Rio Fiumara and Tom Armbruster have been performing together for more than 6 years in various settings and venues. Tom, originally from Pittsburgh, PA, is a versatile pianist and vocalist who also writes originals. He has written and arranged music for a number of Disney music projects including a Disney CD, "Crazy Classics", a very humorous introduction to classical music for children, Sesame Street, Ren and Stimpy, TV productions accompanied Jim Carrey in the movie "Man on the Moon". He is a music teacher and also stays busy as a studio session player.
Tom's original songs evoke Dave Frishberg's quirky style of writing and delivery with offerings such as "Totally Hot",       "The Big One", "Money", "Invisible Beings" and "My Favorite Whines".

Rio is a chiropractor. He began playing sax at the age of 9 in Massachusetts.  Shortly after arriving in California in 1958 he formed a 6-piece band with school friends and began playing gigs almost immediately.  Except for one hiatus in the 70s he has played steadily throughout southern California. About 8 years ago he joined Big Band Staff, a 17-piece jazz band and soon after the band started playing on Monday nights at Steamers Cafe.  Now the band is known as Arlene and the Guys and continues to appear on the third Monday of every month at Steamers. For the 2000 millennium he performed in Bangkok, Thailand in a jazz quartet as part of the Jimmy Dorsey Orchestra. The King of Thailand, a sax and clarinet player and avid big band fan, invited the orchestra to play for a large bash at the Oriental Hotel.  There were 650 international guests who partied from 7:30PM until 3:30AM.  It was a highlight experience.  Rio's musical influences include Paul Desmond, Cannonball Adderly, Stan Getz, Zoot Sims and Phil Woods.

Tony Presti is a great drummer who hails from Detroit, MI.  Tony grew up in the San Gabriel Valley and has been playing gigs since the 60s. Tony has a wide range of versatility in his playing, and as stated by Jimmy Ford, (former drummer for Lionel Hampton), "Tony has one of the best feels I've ever heard, the guy can play".

Bill Von Ravensberg is a bass player with an extensive professional music career. He brings a musicality to his playing that complements our group's sound. A Los Angeles native, Bill began his music studies on clarinet and saxophone eventually picking up the bass guitar. His first "big" job came in 1971 when he joined Pat Boone on a tour of the orient and landing for a time in Las Vegas. He later spent nine months working with Ray Anthony's band where he "learned more about show business" than he could have imagined. His career found him "backing" many excellent singers including Jennifer Warnes. Then came a 3-year stint with Andy Williams touring Europe, the Far East and the United States. From 1980-88 he played with Tom Jones. Then after a brief sabbatical he played with singer Trish Turner at the Smoke House in Burbank for seven years. Bill and Rio met in 2000 at the L.A. Musicians' Union in a Tuesday night rehearsal band. Bill also maintains a career doing "voice overs". He can be heard on his web site at www.ravenvoice.com.

 upcoming appearances

 gigs@sax4jazz.com

 booking info

 rio@sax4jazz.com

or

626-485-9869  

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