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Meet the members of the band:
CORY COX (Drummer) was born into a musical family in Houston. At age six, his grandmother Irma Cox enrolled him into classical piano lessons as a hobby, and he went on to take drum lessons with Houston gospel drummer Keith Sanders. Finding a growing passion for the drums, Cory began playing with the youth choir and sitting under his stepfather, Michael Joseph, in the music ministry at Mount Calm Missionary Baptist Church. By age 12, Cory was traveling the south with his dad, bassist Joel Cox, with Gospel group For The Lord. Cory is a graduate of the High School for the Performing and Visual Arts, The Dave Brubeck Institute at the University of the Pacific and The New School University with a degree in music. Cory has had an opportunity to work and share the stage with Reggie Workman, Jimmy Owens, Cecil Bridgewater, The Dave Brubeck Quartet, The Ben Flocks Quartet, Caili O’Doherty, John Raymond, John Ellis, Marcus Strickland, Joel Frahm, Javier Vercher, Lorenzo Conte, Hironobu Saito, Kenji Hino, Will Boulware and many others. Cory serves actively as faculty at the Stanford Jazz Workshop where he has a growing passion working with children and adults. Cory spends his days practicing, developing lesson plans and bringing music to the elderly in community centers.
COLIN DEAN (Bassist) is a professional bassist and composer born and raised in Long Island, New York. He is also a graduate of both the New School for Jazz and Contemporary Music and the New School Graduate Program in International Affairs, and works as a consultant for the North American Traveling Musicians Union AFM Local 1000. He self-released his debut jazz album “Shiwasu” in 2010 to critical acclaim in publications such as Jazz Times and Jazz Inside Magazine as well as national radio airplay on programs including on NPR’s Weekend Edition. He has headlined performances at venues including the Blue Note and Joe’s Pub in New York, and has performed as a bassist and music director at major venues and music festivals throughout North America.
MIKAL AMIN LEE, AKA “HG” (Vocalist) is beats, rhymes, and life for the everyman woman and child. He has traveled to Africa, South America and Europe bringing real hard beats and real rap as a performer and educator working with youth. In 2008 he released his debut solo release “The People’s Verses” a critically acclaimed album recognized by such blogs as Wake your Daughter up, Rhymehouse, Ohword, HipHopinformant and Hip Hop Linguistics. One of URB magazine’s Next 100 (2009), he has shared the stage with legends such as Rob Swift, Slick Rick, Fat Lip, J-Live, and The Last Poets, in such famous venues as the Nuyorican Poets Cafe, The Book Cafe (Zimbabwe) and the ARCA Theater in the Czech Republic.
DJ BOO (DJ) has a strong affinity to all things rhythmic, and while his siblings took up piano, he opted to take up the drums. It was also during this time that his brother got his first pair of turntables introducing Boo to DJ’ing. His skills as a turntablist has allowed him to work with artists like The Juggaknots, Juno nominated Hip-hop artist, Eternia, electronic music producer Sharmaji, ApSci and, Bessie Award nominated Hip-hop dance company, Decadance Theatre. DJ’ing has allowed him to travel to Miami, Puerto Rico, Cape Verde, England and Spain. His talent and knowledge of this craft has allowed him to share his knowledge at NAMM, and The DJ Expo in Atlantic City for Shure and Rane/Serato Scratch Live.
BECK BURGER (Keyboard) grew up in Boulder, Colorado and at the age of 12 heard the sound of Cajun music for the first time. From Cajun music and zydeco, Beck discovered the blues, which became the basic ingredient in all of the music he would pursue and create. He frequently plays in a number of musical contexts from jazz, R&B, and funk, to rock, blues, hip hop, and country. He graduated from the New School for Jazz and Contemporary Music in 2006, and in 2010 released a self-produced album of original music titled Strong Medicine. He has worked as an accompanist for the National Dance Institute, and since 2010 is a music teacher in residence for Litchfield Jazz Camp in Connecticut. He is currently working on his 2nd album slated to be released in early 2014.