DAVID GARFIELD has been driven by the same mission statement since moving from his hometown of St. Louis to Los Angeles as a teenager in the early 70s: “I make music.” Fully living up to this vision and in more expansive ways over the past few decades, the multi-talented keyboardist, composer, arranger and recording artist has established himself an eclectic force of musical nature. At any given point during his career—and often at the same time—he has been a renowned songwriter, producer, bandleader (of Los Angeles based contemporary world jazz collectives Karizma and Los Lobotomys), arranger, recording artist, record label owner (Creatchy Records), session and touring musician, musical director and composer of various commissioned themes for global organizations. The multi-talented musician has had a particularly fruitful career spanning over five decades starting with stints with Willie Bobo, Freddie Hubbard, and Tom Scott in the ‘70s, joining Boz Scaggs and George Benson and releasing his first solo recordings in the ‘80s. After spending much time in the studio working with the LA session elites, Garfield joined forces with members of Toto to continue recording, touring, and performing locally in the LA scene. Eventually, he started a songwriting partnership with Smokey Robinson, which led to a lasting studio relationship arranging and producing for the Motown legend. Robinson’s current release Gasms features Garfield on piano, arranging, and producing. Besides his collaborations with Smokey, Garfield has done numerous stints as George Benson’s musical director, as well as arranging, producing, and performing on the legendary singer/guitarist’s 2011 release Guitar Man. Garfield continues to work with a wide variety of legendary artists such as The Temptations, Cher, Spinal Tap, Ratt, Larry Carlton, Flora Purim, and arranged and performed on “Higher Than The World,” for Van Morrison as part of the rock/soul legend’s all-star collection Duets: Re-working the Catalogue. In addition to all of his work for others David has put together several series of his own solo works (Outside The Box series, Guitar Heroes series, Salute To The Masters series, Monster Trio series) which features artists such as Michael McDonald, David Sanborn, Eddie Van Halen, Don Henley, Joe Sample, along with members of Tom Petty’s Heartbreakers, Toto, Zac Brown Band, Chicago, The Doors, Jimmy Buffet, Santana, Steely Dan, The Meters, Tower of Power, Vulfpek and Dirty Loops. His original composition cowritten with Smokey Robinson, “One Like You” is a duet between Smokey and Michael McDonald on Jammin’ Outside The Box as well as recorded by George Benson on Songs & Stories. Garfield has been commissioned to write and produce theme songs and musical projects for several international organizations, including the song and CD “Pool of Friendship” for the Swimming Aquatics organization LEN (League of European Nations); the American Society of Cinematographers (ASC); and “Deep Within Each Man” (co-written with Phil Perry) for the Shorinji Kempo Japanese Karate Foundation. Garfield also produced “I Play The Piano,” a Blue Ray DVD of Terry Trotter playing solo piano on AIX Media. Garfield’s other works on CD include a Tribute To Jeff [Porcaro], which was dedicated to longtime friend and bandmate, drummer Jeff Porcaro and received international acclaim as well as top 10 charting. Giving Back, which enjoyed regular airplay throughout the U.S., Europe, Japan, and Australia. Other solo releases were L.A. Keyboard Project, Recollections, Seasons of Change, and I Am the Cat, Man. Featuring many of Los Angeles’ top session and touring musicians, Karizma’s discography on Creatchy includes Dream Come True, Cuba, All The Way Live, Forever in the Arms of Love, Document and Lost and Found. Among other projects he has helmed for Creatchy are albums by guitarist Michael Landau and former Toto bassist Mike Porcaro. Another classic Creatchy release, Los Lobotomys, is a collaboration with prominent members of the pop band Toto, with whom Garfield has performed many times throughout the years. Besides releasing his own CDs, leading his own bands, and performing live, David Garfield continues to collaborate with the top musical talent across the globe both as a producer, arranger as well as a keyboardist and songwriter. He enjoys working for other artists and helping them achieve their vision as well as providing his label Creatchy Records with a continuing full schedule of new releases to come.

SIMON PHILLIPS Drummer • Composer • Bandleader • Producer • Engineer • Clinician Jazz. Rock. Jazz-rock. Across more than four decades, legendary drummer Simon Phillips has shown an uncanny ability to excel in most any musical environment. Precision, intensity and emotion are hallmarks of Simon’s sound in every setting. And working with many of the world’s most prominent musicians from an early age, he has repeatedly made his mark through scores of historic recordings and tours around the globe. Simon’s father, Sid Phillips, was a highly disciplined intelligence officer in the RAF during World War II, and later led a Dixieland band where Simon got his start on drums at the age of 12. Simon soon joined the London production of Jesus Christ Superstar and quickly gained a reputation as someone who could make music sound good, leading to lots of recording sessions while still in his teens. By his twenties, Simon had already worked with iconic figures including Jeff Beck, Jack Bruce, Pete Townshend, Al Di Meola, Jon Anderson, Jan Hammer, Stanley Clarke, Jon Lord, Mike Oldfield, Brian Eno and others. Several of these artists had been important pioneers of the jazz-rock genre in the early and mid-1970s, also called fusion. “Nothing is easy. If you want to be good at something, you go to the nth degree to do it.” High-profile recordings and/or tours were soon to come with the likes of Mick Jagger, Asia, The Who, Gary Moore, Joe Satriani and many more. But it was the untimely death of drummer Jeff Porcaro that led to Simon’s 21-year presence in Toto (1992-2014), highlighted by ten albums and numerous world tours. During this period Phillips also worked on various projects led by Steve Lukather, Michael Schenker, Derek Sherinian and others. More squarely within the realm of the jazz world, Simon worked in a trio led by virtuoso pianist Hiromi along with electric bassist Anthony Jackson (Chick Corea). This rich association lasted seven years, producing five albums from 2011-16 and touring extensively. During this period Phillips also performed in a jazz-rock trio with French keyboardist Philippe Saisse (Al Di Meola) and electric bassist Pino Palladino (Steve Gadd), under the group name PSP. “I’m a jazz player… so I like to push the limits and do stuff out of the blue.” The seeds for Protocol were first planted during the 1980s, when Simon began composing in earnest. He wrote all the tunes and played all the instruments on his first Protocol release in 1989. While Toto was his primary endeavor at the time, Phillips released several more jazz-rock albums as a leader from 1992-2000 with which he continued to hone his songwriting chops.  Listeners can discern the influence of many great drummers in Simon’s sound, not the least of which is ‘70s-era Tony Williams. According to Simon, “I was introduced to Tony by Jack Bruce back in 1977. His 1975 album, Believe It, is still one of my favorites. Not only the music and the playing (it features guitar god Allan Holdsworth), but the sound. Bruce Botnick was the engineer and I have to admit I used that template as a guide for Protocol II when I mixed it.” Simon’s compositions and group concept began to gel with the Protocol II album in 2013. This release brought together high-profile rock guitarist Andy Timmons with jazz-funk keyboardist Steve Weingart (Dave Weckl) and electric bassist Ernest Tibbs (Allan Holdsworth). Much like Tony’s Believe It record of nearly 40 years earlier, Protocol II firmly established Simon’s new lineup as one of the truly great bands in jazz-rock history. Progress continued in 2015 with the release of Protocol III, featuring the same personnel and another set of brilliant new tunes. In 2017, Simon felt it was time to fine-tune the group concept with the release of Protocol IV. While Ernest Tibbs continued in the bass chair, this record featured a major league rock session guitarist named Greg Howe (Michael Jackson), along with the dynamic young keyboardist Dennis Hamm (Thundercat). Still utilizing the same quartet format, Protocol IV presents Simon’s strongest compositions yet — and it was nominated for a GRAMMY Award in the Contemporary Instrumental Album category. In his typically gracious manner Phillips said in a recent interview, “I lost out to Steve Gadd, and you can’t complain about that!” 2019 marked the 30th Anniversary of Protocol’s inception and Simon toured extensively as leader, playing a selection of tunes from each of the Protocol albums. However, the lineup was tweaked once again, this time to become a quintet, including veteran keyboardist Otmaro Ruiz (John McLaughlin), Jacob Scesney on saxophones and the brilliant young guitarist Alex Sill. A new Protocol V studio album was released to rave reviews in 2022, featuring this same extraordinary lineup. “Being a musician is not a retiring kind of life. It’s a lifetime commitment.” Another strand among Simon’s numerous credits falls loosely under the heading of world music. A notable example was produced in 2011 along with Indian drummer Trilok Gurtu (John McLaughlin) and the NDR Big Band, called 21 Spices. More recently, Phillips has teamed up with three of India’s leading musicians — Mohini Dey, Abhijith PS Nair and Sandeep Mohan — to produce a single called “Sa Ma Ga Pa.” An album project is in the works. As if not busy enough as a player, Phillips is well known for his production skills. Indeed, he has tracked, mixed and/or mastered many recordings at his Phantom Studios over the years, including his own albums. Simon also somehow fits in an ambitious schedule of drum clinics, workshops and masterclasses, often sandwiched between anchor dates on tour. Since 1985 he’s had yet another passion — motor racing! Simon attended the Jim Russell racing school in Norfolk, England, and eventually bought a Formula Ford 1600. He competed in the Champion of Snetterton series and had a great time driving a well-known circuit. These days he’s developed a new interest, training to be a barista!

The American dream came true for Catalina Popescu in October of 1986 when she and her husband Bob created a supper club devoted to serving an experience of superb eats and the shared magic of live performance. That grand experience began at the door where every night her mother Maria would greet each guest as family and share in their love of music. Housed in Hollywood and decked out in a timeless charm, the club offers a cozy ambience under sparkling stage lights garnished with its signature concoction — Jazz. The first artist to grace the stage was the masterful flutist and saxophonist Buddy Collette, and ever since then, over the past 36 years, the Catalina Jazz Club has hosted the most illustrious legends of all time — from the powerful puffers of Dizzy Gillespie to the electrified fingers of McCoy Tyner, the bubbly belt of Dee Dee Bridgewater and Lynda Carter, the flirtatious saxophone of Joshua Redman, the slick strumming of Kenny Burrell, the insane drum clinic of Steve Gadd, the romance of Steve Tyrell, and the masterclass of Mike Stern. For Catalina, Jazz is our way of life. It breathes pain. It knows love. It dreams hope. It bleeds courage. Whether we’re showcasing Broadway, Soul, R&B, or stand-up comedy, the lesson learned from all the greats who have serenaded our spirits is how to connect to one another. And that’s why the Catalina Jazz Club will always have a table ready for you. The Catalina Jazz Club has been honored by A.S.M.A.C., California Jazz Foundation, Los Angeles Jazz Society, and a City of Los Angeles Certificate of Appreciation on their 25th Anniversary, which was awarded by Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and the LA City Council which included then City Council member and current Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti.