Todd Volker - Drums
Todd has played drums with Close Harmony for the past 12 years.
Julie Sussman, a.k.a. "Julie Sax" - Tenor Sax and Flute
Julie grew up in New York. She attended Berklee College of Music in Boston and studied with legendary masters Joe Viola, Jerry Bergonzi, Herb Pomeroy, and Phil Wilson, among others, honing her jazz skills. Her almost 20-year span playing Latin music in New York solidified her command of tight horn section playing. Now she is a California resident where she plays a variety of musical genres, ranging from saxophone quartets to small jazz ensembles to swing bands to original R&B groups to blues bands to tribute bands to cabaret show bands and -- most recently -- with Close Harmony.
Bruce Gallucci - Alto Sax, Clarinet, Flute and Vocal
Bruce is also Close Harmony’s Musical Director. Bruce started out in Boston by attending Berklee College of music and played with some of the most popular club bands in Boston during the 70s. He then went into the Navy Band where he spent a few years touring Europe with the various Navy Show Bands and Jazz Combos before he transferred to the Navy Band San Francisco as a performer and a band leader. He moved to Southern California in the early 80s where he has since played with many Orange County and Los Angeles bands. Some have even said he occasionally sings like Louie “Satchmo” Armstrong.
Frank Schatz - Bass
Frank Schatz started on guitar but soon switched to bass at thirteen. He began gigging while in school and toured Hawaii with a high school group. He has continued working locally and also finding time to make tours throughout the U.S. His main love is jazz but he has worked in the rock, country, R&B, and blues field. He has appeared at Disneyland, the House of Blues , the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, the Hard Rock Hotel in Las Vegas ,and the Central Avenue Jazz Festival to name a few. He is adept at both bass guitar and the upright bass.
featuring Margo McCrae
Chuck Shirley - Trumpet, Flugelhorn and Vocals
Chuck began playing trumpet at the age of 10 while attending a catholic school in Nebraska. When his family moved to California, Chuck met up with band leader Ed Dykes who had a 10-piece band named “The Bell-Aires” who took Chuck under his wing and into his band for the next 30 years. During his tenure with The Bell-Aires, Chuck played all over Southern California in places such as the Beverly Hills Hotel, the Queen Mary, the Disneyland Hotel, the Brown Derby and many more. During that time he branched out and began singing and occasionally playing drums when the drummer would come out to sing making him a very versatile member of Close Harmony.
Rob Kilgore - Baritone Sax, Alto Sax and Flute
In High School, Rob played at the Hollywood Bowl “Battle of the Bands” with Long Beach Poly High’s jazz band that took sweepstakes in 1968. He played with the Long Beach City College jazz band and the Neophonic jazz band behind Don Ellis, Stan Kenton, and Tom Scott. He also, played at several past New Year’s Eves at Catalina’s Avalon Ballroom with theYachtsmen Big Band. On occasion, Rob has played in bands backing up the likes of Donald O’Connor, Tommy Smothers, and Billy Barty. Rob continues to play in several big and little big bands.
Close Harmony
Meet The Band.....
Celine You - Piano
Celine You fell in love with the piano as a young girl in her native South Korea. After earning her Bachelor of Music degree at Yonsei University, she became fascinated with jazz and so followed its calling to Boston and Berklee College of Music, where she graduated with a degree in Piano Performance. Next, she moved to New York City to become the first Korean to earn a master’s degree in Jazz Performance from the Manhattan School of Music. After spending time performing in NYC clubs, Celine returned to Korea and influenced scores of young musicians as Professor of Piano at JEI University. In 2017, Ms. You relocated with her husband and two children to Southern California, where Close Harmony, among other groups, was able to benefit from her skills at the keyboard.
official website
Margo McCrae - Lead Vocalist
Margo started studying voice at the age of 14 and continued through high school and college year under the direction of Dr. Maurice Allard at the University of California at Irvine. Her professional career took off as she made her transition into the contemporary pop music scene performing on stages from Los Angeles to Las Vegas. One of Margo's career changing experiences, at an early age, was performing with a full orchestra at the Hollywood Bowl. From that point on she loved working with big bands and is the former lead vocalist with the legendary Tex Beneke Orchestra. Margo currently performs throughout Orange County with numerous bands.a Little Big Band
Tom Cunningham - Trumpet and Flugelhorn
Tom is one of the newest members of Close Harmony. Tom's musical aspirations began at the age of 5 and after two years of learning piano, he fell in love with the cornet. With the exception of the 5 years Tom served as a field artillery officer in the US Army, he has been playing trumpet ever since. Over the years he has played in concert with national recording artists such as Ramsey Lewis, Don Menza, Alan Vizutti and Bobby Shew. Tom has also performed with SoCal musical legends such as Frank Potenza, Ron Kobayashi, Graham Dechter, Luther Hughes, Mark Massey, Edmund Velasco, Barry Zweig, Andy Martin and Matt Fronke, making Tom a much sought-after lead trumpet player.
Darrel Anderson - Trombone
Darrel grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area and began playing in various club bands during the 70s. His experience includes his performing throughout the western states and Canada. Darrel was an integral part of some of the bands that opened concerts for Tower of Power, The Pointer Sisters, Toto, Cold Blood, The Doobie Brothers and more during the 70s. Darrel currently lives in Orange County playing with different groups around the south land.