Your cart is currently empty!
Board of Directors
Dominique Pelletey • Martin Gellen • Omar Aran
Akira Tana • Clairdee • George Cotsirilos • Jason Hainsworth • Tammy Hall
Dominique Pelletey, President
Dominique Pelletey has wide-ranging experience in executive, management, and artistic positions both in the United States and Europe. Since moving to the Bay Area in 1998, Mr. Pelletey has been PR and Marketing Manager at the San Francisco Community Music Center, the business manager for the Del Sol String Quartet, and most recently Executive Director for the San Francisco Friends of Chamber Music. He was a major force in creating SFFCM’s Musical Grant Program and SFMusic Day (the much anticipated yearly music marathon). Pelletey’s leadership and vision were recognized by Chamber Music America’s 2010 Acclaim Award to SFFCM for having “been instrumental in fostering a vibrant environment for chamber music in the Bay Area.”
Dominique began his professional career as Executive Director and Chairman of the Artistic Committee at W139, an independent artist-run organization, and later founded the multimedia arts space protonICA Amsterdam. His services have also been employed by the Dutch National Arts Foundation and the Netherlands Foundation for Visual Arts, Design and Architecture. Besides his dedication to the service of artists and musicians, Mr. Pelletey is an accomplished artist himself. He graduated summa cum laude from the Gerrit Rietveld Academy in Amsterdam, received over 15 awards and grants, has numerous publications, has taught photography and has exhibited his photography-based work in Holland, France, Germany, Portugal, Great Britain, Canada, and the United States.
Martin Gellen, Treasurer
Omar Aran, Secretary
Akira Tana
Akira Tana was born in San Jose, California. He received degrees in East Asian Studies from Harvard University in 1974, and in percussion from the New England Conservatory in 1979. Tana has worked and recorded with jazz greats such as Paquito D’Rivera, Art Farmer, Jim Hall, Lena Horne, Milt Jackson, J.J. Johnson, Hubert Laws, The Manhattan Transfer, James Moody, Sonny Rollins, Zoot Sims, Sonny Stitt, and The Paul Winter Consort. As a jazz educator he has given workshops and clinics at many U. S. colleges and universities, including the Berklee College of Music, and the University of Miami. Akira Tana plays Yamaha Drums, Vic Firth Sticks, and Bosphorus Cymbals exclusively. Click here to find out more about Akira Tana.
clairdee
When a celebration is called for, Clairdee often gets the call. The vivacious San Francisco-based jazz vocalist inaugurated the beautiful new North Beach nightspot Keys Jazz Bistro in November 2022, turning an anticipated event into a glorious consecration. In a career spanning some four decades, she’s performed similar benedictions around the world as an internationally touring artist who’s collaborated with some of America’s most celebrated jazz masters, including Dick Hyman, Bucky Pizzarelli, Houston Person, Cyrus Chestnut, Russell Malone, and Ken Peplowski.
Deeply informed by the music’s departed masters, Clairdee puts a personal stamp on whatever she sings, a gift aptly described by the inimitable Nancy Wilson, who declared that “in the tradition of all great vocalists she infuses each song with her own unique style while always remaining true to the song itself.” Equally at home singing various idioms in an array of settings, Clairdee has worked with symphony orchestras, big bands, small jazz combos, and intimate duos, in addition to leading her own world-class band. Click here to find out more about Clairdee.
George Cotsirilos
Originally from Chicago, George Cotsirilos has been a member of the San Francisco Bay Area jazz community for many years and has performed with a wide variety of artists, from San Francisco jazz fixtures like Eddie Marshall, Mel Martin, and Mark Levine to internationally recognized blues singer Etta James, Pharaoh Sanders, and the jazz/soul vocal group, The Whispers. His latest quartet recording of original compositions, Refuge, featuring Keith Saunders on piano, Robb Fisher on bass, and Ron Marabuto on drums, was released in May of 2022 on OA2 Records to excellent notices, has been named a Downbeat Editors’ Pick (see Reviews page), and has reached the top 30 on the JazzWeek radio charts. The quartet’s prior CD, Mostly In Blue also received excellent notices and was named by Downbeat as one of the best recordings of 2018. Click here to find out more about George.
Jason Hainsworth
Jason Hainsworth is in demand both as a saxophonist and as a composer/arranger. As a native of Houston, Texas, he studied at the prestigious High School for the Performing and Visual Arts. He later went on to study music at the University of New Orleans with legendary jazz educator Ellis Marsalis and saxophonist Victor Goines. Hainsworth then moved to the New York/ New Jersey area to continue his musical studies at William Paterson University while performing along the east coast. After receiving his bachelor’s degree in music, Jason matriculated at Florida State University for graduate work where he earned his Masters degree in Jazz Studies.
As a performer, Mr. Hainsworth has led his own quartet throughout the world to critical acclaim, most recently headlining the Suriname Jazz Festival. He has also performed and recorded with Michael Dease, Johnathan Blake, Renee Rosnes, Randy Brecker, Lewis Nash, Glenn Zaleski, Tim Warfield, and Martin Bejerano just to name a few. Additionally, Jason is a current touring member of Ed Calle’s Mamblue (2016 Latin Grammy Winner), Tito Puente Jr’s. Latin Jazz All Stars, and Melton Mustafa Jazz Orchestra. He has performed extensively throughout the United States and South America. Click here to find out more about Jason.
Tammy Hall
Tammy Lynne Hall began playing the piano at age four, in Dallas, Texas, where she was raised by two grandmothers, a grandfather and numerous aunts and uncles. Her earliest memories of the piano were of climbing onto the piano bench and pick out the notes to tunes she heard either on the radio, record player or something the choir sang at church. After attending Mills College in Oakland and a two-year stint honing her skills in Brussels, Tammy returned to the Bay Area in 1989 and has since worked with vocalists Etta Jones, Kim Nalley, Holly Near, Linda Tillery (and the Cultural Heritage Choir), Denise Perrier, Rhonda Benin, Tiffany Austin, Pamela Rose, Lisa Ferraro, Nicolas Bearde, Branice McKenzie, Ernestine Anderson, Kenny Washington, Melba Moore, Darlene Love, Miki Howard and Queen Esther Marrow, award-winning cabaret singer and actress Connie Champagne, the Supreme Mary Wilson, chanteuse and actress Debbie De Coudreaux, Amikaeyla Gaston, The Montclair Women’s Big Band, Houston Person, David ‘Fathead Newman’, violinists Regina Carter, Jeremy Cohen, Mads Tolling and Laurie Anderson, orchestra leader and bassist Marcus Shelby, drummer and band leader Allison Miller and guitarist Terrence Brewer. Click here to find out more about Tammy.