Soulpower

everyone will dance to soulpower....guaranteed

Tommy Banks - lead vocal
Born on the bayou in Louisiana, Tommy Banks grew up listening to the old greats of Rhythm and Blues. " My Momma used to listen to those old 78's, while she was cooking or cleaning the house. I heard Big Momma Thornton, Bobby ' Blue' Bland, and Muddy Waters. Later, I heard Ray Charles, Otis Redding, Sam Cooke, and The Temptations. If my Momma liked a song she would play it over and over." Tommy learned the art of singing a soul song from those old cuts being played repeatedly, "That's how I learned to listen to every nuance of a singer's performance." Tommy makes a living writing songs for radio and television commercials.

Ian Willson - alto & tenor sax
Ian grew up listening to seventies jazz and soul. He played in the infamous Berkeley High Jazz ensemble, studied tenor sax with Joe Henderson. He has been teaching local students music lessons on woodwinds, drums, and keyboards. He has written 32 symphonies, several pieces for string quartets & produced an album of Jazz and pop originals. Ian has played in various bands since 1975, including Ed Kelly, Frank Martin, Bobby Freeman, Brenda Vaughn, Napata Mero, Gwen Majors, Stephanie Teel, the Toasters, Prime Time, Counterpoint, Pure Pleasure, Midnight Taxi, Shake, Little Sister, and the Hollywood Swingers. He is the creator and musical director for his latest project "Soul Power", the Bay Area's newest funk and R&B review.

Don Beck - trumpet
Originally from Stockton, Don is one of the most in demand trumpet players in the Bay Area. Don also plays guitar and loves to play jazz.

Robert Todd - baritone sax
Robert comes to us well versed in sight reading classical, Jazz, and R&B, having played in many professional bands and Jazz ensembles, including a full jazz/pop orchestra backing Linda Ronstadt.

David Rokeach - drums
David has played in many San Francisco bands over the decade and has gone on the road with Ray Charles and
Charlie Musselwhite.

Richard Martin- guitar
Born in San Francisco and growing up in the melting pot of the bay area, Richard has developed a rich and diverse musical style. Having so many different cultures in the area made it easy to be exposed to many styles of music: blues, rock, jazz, funk, and latin.

Allen Leong - keyboards
Originally from Honolulu, Allen arrived on the San Francisco music scene in 1994. He got his start as a child, copying his older siblings' piano lessons by ear, and is currently enjoying creating the strangely appropriate beeps and whooshing sounds of the band's dance and techno songs.

Scott Willson - bass
Scott grew up in the seventies learning music from his older brother Ian, & playing in Berkeley High Jazz band. Scott has played well over a thousand gigs in the Bay Area with the Mark Steidel Band and other show bands covering weddings, Bar/Bat Mitzvahs, company parties, country clubs, and night clubs. He has been on tour with Bobby Freeman in Reno, and all over California. Scott holds an AA in Music, and has studied music theory, and poly-rhythms from a mathematical point of view. He also currently teaches math and music club at Berkeley High School.

Dave Gregoric -trombone
Dave played with Pete Escovedo for 20 years. He is now an educator and has taught at Stanford and the Marin School for the Arts.

we provide a PA system, iPod and Cd player, and wireless mic for announcements.