Sydney Gorham was raised in a musical household in the Santa Cruz Mountains, and has been singing her whole life. She has been very active in local theater since childhood, and most recently appeared as Sophie in Mountain Community Theater's 2019 production of Mamma Mia. She carries a Bachelor of Music in Vocal Performance from the University of the Pacific in Stockton, and is the owner of B Sharp School of Music in Scotts Valley, where she teaches voice and piano. She has enjoyed many performances with the Steve Abrams Trio, as well as local funk band Cosmic Pinball. Having grown up in Boulder Creek, she is very excited to be singing at lille æske!
Steve Abrams has been a mainstay on the jazz and Afro-Cuban music scene in the Bay Area for over 20 years. His groups have performed at many venues, including the Kuumbwa Jazz Center in Santa Cruz, the Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music, and the San Jose International Jazz Festival. His New Zealand sextet, Pleasure Point, has performed at the Nelson International Jazz Festival, the Tauranga National Jazz Festival, the Manawatu Jazz Festival and the Wellington International Jazz Festival.
Steve has been involved in many productions with Mountain Community Theater and Little People’s Repertory Theater in Ben Lomond as musical director and accompanist. He has a BA in Music from UCLA, with an emphasis on arranging and African drumming, and teaches piano and flute at his home in Ben Lomond.
Bassist Joe Dolister has been a musical professional for over 50 years. With roots set deeply in jazz, he’s also known for a variety of musical genres on both upright and electric bass, for his great ear, and for being one of the “workingest” bass players around. Small wonder he maintains his status as a “first call” musician.
Joe picked up a bass at 11 and never looked back. He started gigging professionally at 14, moved to Milwaukee at 19 and shortly thereafter developed a reputation for being one of the first call bass players in the Milwaukee jazz scene. The supremely talented group working in Milwaukee 1970s scene included Joe Dolister on bass, keyboardists Buddy Montgomery and Melvin Rhyme, trumpeter Brian Lynch, pianist David Hazeltine, and others. Currently Joe spends a fair amount of time in the Silicon Valley area and performs in the Monterey, San Jose and Santa Cruz music scenes.