Musicians

For this year’s event, we wanted to recreate some of the vibes of the legendary Black & White Ball of 50 years ago and add some new twists. One of the groups to play at the original ball was the Detroit Soul Brothers also known as the Funk Brothers. They were a Motown band who got everyone out on the dance floor. The other band to play was the Peter Duchin Orchestra. We have come up with our own version of these bands and we hope you enjoy them as much as we have enjoyed selecting them!

RAMBLING STEVE GARDNER & ANSWERED PRAYERS
​Rambling Steve Gardner and Steve Myers on acoustic guitars and Hisa Nakase on upright bass. The trio will be touching on Henry Mancini’s work in Breakfast at Tiffany’s along with variety of tunes popular at the time of the original Black and White Ball.n.

TOKYO HOT ROLLERS
The Tokyo Hot Rollers are an all-star string band that play red hot string instrumentals on guitars, mandolins, fiddle, bass, and snare drum. The group is led by veteran American, roots & blues musician, Rambling Steve Gardner, from Mississippi. The Tokyo Hot Rollers will be playing a variety of string instrumentals rooted in 1920’s jazz, blues and ragtime. Guaranteed to satisfy.
The all-acoustic Tokyo Hot Rollers is composed of: Rambling Steve Gardner, co-founder of the Jericho Road Show, playing resonator guitars; Steve Myers, of the Tokyo Moon Shots, lead guitar; Hisa Nakase, of the Jericho Road Show, bass; Bill Benfield, of Dagmusic, resonator mandolin; Dylan Hunter, of Inohead Roots Band, fiddle; Robert Moreau, of Tokyo Folk Collective, baritone mandolin; Samm Bennett, of Polarity Records, snare drum.ls.

M.G.T. TRIO
The dinner music will be provided by the M.G.T. TRIO: Matt Gillian on piano, Hisa Nakase on
bass, and Dylan Hunter on fiddle. The trio will be performing a full selection of popular jazz standards, ballads, show tunes, as well as some surprises, akin to the original Black and White Ball of 1966.

JAPAN FUNK BROTHERS
The Japan Funk Brothers is comprised of some of
the best of the best in Motown Music in Japan and features James Diamond Daumant on piano, trumpet as well as lead and background vocals, Patrick Pryor on guitar and background vocals, Bert Adams on drums, Maya Yanagawa on percussion and backing vocals and, of course, Jett Edwards on bass guitar as
well as lead and background vocals. “On this night,” Jett says, “have your dance shoes on and your tux and tails ready to fly,” because he is going to bring those sounds back. His description is “Imagine a night where classical meets the street sound, on edge, mad, movin’, groovin’ music that you won’t be able to get enough of.” To achieve this Jett has reached out to some of the best of the best in Japan and put together “Tokyo’s Soul Funk Brothers!”