Mark Martin - Piano / Organ / Keyboards

Mark Martin began playing piano expertly at an age where most kids are playing with Superman or Batman. Mark immersed himself within the works of Beethoven and Mozart while embarking into the study of composition and winning the MTNA National Composition Award at the age of eight. He went on to win six more National Composition Awards before turning 18 years old. In high school Mark picked up brass instruments and quickly accelerated into one of the top ensemble players in competition. Mark attended the University of Wisconsin in Oshkosh majoring in Piano and immersed himself in the compositions of Chopin, Lizst, Scriabin, and Rachmaninoff. It was in college when Mark developed his philosophy of "injuring humans with music," which is now immensely palpable to anyone who can listen with their eyes and feet.

In the past five years Mark has indulged in electronic music as well as studying and performing jazz and funk. All of these styles align in juxtaposition with his classical background to provide a lyricism that is painfully funky or sweetly sad. It can be ferocious or mellow, and it is always highly enjoyable. Mark is currently living in Oshkosh, Wisconsin while working and touring with the Jazz Orgy and Soul System.

Andy Mertens - Bass / Vocals

Andrew Mertens began his professional career at age sixteen playing nine shows a week for a local dinner theater, while also performing sporadically with various rock bands. Following a pit orchestra stint, he worked with a glam metal band, an outlaw biker band, and subbed with various blues and rock bands. Andrew spent the early part of the nineties studying classical music and performing with the Lawrence University Symphony Orchestra while delving into jazz. He is a 1998 graduate of the Lawrence University's Conservatory of Music, earning a bachelor of music performance.

Throughout college Andrew maintained an impressive performance schedule playing five to ten gigs per week with groups of unfixed styles; jazz, rock, blues, polka, reggae, dixieland, country, funk, and on and on. Most recently Andrew has performed with the Broadway touring companies: "Fiddler on the Roof" and "Beauty and the Beast." In 1999 played for the Shirley Jones Christmas Special, and toured the country with both the "Jan Garber Orchestra," and the gypsy swing group "Harmonious Wail." Andrew is currently living in Oshkosh, Wisconsin and teaches at a small liberal arts college while maintaining a private studio, and is working and touring with the Jazz Orgy.

Mark Powers - Percussion

At the age of sixteen, after an accelerated high school graduation, Mark Powers moved to Minneapolis, where he studied drumset performance for two years at Music Tech. He has taken private lessons and/or masterclasses with Gordy Knudtson (of the Steve Miller Band), Marv Dahlgren (co-author of 4-Way Coordination), Paul Wertico (of the Pat Metheny Group) and the legendary Ed Thigpen.

Since leaving Music Tech with a diploma in Professional Percussion Performance, Mark has divided his time between teaching and performing.

As a private drumset instructor, he currently maintains a roster of about 50 students in Oshkosh, Wisconsin. Also conducting group percussion programs, Mark is often Artist-in-Residence at area elementary and middle schools- facilitating hand drum circles, leading ‘Junk Jam’ workshops, teaching West African drumming styles and directing percussion ensembles.

Stretching internationally, Mark has performed and/or studied percussion in China, Thailand and Ghana, West Africa.

Mark’s continually growing list of performing and recording credits covers the full gamut of styles, including appearances with Corey Sterling (Kenny Wayne Shepherd), Rick Nielsen (Cheap Trick), Devon Evans (Bob Marley and the Wailers), the late Frankie Yankovic, Jack Grassel, Bob Maynard, Bob Ventre, Bob Levy and John Daniel, among many others. He has worked musically with Hollywood Images, the Ronald McDonald House, Oshkosh B’Gosh, Narrator Tracks, the Aveda/Horst Institute, the Minnesota Twins and the Delta Queen Steamboat Company.

Along with current and former bandmates, Mark has played shows with Head East, The Radiators, Lee Rocker, Buckwheat Zydeco, Junior Brown, Brave Combo and Pat Benatar.

Mark has written for Percussive Notes and Fever Pitch magazines, The Healthy Independent Newspaper and has published seven percussion compositions- all available from R.G.M., LLC online at www.reallygoodmusic.com

He also holds the Guinness World Record for Longest Drum Roll by a Group- a title shared with colleagues Patrick Flanigan, Peter Buxman and Namiah Tribolini.

Mike Underwood - Tour Drummer

There's something amazing about Mike Underwood. Nobody knows exactly what it is, but everybody knows it's there. Maybe it's his collegiate classical training and his frequent performances with most of the regional syphonies and wind ensembles... or maybe it's the jazz chops he developed while performing with the band Omikronica... or maybe it's his extensive experience with steel drums in the band Pandora's Groove... but most likely, it's the energy and charisma that he brings to the stage for every performance. His commitment to practice and learning yields incredible musical tensions and releases, it's a musical catharsis.

Steve Cooper - Saxophones / Vocals

For the love of God, would someone please write a biography for Steve Cooper?!

Erin Krebs - Jazz Vocalist

Flat out, this chick has a set of pipes. Her vocals bring forth images of smoky bars with drunk yet good-looking admirers cheering on from the back of the room at the close of every phrasing... which, by some strange coincidence, is exactly the place where you can see her next.

Heavily into older standards, Erin can change at will and at whim midstream to either the classic rendition of a song to something more modern and forceful. Federal officials have banned her from performing in the state of California, as her raspy beltings consistently rate a 4.2 on the Richter scale.