Ailey, Jose Limon, and Bill T. Jones. Stan is Co-Executive Director of "Express Yourself," a multidisciplinary team of professional artists, working in partnership with adolescents in public mental health residential facilities to produce multimedia performances that celebrate the restorative powers of serious art making. (http://www.stanstrickland.net)
Jerry Leake
Jerry Leake is co-founder of the acclaimed world-music ensemble Natraj and also performs with Club d'Elf, R.A.R.E, Horn Bread, and the Agbekor Drum & Dance Society. On tabla he has accompanied Ali Akbar Khan, Steve Gorn, Sharafat Ali Khan, Chitravena Ravikiran. Jerry graduated from the Berklee College of Music where he studied vibraphone with Gary Burton and hand percussion with Pablo Landrum. He studied tabla in Pune, India with Rajiv Devasthali, African Dagomba music with Dolsi-Naa Abubakari Luna, Ewe music with Godwin Agbeli and David Locke, and balafon/djembe with the Coulibalys in Burkina Faso. Jerry has written eight texts on North Indian, West African, Latin American percussion, and rhythm theory. He is on the faculty of the New England Conservatory of Music and substitute teacher for Jamey Haddad at Berklee. He directs a 6-day rhythm theory summer seminar at NEC and presents percussion clinics and solo concerts throughout New England. Jerry is former president of the Massachusetts Chapter of the Percussive Arts Society and has been a composer and member of the Portland Symphony Kinder Koncert percussion ensemble since 1984. (http://www.rhombuspublishing.com)
Brad Barrett
Brad likes to play the bass. For a long time he thought he might one day be a classical bass player in an orchestra. However, seeds of discontent in this plan were planted when he started playing electric bass in rock and funk bands growing up in Texas. Later at Michigan State University, his teacher Rodney Whitaker showed him that it is much more fun to play your own notes, as opposed to the notes written by some dude from the 19th century. After finishing his undergrad, Brad moved to Nashville, Tennessee and began a career as a session and touring musician. His days as a Nashville hired gun helped him become comfortable with pretty much any musical style that had a bass in it. After receiving a full-tuition scholarship from New England Conservatory, Brad moved to Boston in the fall of 2008. Brad is currently finishing his Masters in Jazz Performance at NEC - he has been fortunate enough to study with Danilo Perez, Cecil Mcbee, Oscar Stagnaro, Billy Hart, Jerry Leake, Charlie Banacos, and John McNeil. Brad recently performed at the Panama Jazz Festival and has also performed in Europe, Asia, Canada, and throughout the Caribbean. (http://www.myspace.com/bigbadbass21)
Lisa Leake
isa began singing in Europe during high school, and was awarded second place for vocals at the Berlin Music Festival. She earned her Master's Degree in Secondary Education and has taught in K-12 and colleges in New England, and is currently enrolled in the General Music program at New England Conservatory of Music. Among others, she has studied voice with nationally recognized teachers/performers, Stan Strickland and Mark Lee. Lisa is a member of the Agbekor Drum and Dance Society, directed by Professor David Locke and Tufts University, and is a member of Silimbo West African Dance Company. She has performed at jazz venues, community centers, colleges, and festivals. (http://matchbook.org/ArtistProfile1.aspx?ProfileId=1075)
Ben Paulding
Ben Paulding is an eclectic musician with significant experience on traditional Ghanaian drums, drumset, concert percussion, steel drums, and an assortment of other percussion instruments from around the globe. Ben is a member of David Locke's Agbekor Drum and Dance Society and Marcus Santos' Bloco AfroBrazil, and has performed throughout New England at venues such as Ryles Jazz Club, the Zeiterion Theater, the New England Folk Festival, and the Nigerian Cultural Festival in Providence. As a member of the Vic Firth Education Team, Ben currently teaches at Zumix, Dennis-Yarmouth Regional High School, and the Waban Library Center. Ben graduated from UMASS Dartmouth with a music degree and the highest GPA in the College of Visual and Performing Arts. While at UMASS, Ben was sponsored to travel to Ghana, West Africa, three separate times to study traditional drumming, dancing, singing, and culture. (http://www.myspace.com/benpaulding)
Marty Wirt
Marty Wirt is a drummer and percussionist with diverse interests that include Chopin, jazz, hip-hop, and music from Indian and Afro-Cuban traditions. Having studied piano and Western Classical music as a child, he later developed an affinity for the drum set. He is currently pursuing an undergraduate degree in jazz performance from the prestigious New England Conservatory of Music, where he studies with Billy Hart and Jerry Leake. Past teachers include Bob Moses and Ari Hoenig.