Walnut Creek Jazz Band of Walnut Creek, California

The Walnut Creek Jazz Band has been bringing the big band sound to the East Bay for over 23 years. Our audience comes to enjoy live jazz in a wide variety of styles, vocal and instrumental, spanning all eras of jazz through the present day.

The Walnut Creek Jazz Band got its start in 2000 when a “jazz ensemble” music class was offered by the Walnut Creek Civic Arts program under the direction of Mike Rose. The early Walnut Creek Civic Arts Jazz Band was a mix of beginning musicians from middle school, and more advanced musicians from high school and college, as well as experienced adult musicians. The mix of different ages and experience levels is part of the DNA of the band and continues to this day.

During its first year, the Walnut Creek Civic Arts Jazz Band rehearsed in a small classroom in Civic Park and performed its first concerts in the gazebo in Civic Park. In 2001, the band’s rehearsals and performances were relocated to the Shadelands Arts Center, where they remained for the next twenty years.

Over that twenty-year period, the band went through many changes. The Walnut Creek Civic Arts program was rebranded as the Center for Community Arts (CCA), and the band became known as the Walnut Creek Community Arts Jazz Band. The band flourished under a series of excellent band directors, including Max Pricco, Matt Zebley, and Walter Barr, and performed concerts at many Walnut Creek venues and locations, including the Walnut Festival, the Walnut Creek Art and Wine Festival, Walnut Creek Art on the Main, and the Walnut Creek Library.

In March 2020, the Center for Community Arts suspended all in-person music classes due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Classes resumed in September 2021, but about one year later, in August 2022, CCA made the decision to discontinue in-person adult music programs, including the jazz band class.

Under the leadership of its Executive Director, Dr. Jeffrey Mark Paull, the Walnut Creek Jazz Band was reorganized as a 501c3 non-profit music education organization. The newly reformed Walnut Creek Jazz Band began rehearsing on September 15, 2022, at its new rehearsal and performance space in Saint Andrews Presbyterian Church, in Pleasant Hill. Its first concert performance was a Holiday concert at St. Andrews Church on December 17, 2022.

The Walnut Creek Jazz Band has been bringing the big band sound to the East Bay for nearly a quarter of a century. Our audience comes to enjoy live jazz in a wide variety of styles, vocal and instrumental, spanning all eras of jazz through the present day. The band looks forward to thriving in its new home and serving as jazz ambassadors for the City of Walnut Creek and its surrounding communities for many years to come.

band bios

MICHAEL BEVERIDGE, BAND DIRECTOR

Michael Beveridge began his trumpet playing career in high school, where he played first chair throughout his tenure. He got his first paying gig at 15 years old and has been playing ever since. He attended Diablo Valley College, where he played in many ensembles, including the DVC Jazz Ensemble, DVC Symphonic Band, DVC Philharmonic Orchestra, and DVC Brass Ensemble. He then graduated from Los Medanos College with a degree in Liberal Arts and went on to study music education at California State University East Bay. During his time at CSU East Bay, he continued performing in many ensembles, including the CSU East Bay Jazz Orchestra, where he played Lead Trumpet and they got an honorable mention at the Reno Jazz Festival for Outstanding Ensemble.

Outisde of school, Michael has taught continuously, both as a private trumpet instructor, and as a director of various ensembles, from jazz to brass to handbells. He also performs all over the Bay Area, doing pit shows in Berkely, San Jose, Livermore, and on the Peninsula. He's been a side man in many ensembles and groups, and also performed at Great America in their Hot Rhythm Nights Band for two summers.

Michael has a long history with the Walnut Creek Jazz Band. He started off as a trumpet substitute when needed over 10 years ago, and was one of their first calls when a seat needed to be filled. Six years ago, Michael joined the Walnut Creek Jazz Band as their permanent Lead Trumpet player, where he stayed in the position for 5 years. After a one-year hiatus from the band, he has now come back to rejoin the band, not as their lead trumpet, but as their director.

Jeffrey Mark Paull, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

Jeffrey Mark Paull is the Executive Director, lead alto saxophone player and founding member of the Walnut Creek Jazz Band.

Jeff’s interest in playing music began in college. Inspired by the band Chicago, Jeff picked up the trumpet in 1974 and started playing along to records. In 1977 he purchased a second-hand alto sax, and his lifelong love affair with the saxophone began.

Largely self-taught, Jeff played by ear and didn’t learn to read music until he began taking saxophone lessons in the late 1990s. He continued his music studies at Diablo Valley College (DVC), where he played alto and tenor sax in the DVC Jazz Ensemble and various jazz combos for sixteen years, while studying with some of the Bay Area’s most notable saxophonists, including Guido Fazio, Mary Fettig, Zac Johnson, Alex Murzyn, Max Pricco, Rory Snyder, and Matt Zebley. Jeff also formed his own jazz combo, Alter Ego and Friends.

Jeff’s history with the Walnut Creek Jazz Band began in 2000 when he joined the newly formed Walnut Creek Civic Arts Jazz Band, later rebranded the Walnut Creek Center for Community Arts Jazz Band. Jeff’s sons, Justin and Joshua, played saxophone in the band throughout middle and high school.

In 2022, following the termination of the Center for Community Arts’ adult music classes, Jeff played a crucial role in keeping the Walnut Creek Jazz Band intact and reorganizing it as an independent 501c3 non-profit music education organization. Under Jeff’s stewardship, the band has strengthened its ties to the Walnut Creek community. In April 2024, the band raised over $4,400 for the Walnut Creek Arts + Rec scholarship fund through a benefit concert at the Dean Lesher Center.

Joyce grant, vocalist

Joyce Grant singer/songwriter, determined at an early age that she was going to be a singer and spent her elementary and high school days performing in choir and musical theater. She is the great-great-niece of famed ragtime composer Scott Joplin and has written lyrics to four of his songs. She has participated in the West Coast Ragtime Festival for several years. She was the lead vocalist for City Swing Big Band from 2007 until it disbanded in 2023. She is now the lead vocalist for the Walnut Creek Jazz Band. In 2020 Joyce was featured in Down Beat Magazine. She has been singing jazz in the Bay Area venues for over 30 years. A mezzo-soprano with a voice like "dark honey", Grant has a performance resume which includes a wide range of venues including The Donatello Hotel in San Francisco, Sam's Chowder House in Half Moon Bay, Nick's in Pacifica, the Sticky Rice in Fairfield, Carneros in Napa, Slates in Walnut Creek, Joe’s of Lafayette, and the Woodminster Amphitheater just to name a few. Born in Texarkana, the town where Scott Joplin was raised, Grant moved to Oakland as a child where she started singing with the North Oakland Baptist Church Youth Choir. Since that time she has earned the respect of singers and musicians alike performing professionally in San Francisco, the East Bay, Walnut Creek, Napa Valley and beyond. Her unique shows consist of a blend of jazz, blues, country western, Rhythm and Blues, and funk. Her vocal interpretations range from sensitive to powerful to cheeky over a broad spectrum of charts. Joyce Grant is a member of ASCAP.

Kerwin Lee, Flute

A native of the Bay Area and son of a saxophone player that was a member of an all Asian Big Band in the 1930-50's, The Cathayans. You can say music in the genes. Did not start learning jazz until retirement. The current musical journey has been fun and exciting. I am lucky to be a part of the The Walnut Creek Jazz Band and adding a flute section to the group. Having a dedicated flute section in a big band is unusual. I do have to write the flute parts, which gives me the opportunity to pick the best parts, but to supplement and support the band.

Paul Joseph, Flute

Introduced to the joys of music performance on the piano as a middle schooler, Paul started his jazz career on the alto saxophone in high school. While his love of jazz grew in his adult years, he did not keep up the saxophone. But he reconnected with the woodwind family when he discovered his wife's old flute and decided to try it out. Before too long he came to love the voice of his new instrument.

Paul moved to the Bay Area with his family in 2018, and had the great fortune of connecting with the vibrant East Bay jazz community. The Walnut Creek Jazz Band provides him with a first-class venue for musical expression, growth, and collaboration.

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