Trombanga

TROMBANGA BAND MEMBER'S BIOS

Bud Parker - Trombanga Leader, Arranger and Bass Trombonist:
Bud was origanlly from San Francisco and has been playing trombone since the late 50's. He played and recorded with Stan Kenton in the 60's and went on to play in Nevada in the Las Vegas, Reno, Tahoe triangle where he played in many groups and worked regularily with the Harrah's Club show orchestra. Bud has been in Seattle since the early 1970's where he has played bass trombone with many jazz and show bands. Over the years he has played in show orchestras backing such entertainers are Johnny Mathis, Frank Sinatra, Barbra Streisand, Tony Bennett, Bill Cosby, Andy Williams, Tex Beneke, Ann Richards, and many others.

Malo Castro – Percussionist:
Voted Best Percussionist the past two years at the Kitsap County Music Awards. Malo adds a Latin spice in his 4-Plus, and also worked with the Handy Dullum Fusion Band. With his congas, timbales, and bongos, Malo puts the clave into his Latin band. His music career began when he was 15 years old growing up in Puerto Rice surrounded by Latin music. His desire of Latin jazz was fulfilled when he formed the group “Clave con Jazz”. Kitsap County Music Awards 2000 and 2001, Clave was voted “Best Latin Jazz” as well as “Best Jazz Group”. Malo also promotes the big Salsa bands at Casinos and around the Olympic Peninsula.

Rick White – Bass:
Rick’s background as classically trained composer and jazz bassist combine to make both his compositions and his playing truly unique. His first experiences as bassist were in R & B bands playing clubs all over the Western U.S. giving him strong roots in groove-oriented music. After this he chose to pursue a more formal music education attended Northern Illinois University where he received his masters in Music Composition and then the University of Northern Colorado where he is currently ABD. While in school Rick was a teaching assistant in both the Jazz and Music Theory departments and played in many of the top ensembles. At the UNC groups he received three Downbeat Awards. During Rick’s time at both of these schools he was able to maintain a busy schedule as a sideman as well as back up for many guest artists such as Tito Puente, Clark Terry, Mark Murphy, and Bob Mintzer to name a few. Currently, Rick is the director of Instrumental Music at the Olympic College in Bremerton. There he teaches both years of music theory, Jazz theory, bass lessons, and conducts both the Jazz and Wind ensembles.

Seth Littlefield – Timbales:
Seth is currently finishing his music degree at Central Washington University. He has studied with Steve Smith, Garey Williams, and Chuck Silverman. While in Cuba, Seth studied with Raul “Lali” Brito and Miquel Fernandez. Seth performs, records, and teaches a variety of styles, including jazz orchestra, hip-hop, rock, afro-Cuban and fusion. Seth started on the trap drums and now is the hot on the timbales.

Tim Schartz - Trombone
Born and raised in Kingman, Kansas, Tim picked up his first trombone at age 10 and continued playing and studying classically throughout high school. He discovered Jazz his first year at Kansas State University and played with the KSU combos and big bands until graduation. After gradating with a Mechanical Engineering degree in May'03, he moved to Washington and was hired by Puget Sound Naval Shipyard as a civilian nuclear engineer. He also delights us by playing the conch shell.