The Half Moon Band

Hailing from Half Moon Bay, CA the Half Moon Band is a fun, high energy band serving up an eclectic blend of jazz standards and pop/rock crossover tunes in their own unique style. Patty Dougherty on vocals, Luis Rojas on guitar, Alan Lee on keys, Peter Dippery on drums and John Higham on bass form the lineup of this versatile group, and a good time is had by all.

Patty Dougherty started singing before she could walk. Coming from a family of talented musicians and singers this was not unusual. Her mother was an accomplished classical and jazz pianist as well as a torch singer. Her brother, Rick Dougherty, was the wonderful tenor of the Limelighters, and now is one of the Kingston Trio. Patty herself is a versatile vocalist, having sung classical, rock, folk, opera and gospel over the last 40 years, and now brings her considerable talent to jazz here on the central coast. She has performed with her own band, Midlife Crisis, from venues throughout the central coast to Club Fox in Redwood City, as well as in theater, radio and recording projects. She is a high energy entertainer who always gets the audience going with her style and verve.

Luis Rojas has been active in the Northern California music scene as bandleader, sideman, and guitar instructor since moving to the Bay Area from Los Angeles. He loves to combine jazz, blues, and latin influences to create a unique and personal sound. Luis studied at Dick Grove's School of Music in Los Angeles and at The Jazz School in Berkeley (now the California Jazz Conservatory). He also studied with Mimi Fox, Warren Nunes, Jeff Massanari, and Rick Vandivier. He has played with Equinox, Caribe, The Bruce Wells Quartet, Darrell Harris Band, Déjà vu, Flashpoint, Fusion Blue, The Luis Rojas Jazz Quartet and Luis Rojas Quintet and Spectrum, performing in such venues as Angelica’s, The Half Moon Bay Pumpkin Festival, the Fairmont Hotel, Scott’s Seafood, Mezza Luna, USC, UCSB, CSM and Canada College, as well as Mariner's Community Church and Peninsula Covenant Church. And he has recorded at the Record Plant in LA, Media Arts in Redondo Beach and Alley Cat Studios in Pasadena.

Alan Lee started playing piano at age 8, begging his parents for piano lessons after hearing his older sister practicing hers. At age 10 he took up french horn, playing in the symphonic band through high school. It was also during his high school years that he was first introduced to jazz, playing piano in the Carlmont HS jazz band. Later as an adult, Alan took up tenor sax, studying for several years with jazz saxophonist Sonya Jason. He has also studied music at the College of San Mateo playing piano in the CSM all-star jazz combo, and saxophone in the jazz big band. He has continued advanced jazz piano studies with Art Lande and Randy Porter. In addition to the Half Moon Band, Alan currently gigs as a solo pianist, and with the groups Vivace, a sax/flute and keyboard duo; the Montara Jazz Trio, a classic piano/bass/drums trio; Jazz Con Fuzion, a funk/fusion quartet; and Mojazz, the house band of the Pacifica Performing Arts Center.

John Higham has been involved in music, recording and theatre performance all his life. He started with classical piano, moving on to rock and jazz guitar, attending Howard Roberts seminars at GIT in Los Angeles. Having studied upright bass with Seward MCain, and electric bass at the California Jazz Conservatory in Berkeley, he now plays bass in jazz and Latin groups in the Bay Area, including the Blue Flamingo Quartet, JazzOnTheGo, The Half Moon Band, and other groups and big bands. He has also had an album of synthesized music that he composed distributed in the USA, and he currently spends a good deal of energy on recording and music production through his home studio.

Peter Dippery started playing drums at 9 but really got into it in highschool. He studied a variety of music styles under the instructor Mike Curotto. As a 17 year old, Peter performed with his highschool jazz ensemble at the Montreal Jazz Festival and North Sea Jazz Festival during a two-week tour of Europe back in 1980-something. At Montreaux he took a drum solo on the chart entitled Time Check, that … in retrospect … was way too long. He was 17. Enough said. Later he joined Up With People for a one year tour of North America and Europe where he played in a wide variety of venues including rest homes, high schools, a prison, an opera house, a soccer arena, the Queen of Spain’s driveway, the Daytona 500 and the Dominion Day Celebration in Canada. After a brief hiatus, Peter found himself on a walkabout in Nicaragua when he was asked to play with a spirited band on the back of a flat bed truck. These days Peter is very happy to be living on the coast and playing often with the many talented musicians who live nearby, including Mojazz, The Cypress Jazz Trio and The Legacy Jazz Ensemble.

We have all of our own equipment and everything that makes for a successful performance.

You only need to supply electrical power outlet (preferably one circuit of 20 Amps) and protection from weather if playing outdoors.

Sufficient set up space (10' deep x 12' wide)