Close Harmony

Top quality musicians with years of experience...professional and fun to work with
check out our website for more songs and videos....(link hidden)
We offer a great variety from jazz and big band swing to even more current tunes..plus we have three great singers that can sing all the favorite songs

Bruce Gallucci - Alto Sax, Clarinet, Flute and Vocal
Bruce is also Close Harmony’s Musical Director. Bruce started out in Boston by attending Berklee College of music and played with some of the most popular club bands in Boston during the 70s. He then went into the Navy Band where he spent a few years touring Europe with the various Navy Show Bands and Jazz Combos before he transferred to the Navy Band San Francisco as a performer and a band leader. He moved to Southern California in the early 80s where he has since played with many Orange County and Los Angeles bands. Some have even said he occasionally sings like Louie “Satchmo” Armstrong.

Rusty Gillette - Piano
Rusty has been performing on piano in the Southern California area for over 25 years at exclusive venues such as Newport Beach’s Bayside Restaurant; Oyster’s Restaurant and Brussels’s Bistro. Rusty has toured extensively with The Stan Kenton Reunion Band in Hawaii and also performed at landmark establishments such as The Getty Museum, The Kennedy Performing Arts Center in Washington, D.C., The Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, the Ford Theater, The Palace of Fine Arts in San Francisco, the Avalon Ballroom on Catalina Island and the Orange County Performing Arts Center. Rusty has worked with many well-known artists as well, including vocalist Stephanie Haynes and bassists Jack Prather, Luther Hughes and Baba Elephante.

Ken Sherman - Baritone Sax and Flute
Ken started playing music at the age of 5, and studied clarinet and sax at the Wurlitzer School in NYC. While still in high school, Ken played at many Catskill Mountain resorts in New York (the "Borscht Belt") behind many well-known singers and comedians performing there. More recently, he played in a big-band led by Llew Matthews behind Nancy Wilson, at a concert in Palm Springs. A charter member of the National Flute Association, he performed in August 2007 and again in August 2011 with Holly Hoffman, Ali Ryerson, and others in a jazz concert at the NFA Convention. Ken continues to perform and record with various bands and ensembles.

Bob Messenger - Tenor Sax and Flute
Bob originally started his professional music career playing with Stan Worth, Skiles & Henderson, The Lancers and many jazz groups in Southern California. Bob is best known for his work with the Carpenters where his sax and flute solos can be heard on many of the Carpenters' Hits, including "Rainy Days and Mondays," "This Masquerade” and many others. In addition to club dates with jazz groups, Bob has performed with the Saddleback CLO orchestra for eight seasons of musicals; the Community Symphony at Chapman University and Richard Carpenter and the Pacific Symphony at Carpenters' Hall at California State University Long Beach.

Margo McCrae - Lead Vocalist
Margo started studying voice at the age of 14 and continued through high school and college year under the direction of Dr. Maurice Allard at the University of California at Irvine. Her professional career took off as she made her transition into the contemporary pop music scene performing on stages from Los Angeles to Las Vegas. One of Margo's career changing experiences, at an early age, was performing with a full orchestra at the Hollywood Bowl. From that point on she loved working with big bands and is the former lead vocalist with the legendary Tex Beneke Orchestra. Margo currently performs throughout Orange County with numerous bands.

Hal Willis - Trumpet and Flugelhorn
Hal started playing trumpet at the age of 10 and broke into his professional light when his four piece group won a sweepstakes at the Hollywood Bowl “Battle of the Bands” in 1961. Competing with hundreds of other bands from throughout California, and in front of judges like Stan Kenton and Henri Mancini, Hal also won an award for “Outstanding Instrumental Soloist”. He has since continued on to recording sessions at several Los Angeles studios for major vocalists, orchestra work for many theater productions locally and continues to work with numerous bands throughout Orange County.

Frank Schatz - Bass
Frank Schatz started on guitar but soon switched to bass at thirteen. He began gigging while in school and toured Hawaii with a high school group. He has continued working locally and also finding time to make tours throughout the U.S. His main love is jazz but he has worked in the rock, country, R&B, and blues field. He has appeared at Disneyland, the House of Blues , the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, the Hard Rock Hotel in Las Vegas ,and the Central Avenue Jazz Festival to name a few. He is adept at both bass guitar and the upright bass.

Chuck Shirley - Trumpet, Flugelhorn and Vocals
Chuck began playing trumpet at the age of 10 while attending a catholic school in Nebraska. When his family moved to California, Chuck met up with band leader Ed Dykes who had a 10-piece band named “The Bell-Aires” who took Chuck under his wing and into his band for the next 30 years. During his tenure with The Bell-Aires, Chuck played all over Southern California in places such as the Beverly Hills Hotel, the Queen Mary, the Disneyland Hotel, the Brown Derby and many more. During that time he branched out and began singing and occasionally playing drums when the drummer would come out to sing making him a very versatile member of Close Harmony.

Darrel Anderson - Trombone
Darrel grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area and began playing in various club bands during the 70s. His experience includes his performing throughout the western states and Canada. Darrel was an integral part of some of the bands that opened concerts for Tower of Power, The Pointer Sisters, Toto, Cold Blood, The Doobie Brothers and more during the 70s. Darrel currently lives in Orange County playing with different groups around the south land.

Todd Volker - Drums
Todd has played drums with Close Harmony for the past 12 years.

We have all of our own equipment and can either play on a stage or on the floor