The Acoustic Jazz Quartet

Short Bios for the AJQ
(click on the performer's name for more detailed information)

David Sills:
Chosen as an L.A. Times "Best Bet", David is making a name for himself as one of the finest young jazz musicians in the L.A area. "It was soon apparent that Sills, 26, is not your usual young saxophonist. His airy well-pitched sound carries hints of Stan Getz and Lester Young, and he plays with a patience that speaks of maturity. He goes straight to the heart of a lyric, forgoing the flashy excess of youth, developing the story line during his solos with touches of warm melodicism and the occasional flurry of notes."- Bill Kolhase In the L.A. Times. David's commitment to the integrity of the music is shown in numerous CDs on Naxos Jazz and Origin Arts. ". . . a meeting of Stan Getz and Joe Henderson, a style in which smooth reserve and technical ability combine in a single cool-to-the bone sound."- LA Times

Jamie Findlay:
Jamie Findlay began playing guitar at the age of 8. He has performed in almost all types of music; pop, country western, swing, jazz, Brazilian, or latin, folk, classical. He's played with Frank Sinatra Jr, Dan Seals, Dash Crofts, and Red Grammer; has recorded with Buddy Childers, Tierney Sutton, Steve Huffstetter, the Acoustic Jazz Quartet, a group started with the other members in the mid 90's, among others. He has traveled and performed in Europe, South East Asia, Brazil, China, Japan, Central America, and in most of the US. He is an active music educator having given guitar workshops all over the world, with several years at USC, and is currently an instructor at Musicians Institute in Hollywood. Jamie has also written 6 books on music, and has 2 instructional videos published by Hal Leonard/Star Licks.

Zac Matthews:
A native of Great Britain, now residing in Los Angeles, Zac Matthews is making fast work of an exciting career in the LA Jazz Scene. He has performed with such jazz greats as Pete Christlieb, Bill Watrous, Henry Mancini, Bobby Shew, Bud Shank, Rob McConnel and Gary Foster among others. Zac has performed all over the country and all over the world. He has performed a wide variety of styles; jazz, rock, classical, musicals, movie scores, dixieland, zydeco, folk etc.Zac credits study with John Clayton, Christopher von Bayer, Ray Brown, François Rabbath and Paul Ellison as the biggest influences in his development as well as having the opportunity to work directly with the likes of Branford, Wynton and Ellis Marsalis, James Moody, John Heard, Phil Woods, Howard Roberts, Milt Jackson, Mel Lewis, Dennis Irwin, Hal Galper and many others. Zac has Bass Performance and Music Theory/History degrees from Washington State University and a Masters degree in Jazz Studies from the University of Southern California.

Dean Koba:
Dean Koba is originally from Honolulu, Hawaii. His studies led him to Illinois where he earned his Bachelor of Music in percussion performance from Northwestern University. Dean received his Master’s Degree in Music at the University of Southern California (USC) where he was a graduate assistant in the Jazz studies department teaching jazz history and private drumset instruction. Dean studied privately with Jeff Hamilton, Joe Labarbera , and Greg Field

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