Dennis Schreffler denny@brassbandnw.org
Principal Solo Bb Cornet emeritus and co-Founder

Denny Schreffler is not currently playing with BBNW, having moved to the "greater" Tucson area, but as one of the co-founders of the band it's only appropriate to keep him on the list and tell you a little about him.

Denny has blended a music career with other professions for more than thirty years. Having performed with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, the Seattle Symphony, the Seattle Opera, the Ike and Tina Turner Revue, the Seahawks Band, and numerous "name" big bands and popular entertainers, Denny was a student of Marie Speziale at the University of Cincinnati, College-Conservatory of Music. Other former teachers include Frankie Brown, Charley Butler, Ettore Chiudioni, and Roy Cummings. Denny Schreffler plays a Yamaha cornet prepared by Wayne Tanabe of the Brass Bow in Arlington Hts, IL, and mouthpieces by Mark Curry of Curry Precision Mouthpieces in Reno, NV.

Dr. Ron Cole dr.ron@brassbandnw.org
Eb Soprano Cornet

A member of the jazz septet Extensions, Seattle area musician Ron Cole is an accomplished trumpeter who also performs on the Electronic Valve Instrument (EVI).

Throughout his musical career, Ron has performed in a variety of contexts in the Pacific Northwest. This includes numerous performances with leading artists and ensembles, ranging from Natalie Cole, Ray Charles, Don Lanphere and Deniece Williams, to the Northwest Chamber Orchestra, Cascade Symphony Orchestra, and the Bellevue Philharmonic Orchestra. His arrangements and compositions have also been featured in the repertoires of saxophonist Don Lanphere, the New Jazz Messengers big band and Extensions.

An alumnus of Western Washington University where he earned bachelor's and master's degrees in music, Ron earned his Doctorate of Musical Arts in Trumpet Performance from the University of Washington in 1998. His dissertation was titled The Electronic Valve Instrument: Nyle Steiner's Unique Musical Innovation.

Dr. Ron plays Schilke cornets with customized mouthpieces by Warburton Music Products.

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Laura Tutt laura@brassbandnw.org
Bb Repiano Cornet

No profile available

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Gary Roberts garyr@brassbandnw.org
Bb Cornet

No profile available

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John Benedetti john.benedetti@brassbandnw.org
Bb Cornet

No profile available

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George Moffit georgem@brassbandnw.org
Bb Cornet

No profile available

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Charles Miller charlesm@brassbandnw.org
Bb Cornet

No profile available

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Craig Cutler craig@brassbandnw.org
Bb Cornet

No profile available

Jack Prindle jackp@brassbandnw.org
Bb Cornet

No profile available

Theresa Fornalski theresa@brassbandnw.org
Bb Cornet

No profile available

Jon Matson jon@brassbandnw.org
Bb Cornet

Jon is another of the "taking cornet up again after years of neglect" crowd. After playing cornet from 5th grade through high school in Selah Washington, he set it aside for many years until 1998. The intervening years were spent in the U.S. Army Military Intelligence community, Boston University's MIS degree program and starting a family here in Issaquah. Jon has studied under local celeb Steve Keene and has attended the infamous Midsummer Musical Retreat on the comeback trail that has led him happily to a chair in Brass Band NW. Besides his reawakened love of brass music, Jon is an avid runner who enjoys fly-fishing, hunting, backpacking and competing in biathlons. To finance his many hobbies, feed his daughter Emily and maintain the continued good will of his wife Kathy (can you say, "employee discount") Jon works in the IT department at Nordstrom.

Rick Hudson rickh@brassbandnw.org
Bb Flugel Horn

Rick started playing the trumpet in the 5th grade and had an early introduction to marching in parades behind horses in Pendleton, Oregon.  Having played through high school he stopped playing while getting his BS in something and MS in Civil Engineering Structures at the University of Washington.    After college, though happily married and working as a consulting structural engineer on buildings,  he noted a deficiency in his musical diet and begin playing  trumpet in the North Seattle Community College Symphonic Band, and then cornet in the Cornucopia Concert Band where he continues playing to this day.  He also leaps at the occasional chance to play brass quintet music and church music with young musicians.  Attending the Midsummer Musical Retreat in summer 2002 he was introduced to and hooked on British Brass Band music, and soon after joined BBNW.

Gary Meier garym@brassbandnw.org
Eb Alto Horn

Gary is a Puget Sound native, born and raised in Everett, WA. His music career began in elementary school with piano lessons, which unfortunately never took, the flutophone, which is best left forgotten, and with a borrowed trumpet at the age of 10. He played trumpet all through school, studying with various teachers and culminating with a solo performance at high school graduation.

Gary went on to the University of Washington playing with the Wind Sinfonietta and orchestras for a number of musical productions,and after college, with orchestras for the now defunct Sound Expression Theater and the Gilbert & Sullivan society. Since 1987, he has played consistently with the Everett Symphony including time as a founding member of the Everett Symphonic Brass, a brass quintet. Gary has played alto horn with Brass Band Northwest since 2003.

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Ealish Matrisian ealish@brassbandnw.org
Eb Alto Horn

No profile available

Andrew Hemmaplardh andrewh@brassbandnw.org
Eb Alto Horn

No profile available

Mike Hopkins mikeh@brassbandnw.org
Eb Alto Horn

Mike is a retired appraiser of commercial real estate who lives in Bellevue with his wife Irene, a native of Germany, and their two sons. Although he has always loved music, he lacked formal training. One night back in 1989, while listening to a Wynton Marsalis tape (his first love is jazz), an impulse struck him: "I realized that I could learn to play the trumpet. With desire and effort, all it would take is time." He now admits that it's taken him twice as long to advance half as far as he first expected. "But that's beside the point," he said. "It's a labor of love."

Steve Harmon steveharm@brassbandnw.org
Bb Baritone Horn

No profile available

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Gordon Mehus gordonm@brassbandnw.org
Bb Baritone Horn

No profile available

James Glasgow james@brassbandnw.org
Bb Euphonium

James studied privately with Bob Glasgow (student of William Vacchianio), Stuart Dempster, Cathy Cole, Dennis Smith, Phil Brink, and Gregory Cox, and received his Bachelor of Music (trombone performance) degree from Western Washington University in 1984. He has taught privately and played freelance in Seattle, performing as a soloist, and with chamber groups, community orchestras and bands. He is currently employed at Sound Floor Coverings, Inc., a wholesale flooring distributor, in their Inside Sales Dept.

James' picture shows him hauling in a big catch while fishing in Mexico, October,1998.

Doug Prindle doug@brassbandnw.org
Bb Euphonium

No profile available

John Bolender johnb@brassbandnw.org
Bb Trombone

John has been playing the trombone off and on since the fourth grade. His involvement in music has led to many special opportunities including marching in the Tournament of Roses parade in Pasadena with his high school band. He also played in several major jazz festivals with his high school and college bands.

This isn't the first time John has found himself mixed up with a bunch of brass players. He spent three of his junior high and high school years marching and playing in a drum and bugle corps. John observes that while the members of BBNW are older than the kids in drum corps, they still have those same crazy brass player personalities. It's just more intense now.

John has studied trombone with Ray Martyn, Ken Cloud, and Cathy Cole. He's trying hard now to keep up with his kids who are also brass players. Yes, that's one of them in the baritone section.

After a long hiatus from the community band scene (we won't say how long) John's wife convinced him to accompany her to Midsummer Musical Retreat. Since then John has enjoyed performing with his new friends (and some old ones). Besides Brass Band Northwest John has performed with the Shoreline Community Band, sat in with the award-winning Sequoia Junior High jazz band and performs with the Renton City Concert Band.

Alice Grette alice@brassbandnw.org
Bb Trombone

Alice narrowly escaped majoring in music at WWU. After travelling in Mexico too many times she finished a degree in spanish at U W. Since then she has been playing happily in local groups such as Thalia Symphony, Rain City Symphony, Cornucopia Concer Band and various ragtag ensembles.She thanks her family for listening to her practice, music teachers past and present and particularly her mother for introducing her to the trombone.

Jim Timpe jim@brassbandnw.org
Bb Bass Trombone

Jim wonders: "for formal music education, does two years in Husky Band count? One as Bass section leader?" - Well, maybe, but in Brass Band Northwest we try not to play quite that loud and with better tone. His education includes studies at various and sundry institutions of higher education from Seattle to South Dakota to Japan where he studied liberal arts, psychology, Greek, and lots of other well defined and thought out courses. After college, Jim spent four years active duty, during the Viet Nam era, in the United States Air Force. Currently, and for the past 15 years, he plays tenor trombone regularly at Cedar Park Church in Bothell.

Jim says he descended from trombone to baritone to sousaphone/tuba as he progressed through public education, culminating with two years in the bass (sousaphone) section in the University of Washington Husky Marching Band under Bill Bissell.

His primary hobby is photography and he has a collection of Olympus 35mm gear, recently taking the plunge into Olympus digital. Jim is currently employed at Fluke Corporation in Everett as a metrologist in the customer service center.

Heather "Tuba Mama" Oesting heather@brassbandnw.org
Eb Tuba

An orchestral player who finally saw the light, Heather has performed with the Sammamish Symphony, Cascade Symphony, Ain't No Heaven Seven Dixieland Band, Northwest Mahler Festival, Smilin' Scandinavians Polka Band, Northwest Wind Symphony, Cornucopia Concert Band, Lake Burien Brass Quartet, High Notes Brass Quintet, Seattle Hunch Dixieland Band, Evergreen Concert Band, Highline Concert Band, and Seattle Sedentary Sousa Band.

Heather prepped at the Interlochen Arts Academy, but isn't saying when, and holds degrees in nursing, music, biochemistry, and finance. She has participated in camps and conventions in Oklahoma, Saskatchewan, and Finland, and plays string bass when she needs a more convenient instrument.

Jeffrey Taylor jefft@brassbandnw.org
Eb Tuba

Originally from the Chicago area, Jeff grew up studying piano, trumpet, and tuba. After a few terms at the University of Iowa, he left the school-owned instruments and tuba playing behind for a career in engineering, though he remained involved in music plunking around on the piano and as a songwriter and composer. In January, 2001, Jeff finally acquired the first tuba of his own and began some serious brass rehabilitation, including studies with Michael Russell (Seattle Symphony retired), Edgar Phillips (Pac Luth Univ-Bellevue Phil), Michael Grose (U of Ore, Eugene Sym), and Stephen Fissel (bass trombone-Seattle Symphony). A one-time player back in Illinois with the Wheaton Municipal Band and the Bill Russell Orchestra, he currently performs with the Black Diamond Brass, Northwest Symphony, Highline Community Symphonic Band, and the Pontiac Bay Symphony.

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Dean Snavely dean@brassbandnw.org
Bb Tuba

No profile available

Lorraine Thurston lorraine@brassbandnw.org
Bb Tuba

No profile available

Kathie Flood kathief@brassbandnw.org
Percussion

Kathie Flood plays percussion with the Washington Wind Symphony, the Northwest Symphony Orchestra, and the Usual Suspects (an oldies rock dance band), as well as with Brass Band Northwest. She grew up in central Iowa, playing in concert bands, jazz bands, marching bands, orchestras, and various small groups at Central College (Pella, IA) and Drake University (Des Moines IA). She has studied with Jack Toker (Seattle), Bob Meunier (Drake), Charlie Evans (Des Moines), Deb Smith (Central), and Leo Dodd (BCC), but her degrees are in Math/Computer Science (BA, Central) and Journalism/Mass Communications (MA, Drake). An avid athlete, she hikes, swims, runs, plays softball, and scuba dives. In her spare time, she is a video game producer at Microsoft.

What we wanted to know was if Joe Willie helped her with any of her marching band routines.

Eric Daane eric@brassbandnw.org
Percussion

Throughout his musical career, Eric has performed with a variety of groups throughout the pacific northwest, including Tacoma Symphony, Spokane Symphony, Bellevue Philharmonic, Washington Wind Symphony and even the Blue Thunder Drumline of the Seattle Seahawks.

An alumnus of Washington State University, he has taught privately and played freelance. He has been a northwest native all his life and currently resides in Bothell.

The BBNW "Steering Committee" meets at The Pumphouse
every Tuesday after rehearsals.

Of course, what's a few wrong turns here and there amongst friends?