03/29/2023
Meet the band! The new, expanded production of "The Cult of Brother 12" features live music from the sizzling Marty Steele Quintet. Read about each of the members below. "Bro. 12" opens Thursday, March 30th for 5 performances only, at Malaspina Theatre, VIU, Nanaimo. Once again, tickets are selling fast, so get yours now at porttheatre.com or the Port Theatre Ticket Centre at 250-754-8550.
***
Marty Steele (Co-composer, musical director, keyboardist) A musical master with over 40 years of active and steady gigs to his credit, Marty has shared the stage with such performers as Andy Williams, Jack Jones, Michael Macdonald, and even Stevie Wonder. Among other highlights was playing at Carnegie Hall with a college quartet at a jazz vocal choir festival. On Vancouver Island, he helped launch the Have You Heard jazz series for the Nanaimo International Jazz Festival, and has also performed at the Victoria Jazz Festival. He was a featured entertainer every week for the first Summer Street Fair in Nanaimo, and is the only musician on Vancouver Island to have presided over both a Jazz Jam for the NIJFA Jazz Festival and the Blues Jam at the Queens. He is both musical director for "The Cult of Brother 12" and co-composer of the score, with playwright and director Bill Miner.
Dean “Skye Douglas” Boland (trumpet, flugelhorn): Dean is originally from the beautiful island of Newfoundland and now resides with his wife in Nanaimo. A former graduate of the VIU jazz program, he also holds a Masters in Composition through York University in Toronto. A multi-instrumentalist, teacher, composer, and conductor, Skye is an eclectic musician who has composed for and performed in a multiplicity of genres including jazz, folk, gospel, indie rock, musical theatre, classical, and new age instrumental music.
James Darling (keyboardist) holds a Bachelor of Music in Jazz Studies from VIU and has studied piano with Phil Dwyer, Bob Murphy, and Steve Smith. He has spent a decade working on cruise ships in lounge bands and showbands. More recently James has been the keyboardist of the high energy dance band Johnny Inappropriate, the pianist for VIU’s Vocal Jazz Choir directed by Rosemary Lindsay, and is the organist with the Duncan Symonds Trio.
James McRae (drums, percussion) has played with a wide diversity of players from Miles Black and David Essig to Marc Atkinson and Nico Rhodes. He’s long been an important part of the Vancouver Island music scene, including his time in the 1990s with the popular Victoria group Loose. In 2011 he released Slow Down, an album of all original songs he wrote with a Brazilian flavour that received praise in Canada and internationally. He more recently was the leader of a project reimagining Gordon Lightfoot’s music in a jazz context, including a CD release, Impressions of Lightfoot.
Larry Miller (tenor sax, clarinet, flute): Larry has performed in various musicals over the years, including The Phantom of the Opera, Les Miserables, and Guys & Dolls. He has done freelance work on cruise ships and in big bands and rock groups. In Victoria, he has performed with the Temptations and played in the big band opening Bob Newhart’s comedy tour. Larry holds a B.F.A. (York Univ.), B.Ed. and a Masters of Music from the University of Victoria.
