Winds / Brass

Ariela Dea is a local jazz vocalist who has been playing music since the age of 3. Starting on piano, she moved on to more instruments such as trumpet, French horn, and ukulele. From a young age, Ariela was always involved in choirs and was classically trained vocally until college. Graduating from San Francisco State University with a degree in music, Ariela also played in the SFSU Jazz Band, singing and playing trumpet. She was section leader of the French horn section in the SFSU Wind Ensemble and was involved in many other music ensembles. Ariela enjoys arranging music and put together a 2 hour senior recital with multiple peers and showcased her vocals, ukulele, trumpet, and French horn. She continues her passion for music playing with combos and bands and is a part time music teacher for SFUSD.

Instruments - Clarinet, Saxophone

Elaine Paul Alt is a composer, instrumentalist, teacher, and multi-dimensional artist who has been active as a bandleader and producer for three decades, and is an ongoing student of musical approaches, including Jazz, western Classical, diasporic Afro-Cuban, and Indian Hindustani and Nautanki musical theatre.

Elaine studied clarinet performance, composition, and conducting with Herbert Tischman and Chris Vassiliades at the Manhattan School of Music, Michael Webster at the New England Conservatory, Charles Bruch at the Pierre Monteux School for Conductors and Orchestra Musicians, and with Evan Ziporyn, John Harbison and Ian Greitzer at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, earning a degree in Mathematics and Physics.

She runs the Flaming Hakama studio at the 1890 Bryant St. studios, and participates there as part of Artspan Open Studios.  From Flaming Hakama, Elaine produces the Jazz Combustion Uprising Jazz quintet, and the Alt Jazz chamber orchestra, as well as audio engineering for albums, and cues for for Film & TV placements.  

Alt's Album releases include Self-Immolation by Jazz Combustion Uprising, Open the Gates! by the modern Jazz trio Alt Tal, and Laundry for the Nineties by the composers' quartet Lydian People's Front.  

Gaby Aldaz is a trombonist, pianist, composer, and music educator. She began her musical journey at the age of 9, and began learning jazz at the age of 12. In high school, she participated in prestigious honor groups, such as Jazz Band of America, All-Southern Orchestra, and All-State Jazz Band. She has studied jazz, classical, latin, electronic, soundtrack, and many other types of music at Oberlin Conservatory and SF State, where she recently earned her Bachelor's of Music with an emphasis in composition. Gaby regularly performs around the Bay Area in jazz, salsa, neo soul, and funk bands. She also teaches brass, piano, and music theory lessons to students of all ages. She loves spreading the joy of listening to and creating music, and aims to share her experience, knowledge, and expression with others through teaching and performance.