Jam Camp West

Ukulele

Kyle received his B.A. in Music from San Francisco State University in 1998. He has been involved in many bands over the years including, reggae, funk hip-hop, rock, jazz and Latin. He is an accomplished musician studying and performing on flute, guitar and voice. Currently he is a member of the Oakland Jazz Choir a professional gigging vocal jazz ensemble. He was director of the Optimist Youth Jazz Band in San Diego a no profit organization for middle and high school students. He has taught all ages from pre-school to high-school in over a ten year span. He lived abroad for a year in France touring and recording with a Gypsy Acid Jazz Band “Buzart”. He has worked with an impressive list of musicians including but not limited too Benny Green, Victoria Theodore, Omar Sosa, Geoff Brennan, Carlton Manning, Jeff Marrs, Walter Bankovitch, Dacaliforniamusicworks.comnya Stevens, Gillian Harwin, Destani Wolf, Tim Bulkley, Scott Thompson and Balboa Becker. californiamusicworks.com

Words and Writing

Reese Bullen is an accomplished drummer, songwriter, sound and audio technician, beatboxer, poet and accomplished educator. He has been serving on both the Jazz Camp West and Jam camp West staff for several years and also works throughout the Bay Area as an instrumentalist as well as equipment and audio technician. When he is not playing music, you might find Reese on his sailboat traveling to some magical place in a far off land.

Rap and Beats

Senior Hip Hop Educator and founder/director of the Women’s Empowerment Department at Hip Hop For Change.

Professional rapper/ singer/ recording artist/ producer signed to Produced by a Girl Records with non-exclusive distribution deals at Equity Distribution and Sony Orchard via I Swim With Sharks.

Founder of Queens of the Underground, an all-women's performance showcase and professional development platform designed to support up-and-coming women-identified artists in all performative elements with an emphasis on Hip Hop culture.

Co-founder of The Bar exam cypher: For Women By Women

Podcaster, comic book creator, event curator, entrepreneur and activist with a mission to create equitable spaces for women in historically male-dominated spaces.

Vocals

Bryan Dyer is a musician with more than 30 years of professional experience. He’s a versatile multi-instrumentalist and vocalist who performs many styles of music from classical and avant-garde to rock, jazz, and blues. Music has taken Bryan around the world to perform in many countries including Japan, Switzerland, Indonesia, and Jamaica, and alongside such artists as Huey Lewis and The News, Michael McDonald, and Carlos Santana. Some of the groups he currently performs with include SoVoSo, Keith Terry & Crosspulse, The Funk Revival Orchestra, Chelle! & Friends, and Bobby McFerrin & MOTION.

Vocals

Lisa Forkish (she/they) is a queer singer-songwriter, community-builder, artivist, song-healer, and self-described “Love Warrior,” infusing all she creates with fierce authenticity and heart. Raised on unceded Kalapuya land (Eugene, OR) among majestic Douglas firs and her motherʻs baby grand piano, Lisa finds magic in that which is unseen but deeply heard and felt.

For the past two decades, Lisa has been using song as both an expressive art and a tool for building connection; their music weaves together lush, dissonant vocal harmonies with honest, life-affirming lyrics to create a musical landscape that nourishes the ears and the soul. Lisa has released four albums of original music, and their latest record is a one-human, all-vocal EP titled “Love Warrior,” featuring seven original songs in musical celebration of the human spirit.

For Lisa, teaching and facilitating music spaces is much more than a job: it is a sacred calling. Whether it be at a festival with hundreds of participants, diving deep with 12 singers, or finding tenderness in a 1:1 session, Lisa shows up with warmth, grace and humor. Lisa has been at the musical helm of six different vocal groups over the past 20 years, and is a sought-after ensemble coach and clinician. She is the creator and facilitator of WeSing Circles, an intergenerational community singing into the movement for our collective liberation. From 2011-2020, Lisa was on faculty at Oakland School for the Arts where she founded and directed five-time national champion high school a cappella group, Vocal Rush; known for their uplifting performances and commitment to music for social change, they were named one of the “YBCA 100” alongside artivists Janelle Monae

Colin Hogan, Accompanist

Colin Hogan was a member of the world renowned Berkeley High School Jazz Ensemble alongside “young lions” Ambrose Akinmusire, Justin Brown, and Thomas Pridgen while also studying with the Jazzschool’s founder, Susan Muscarella.  He then attended Cal State East Bay (Hayward) where he earned a BA in piano performance.

Colin has performed on 5 continents playing everything from jazz, funk, salsa, and hip-hop to tango and Balinese gamelan. He has performed with many legendary jazz musicians including James Moody, Peter Erskine, Bob Brookmeyer, Roy Ayers, and Maria Schneider.  In 2004 he performed with electric bass revolutionary Larry Graham of Sly and the Family Stone at the California Music Awards which was nationally televised. Colin is currently involved in many projects including hip-hop/r+b group Dynamic, local jazz/groove/experimental collective the Jazz Mafia, international cafe music group Trio Zincalo and jazz/funk/fusion band The Hogan Bros. with brothers Steve and Julian. He currently lives in Oakland, CA. talent.entireproductions.com/talent/colin-hogan

Instrumental Ensembles

Daria 'Shani' Johnson is a San Francisco based drummer, singer and multi-instrumentalist. Her style is solid, smooth, dependable and sensual. Her dynamic spirit has earned her the title as one of the most sought-after drummers in the Bay Area.Shani’s appetite to create flourished at a young age.

In Los Angeles, she began playing music while attending elementary school. Excelling in the art form, music became her primary subject. She continued her education at Hamilton High Academy of Music. Awarded a scholarship she went on to Berklee College of Music, where she studied with Victor Mendoza, Larry Finn, Rick Considine, Anne Peckham, Luanne Warner Katz and Joe Hunt. Her exceptional skills with percussion and drums brought her to San Francisco where she co-founded the band London Street. drumdariajohnson.com

Funky Percussion

Patricio Angulo has been residing in the Bay Area since attending UC Berkeley in 1995, where he majored in Molecular & Cell Biology and minored in music. Originally from Los Angeles, he studied classical percussion before discovering the world of Latin rhythms. In the Bay Area, he has studied intensively under world-renowned percussionist Michael Spiro.

He has performed and/or recorded with international and local artists such as Yeni Valdes & Roberton of Los Van Van, Danny Lozada (former lead singer for one of Cuba’s top acts, La Charanga Habanera), Los Tigres del Norte, Dr. Loco and his Rockin’ Jalapeño Band, Fito Reinoso’s Ritmo y Armonia, LoCura, and Rumbaché. His current projects include:

- Musical Director, Founder and Percussionist with the Bay Area’s 11-piece salsa & timba orchestra,
- Rumbaché Timbalero & Musical Director with Fito Reinoso y su Ritmo y Armonia,
- Conguero & Musical Director with the Afro-Cuban Latin Jazz group, The Sonando Project.

Steeldrum

Mark has been teaching steel drum classes in the Bay Area since 1996. He is now co-director of Cazadero Performing Arts Family Camp, where he also teaches. After earning his BA in Music Performance at Humboldt State University in 1992, Mark traveled to Trinidad and performed with Phase 2 Pan Groove during the 1994 annual Panorama competition. He is also currently teaching at East Bay School of Science and Art, Head-Royce School, Joaquin Miller Elementary, and the annual summer jazz program Jazz Camp West. caribbeansteeldrums.com

Instrumental Ensembles

As a musician, Simon has had the great honor of performing with The James Brown Band, El Debarge, Ziggy Modeliste, Elvin Bishop, Pete Escovedo, Vet Stone, Rose Stone, The Angels, Anika Noni Rose, Tom Politzer, Micheal Blankenship, Kevin Levar, Professor Sylvester Henderson, Sylvester Burkes, Kim Waters, John Nemeth, Mads Tolling, Tony Lindsay, Tommy Castro, David Grissom, Lady Bianca, Mitch Woods, EC Scott, Zakiya Hooker, Curtis Lawson, Beverly Stoval and many that are truly remarkable musical phenoms yet to be discovered on a grand scale commercially. In 2007 Simon Russell performed with the Soul Generals in Toronto, Ontario, Canada opening for the Morris Day and The Time.

In 2012, Simon joined Kim Waters to perform for and honor Quincy Jones on Black History Month. In 2013, Simon joined Paula Harris and the Beast of Blues who were awarded a Blues nomination and multiple Blues awards for their release "Turning On The Naughty". Simon is also a prolific composer and songwriter with hundreds of compositions throughout his career, covering many different styles and genres.

In 2018, Simon started a music school for youth and adults called Notes Music Academy as well as a non-profit, Notes for Change, both helping the community to develop and flourish their artistic expression through music education and mentorship.

Hip Hop Dance and Songwriting

Charles Simon has been professionally dancing since the age of 13 for the Golden State Warriors, H&M, Oakland Raiders, and the San Francisco 49ers. He is also a multi-instrumentalist, playing five different instruments including guitar, bass, drums, piano, and voice. Rap also began at an early age while in school using rhymes to express himself. He began to freestyle and perform professionally in high school at age sixteen. While studying music at Santa Fe University of Art and Design Charles joined a rap group named Spacemob Space Cadets. This helped to gain focus on what he wanted to say as an artist and taught him how to work in a musical group as a vocalist. A large part of his rap experience has come from freestyling. Charles has performed with musicians like Zeal Levin as a special guest in the Art and Soul Festival in 2016, Joshua Baronkay, and Reese M Bull.

Instrumental Ensembles

Now a GRAMMY award winning sideman (for work on Beyoncé’s Love on Top), as well as a band leader recently releasing the long anticipated debut album Suite Elemental, Josiah Woodson picked up trumpet at the age of 12. As a product of the Oaktown Jazz Workshop he refined his craft under the private instruction of his late mentor, Khalil Shaheed.

Woodson obtained his Bachelor of Music degree from the Oberlin Conservatory of Music in Ohio, where he studied under Marcus Belgrave. Moving to Boston to receive a Master of Music degree (with academic honors) from the New England Conservatory of Music, Woodson was selected to perform at the Panama Jazz Festival with Danilo Perez, David Sanchez, Victor Paz, and Kurt Rosenwinkel.