Myro Jazz Poet/Composer

Profoundly gifted, Myro is a self-taught genuine musician-songwriter with a masterful ability to weave song and poetry into a rich tapestry of sound and feeling. Influenced by many musical styles, from country blues to Broadway, from bossa nova to gospel, Myro's music has universal appeal.

Myro began playing guitar at age ten. Raised in Chicago, his musical expression was influenced and shaped by the tremendous ethnic diversity offered by the city's rich music scene of the sixties. While still in high school, he had mastered various styles of America's folk music, becoming a Woody Guthrie style troubadour and in turn a proficient bluegrass banjo picker and a soulful blues harp player. Myro inevitably found himself a part of the pioneering force of diverse musical styles as he journeyed through his own personal creative evolution.

When he moved to northern California in the early seventies, Myro taught himself to play piano, and it became the medium for his more advanced and unadulterated musical compositions. At the same time he was avidly absorbing as much of that great American Classical music - Jazz - as he could. The influence of what he calls music of the "Afro-Americas": Jazz, R & B, Salsa, Samba, etc, can easily be heard in his songs.

On his debut CD, Song for Mavis, Myro combines forces with a team of world-class Jazz musicians, the Moonlight Mirror Orchestra, led by Steve Wolfe, tenor saxophonist extraordinaire and co-producer/arranger on the project. Myro performs with the MMO, solo, or with one or two accompanists, as the occasion dictates. As a natural performer, Myro establishes a warm rapport with his audience through casual clever asides which perfectly complement the universal yet personal voice of his songwriting.

George Smeltz, Drums
Born in April of ’62 at an early age, George began playing drums in the family music room alongside the rest of the family whom he still credits as his biggest influence.
He became a professional musician anyway. His career has taken him from the pine barrens of New Jersey to the pine barrens of the other side of the world. George has played almost every gig imaginable (and some he would never have imagined): weddings, Bar Mitzvahs, parties, parades, bars, musicals, socials - all before graduating high school, an occasion which he tells us is imminent.
(Seriously ‘though) George’s career has gone on to include gigs on cruise ships, casinos, corporate parties, high profile political functions, major touring acts, multiple recordings, and TV appearances. George also can be seen playing in various orchestras, wind ensembles, and concert bands; but you’re more likely to hear him doing over 100 gigs a year in one of many Bay area bands. In addition to his work with Myro, he is active in a few big bands, plays combo jazz often, alternates between 3 different blues/rock bands, and is often called to sub for others. His brilliant virtuosity and versatility land him in the orchestra pit for many theater companies.

Raj Sodhi, Bass
Raj was born on the unlikely island of Newfoundland, Canada in 1973. He first picked up a double-bass in seventh grade in New Hampshire. His passion and his natural talent for music led him to play in numerous jazz bands, string ensembles and symphony orchestras along the east coast. He was fortunate to have studied under the very finest bass players in the country, including George Rubino (Portland ME), Lawrence Hurst (Bloomington IN), Winston Budrow (East Lansing, MI), and Todd Seeber (Boston MA). In his final year of high school, Raj took first place in the Young Artists' Concerto Competition on double-bass. He has taken part in the Tanglewood Music Festival and the Interlochen World Youth Symphony Orchestra. While studying at MIT, he played numerous shows in the Boston area. Recently, he has taken part in the jazz scene in Northern California, having played with Ylonda Nickell, Steve Wolfe, Eric Wiley, and many others.

Dale Gutridge, alto saxophone and flugelhorn
Orphaned by a mysterious fire at a disco run by Carmelite Nuns in Provo, Utah, Dale was raised by his adoptive parents, a Bedouin astrophysicist, and an award-winning sharecropper in the rugged outback of southwestern Ohio.
His first instrument was the bass violin, but lacking a competent teacher, he assumed it was a boat of some sort and soon had a successful fishing business with a fleet of thirty bass violins playing down the Ohio River. Driven to distraction by the incessant carping and hearing of bright prospects in Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan, he took to the road with a trumpet and alto saxophone hoping to join up with the legendary Tarzan Zerbini Circus. Using second-hand road maps written entirely in Braille, he wound up in Rohnert Park, Ca. where, confused by meandering streets and too many stop signs, he has remained ever since.

Bio 2 (the serious one)
Born in Dayton, Ohio, Dale started playing with dance bands at the age of 14. He has toured extensively in the Eastern United States playing with Frank Sinatra Jr., Tiny Tim, The O'Jays, Woody Shaw, and Slide Hampton. Dale came to California in 1989 and has played with the Pickle Family Circus since 1991. In addition to the Moonlight Mirror Orchestra, Dale plays with several Bay Area big band and jazz groups. In 1998 Dale appeared on four CDs and is currently preparing for his own soon to be recorded CD.

Kenneth Hawkins: flute, tenor saxophone
From Pittsburgh, PA., Ken has toured the East coast with numerous Jazz and R&B bands. Transposed to California in the 70's, he led his own Latin and Jazz ensembles featuring such players as Eddie Henderson, Richard Kermode, and Hadley Caliman, and played with Roberto Miranda and Butch Morris. Ken received classical training from Bernard Goldberg of the Pittsburgh Symphony and Yada Webber of the San Francisco Conservatory, and Classical Afro-Cuban training from Jorge Leliebre (of Los Van Van) and Antonio Pedroso. He travels frequently to Cuba on music exchange trips and accompanies various Bay Area Latin mainstays such as Orlando Torriente.