Click on a name to see the band member's photo and bio.
Norma Arias
- Lead Vocals
Dominic Cabrera
- Percussion and coro
Michael Crager
- Piano and coro
Doug Miner
- Trombone
Benito Cortez
- Violin
Eugene Warren
- Bass
David-Sean Lance
- Percussion
Adam Wood
- Flute, tenor saxophone, baritone saxophone
|
|
|
|
|
|
David-Sean Lance
Percussionist David-Sean Lance is Oriente's newest member. As versatile as he is passionate about Afro-Cuban Music, David-Sean (A.K.A. Davisito) plays timbal, bongo, and conga. In Feburary of 2003, David-Sean traveled to Havana, Cuba to study at the National School of the Arts (ENA). He has returned every year since, studying with his
elders and performing with his friends. When David-Sean is in Cuba he frequently performs with Orlando Canto (flutist and founding member of Los Van Van). In the U.S. David-Sean has performed with
Jesús Díaz and John Calloway.
Back to Top |
|
|
|
|
|
Adam Wood spent the 1980's rocking out in the old San Francisco Broadway club scene with cutting edge bands The Yiddish Dragoons, Bachelor Number One, and occasional guest appearances with Twist and Scream, The Three Mouseguitars, and GASM. Live music took a little hiatus from San Francisco clubs in the late 1980's and early 1990s, so many musicians retreated to various jazz camps in the woods to regroup.
During this musical "Valley Forge", Adam was lucky enough to learn from many of the Bay Area's most talented teachers and performers, including Gordon Fels, Evelyn Mann, Dee Spencer, Ken Rosen, Wayne Wallace, and Rebecca Mauleon. All of these fine musicians have been an inspiration to Adam, who is especially indebted to Wayne and Rebecca for opening his ears to the sounds of Latin music.
For the last few years, Adam played with and learned from the great musicians of Mestizo, and is now enjoying his new collaboration with Oriente.
Back to Top |
|
|
|
  |
Keyboard player, composer and arranger Mike Crager has been involved with music most of his life. Originally from Colorado, he began classical piano studies at the age of seven. Mike began playing jazz in the late 1970's, and worked for several years with small jazz ensembles in Palo Alto and Chicago. He fell in love with Afro-Cuban music when he heard Tito Puente and later Paquito D'Rivera perform at San Francisco's Keystone Korner, and he went on to study with John Santos at the Mission Cultural Center in the early 1980's. After 3 years with the jazz trio Rare Appearance in Chicago, Mike formed a quartet that played Latin jazz in Palo Alto and later played for seven years with San Francisco-based Mestizo. Mike loves to mix traditional and modern music and keep alive the connections between music, dance, lyrics and life!
Back to Top |
|
|
|
  |
Bassist Eugene Warren was born on August 5, 1974 in Othello, Washington but traveled overseas with his family due to his father's military career. His father is an acoustic and electric bass player who encouraged his children to study and explore music at an early age. Piano was Eugene's first instrument but he started playing electric bass at fifteen years old with rock records and garage bands. When he was twenty-one, he began seriously listening to jazz and he switched to acoustic bass. He studied with classical bassists Shinji Eshima and Pat Klobas in order to develop his technique on the double bass. His jazz bass teachers included the great Eugene Wright and Bay Area greats like Jeff Chambers, Marcus Shelby, and Michael Zissman. He completed his Bachelor's of Music in Performance at San Francisco State University in 2005 where he studied and played with Andrew Speight, Dr. Hafez Modzirzadeh, Dr. Dee Spencer, and John Calloway.
Eugene is a versatile bassist with the capacity to absorb and play many musical styles. This includes freelancing and recording in classical and popular styles of straight-ahead jazz, cabaret, avant garde, latin, klezmer, rock, hip hop, and R&B. He has played with many local musicians including Lavay Smith, Faye Carrol, Babatunde Lea, Pete Yellin, Eddie Marshall, Mitch Marcus, Akira Tana, Eddie Duran, Joe Gilman, Tom Peron, Modesto Briseno, Vince Wallace, Richie Howell, Tammy Hall, Ben Adams, Eric Jekabson, Michael Olmos, Matt Clark, Calvin Keys, Smith Dobson Jr. and many more. He also has played with Stefon Harris, Randy Porter, Dina Derose, Sasha Dobson, and Joe Bagg. In the straight-ahead jazz vein, he regularly plays with Andrew Speight Quartet and Vince Lateano trio, which both include the Bay Area pianist, Sam Grobe-Heinz. Eugene's current bands include Kugelplex, which plays kelzmer and Israeli standards, and Los Boleros, which a mixture of Latin styles including traditional son and salsa in the Buena Vista Social Club tradition. In addition, Eugene teaches privately and is faculty at the Stanford Jazz Camp.
Back to Top
|
|
|
|
|
|
Benito Cortez
Back to Top |
|
|
|
 |
Lead vocalist and lyricist Norma Arias is a native of San Francisco's Mission District. Her parents were born in Cd. Guzman, Jalisco (Mexico), birthplace of the Mariachi. During her childhood, her parents filled the house with music from various regions of Mexico and Cuba. Group singing was always a part of family gatherings but Norma did not have an opportunity to sing publicly until she sang with her cousin's mariachi, El Jalisience, which appeared regularly in the local bar La Rondalla in San Francisco.
At the city's Cathedral High School, Norma and two friends formed the a capella group "Shades of Harmony", rearranging current popular tunes in three-part harmony. Since then, she has performed as lead vocalist for San Francisco Latin rock groups Phase II and Mestizo. Norma also sung with the ecclectic Latin groove band Safari, with which she has especially fond memories of performing for Celia Cruz's 80th birthday party and opening the Latin Jazz Festival in Fort Meyers, Florida. Norma has always had an interest in and an appreciation for a wide range of music, and loves using her unique voice to capture the emotion of a song and share it with her audience.
Back to Top |
|
|
|
| |
Back to Top
|
|
|
|
 |
Doug Miner has played trombone since attending elementary school in Belmont, CA, holds a Master's degree in music performance on bass-trombone and has been a public school music teacher since 1976, with teaching experience at all levels. He is a fellow of the California Arts Project, has co-owned two music stores and a sound company (worked with Juice Newton, The Flying Burrito Brothers, the David Grisman Quintet, Rose Maddox, Hank Williams, Jr. and many others).
As a freelance trombonist throughout northern California since 1969, Doug has played or recorded with Maynard Ferguson, Bob Hope, Tony Randal, Anthony Newly, Joel Grey, Richie Cole, Louis Bellson, Mic Gillette, Dave Garibaldi, Roco Prestia, Angela Bofill, Norton Buffalo, Maria Muldaur, Ray Vega, Mark Levine, Jorge Santana, Tito Puente, Jr., Sapo, the Berkeley Symphony Orchestra, the San Francisco Concerto Orchestra, the Carmel Bach Festival Orchestra, the Peninsula Symphony Orchestra, the Full Spectrum Big Band, the Don Piestrup Big Band, the Cuz Cuzno Big Band, the Rudi Castro Big Band, the Matt Schon Big Band, the Rudi Salvini Big Band, the Chops Big Band, the Jose Alfredo Mohica Big Band, the Tuesday Night Live Big Band, and many others.
In addition to playing in Oriente Doug is also a regular with Safari, The Bill Travis Swing Orchestra, a society swing band, and Groove West, a corporate party band. He is also the conductor of the West Bay Community Band.
Back to Top
|
|
|
|
|
|
Percussionist Dominic Cabrera arrived in San Francisco from the Philippines by way of New York City where for a decade he lent his percussive talents to a diverse range of musical projects. From funk to folk, jazz, bossa, samba, salsa, rumba, rock, and pop, Dominic's loose yet articulate style and musical sensitivity make him an asset in any group. NYC club appearances include dates at the Mercury lounge, Arleen's Grocery, Baby Jupiter, Fez, and The Knitting Factory. In addition to regular appearances in the Downtown scene, Dominic also worked as a collaborator and accompanist for dance-theater pieces, most notably "Amerigrant" at Lincoln Center and "Thirteen Movements for Mother" at Brooklyn Arts Exchange. His percussive styling can be heard on many independent releases and as part of the Cuban-music sound track to the independent film "Media Noche."
In addition to playing with Oriente, Dominic is expanding his formidable repertoire of styles as a member of Flamenco music group Potaje. He also plays Afro-Cuban son with Los Boleros and is a founding member of the Bossa/Samba group trio, Dália.
Back to Top |
|
|
|
HomeCalendarBand BiosSong ListAudioGalleryTestimonialsContact Us
|
