Mellani Day - Vocalist/Songwriter

          Mellani has been singing all her life.  From home to church to school she was involved in and surrounded by singing and playing music.  Her main instrument is her voice, but she gets by on the piano and can strum a few chords on the guitar as well.  She grew up in California, where she developed her love for the ocean, sun and sand, which is reflected in many of her songs.  Mellani moved to Germany as a young adult for adventure and to see the world, so it wasn’t until college that she started writing songs.  She soon began to seek out musicians to back her up in a variety of settings.  She played keyboard and sang covers at student and community events with “The Administration Blues Band” at the international college she worked at in Heidelberg, Germany in 1992.  Living in Europe exposed Mellani to a variety of world-musical styles which she desires to incorporate into her songs.  She relocated to Denver in 1994, continued to write and perform at various songwriter sessions.  In 1998 she joined “Live Wire” a working blues band in Denver that included some of her original songs in their sets.  Since 2002, Mellani has also been playing a regular weekly gig in Aurora, CO, with the Experience Band, which occasionally plays some of her original music.  Eventually the drive to focus on original music that incorporated all of the musical influences she loves, classic vocal jazz, rock, blues, and Latin and reggae/island beats – led her to form her own band, Dazed, comprised of five other musicians that come from backgrounds of jazz, folk and rock.  Dazed beautifully expresses the joy, life issues, and intelligence in her songs.  Mellani has recorded one CD/EP with three songs, which is being distributed by Indiego’s Artist1Stop, and she is currently working on a full-CD project with Dazed.  Dazed had their debut and CD release party this Spring at Dazzle in Denver.

  Keith Whiting - Drums

     Keith started playing in 1985, he played with his High School Jazz Band, Concert Band, Marching Band, and Pep Band for four years.  He moved on to Rutgers University where he performed with the marching band for four more years becoming "Drumline Leader" his last two years of college.  Also while in college, he joined several local garage bands and one acoustic trio, "Illustrated Man".  He has recorded two full-length albums and a number of single tracks with various groups and local bands.  Since 2002, Keith has been performing a weekly gig at the Experience, and has been playing with Dazed since November of 2003.  He is also currently teaching about a half dozen young people their way around a drum-set.

    Michael Willis -- Bass

Michael has played with many notable jazz musicians as well as leading his own ensembles in and around Washington D.C, Baltimore, and Philadelphia.  He has composed for modern dance, in both the United States and abroad, and has extensive recording studio experience both as a musician and producer.    He studied piano and music theory with David R. Karr and Double Bass, composition, and music theory with bassist/composer Terry Plumeri in Washington D.C. where he lived for over 20 years before moving to Boulder, CO.  Michael also regularly plays in a Jazz Duo, Epistrophy, with Otto Koch.

 

    Jerry Weiss -- Keyboard

Jerry Weiss has been into music since his grandmother gave him a 78 rpm record at age 6. His musical interests are wide ranging - playing just about anything he could get his hands on over the years including piano, clarinet, sax, flute, digeridoo, bass guitar, and guitar – with jazz piano being his favorite expressive medium.  He counts Chick Corea, McCoy Tyner, and Bill Evans as his primary jazz-piano influences.  Jerry holds a Bachelor of Music degree from the Lamont School of Music where, under a scholarship grant, he studied jazz piano with Eric Gunnison and jazz composition and arranging with Dave Hanson. His compositions have been recognized by concert-selection and awards.  Jerry is an in-demand freelance musician and has played in many local groups including : Colorado Jazz Workshop, Pau Brazil, Flatirons Jazz, The Usual Suspects, Ron Ivory's One on One, Balance, Donna Wickham Trio, the Metropolitan Jazz Orchestra, Linda Styles, and the John Hines Quartet; He is the leader of the Peneplain Jazz Project, has worked with internationally know artists Greg Abate and Marguerritte Jeunemann (of Rare Silk) and opened for Maynard Ferguson and Eddie Palmieri.

 

               

                Jamie Krutz - Guitarist, Electric Violin, Vocalist/Songwriter

                Jamie brings a whole new perspective to Dazed with his music and his skill at a variety of instruments!  There's so much to say about Jamie that he has a whole website!  Learn more about him at:  www.jamiekrutz.com