Mariachi Reyna de Los Angeles® fondly captivate audiences with a vivacious spirit. Enriching the mariachi forum as America’s first all female mariachi ensemble, Reyna de Los Angeles® bring sensitivity, beauty, warmth and an attractive perspective to the realm of Mexico’s musical heritage.
Performances by Reyna de Los Angeles® are mesmerizing, energetic and irresistible. You will relish their dynamic expression which fuels the intensity and power characteristic of the mariachi. Experiencing this embrace will instill within you an exceptional taste of mariachi with passion—the passion of Mariachi Reyna de Los Angeles®.

The Big Phat Band, a two-time Grammy-nominated 18-piece jazz ensemble and one of the top big bands in jazz today, celebrates and personifies the best of the big band tradition with a very contemporary and original sound.

While using a similar instrumentation to the traditional big bands of the 1930s and 40s, the Big Phat Band has a highly modern-day sound, highlighted by driving rhythms and extreme virtuosity.

The Band is led by Gordon Goodwin who composes most, and arranges all of the group’s performance pieces, as well as playing piano and occasionally tenor saxophone, and who is a three-time Emmy Award winner, an eight-time Grammy nominee, and recent winner of a 48th annual Grammy award for Best Instrumental Arrangement.

Through the writing genius of Gordon Goodwin, SRO audiences have enjoyed one of the most craftsman-like hard swinging large jazz ensembles comprised of L.A.’s finest musicians.  Gordon’s witty and insightful arrangements propel the listener on a journey through a myriad of styles:  Latin, blues, swing, classical, hard-hitting jazz, and even an homage to Looney Tunes (!).

More…
• Gordon Goodwin’s Big Phat Band made their Hollywood Bowl debut in June 2005 as headliners in the Playboy Jazz Festival.
• The Big Phat Band made its debut appearance on national TV on NBC’s “The Other Half,” hosted by Dick Clark.
• “Swingin’ For The Fences” secured a prestigious spot on Air Force One’s onboard entertainment system.
• The Big Phat Band has garnered excellent critical reviews and praise for its many appearances nationally and in the Los Angeles area.
• Members of the Big Phat Band have performed and recorded with some of the biggest names in the entertainment industry, including Madonna, Celine Dion, Billy Joel, Quincy Jones, Diana Krall, Johnny Mathis, Ray Charles, Paul McCartney, Toni Braxton, Christina Aguilera, Diana Ross, Supertramp, Patti Austin, Brian Setzer, Paul Anka, and can be heard on many Motion Picture soundtracks including “The Incredibles,” “Coach Carter,” “Sideways,” “The Majestic,” “Analyze This,” “Remember The Titans,” “Gone in Sixty Seconds,” “Armageddon,” “Ace Ventura, Pet Detective,” “Enemy of the State” and many more.

Members of the Big Phat Band have distinguished themselves as recording artists and soloists in the jazz field, including Eric Marienthal, Wayne Bergeron (also a Grammy nominee), Andy Martin, Bob Summers, Luis Conte, Bernie Dresel, and Grant Geissman.

NOBRESIL

Bass: Leo Nobre

Vocals: Mari Nobre

Guitar/Vocals: Mitchell Long

Drums: Leo Costa

Gibi (GB): percussion

Musicians’ bio and credits:

Bass: Leo Nobre, born in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, was exposed to many kinds of music at an early age. The music of Brazil is rich and he explored its’ many different styles with local musicians and music professors. He moved to the U.S. to pursue his music studies in composition, arranging and jazz in the University of Miami. Since then he has performed, toured and recorded with many artists. Leo toured as the bass player for Sergio Mendes`band for more than 5 years. Leo`s interview was recently published on Bass Player magazine. Leo Nobre performed on many TV shows including Jay Leno and in the most famous venues and Jazz Festivals all over the world. To name just a few: Copenhagen Jazz festival, Umbria Jazz, NorthSea Jazz Festival,  Montreaux Jazz Festival, Playboy Jazz Festival, Detroit Jazz Festival, S. Jose Jazz Festival, Cancun Jazz Festival and many others. He recorded in 2006 the Grammy awarded CD Timeless  from Sergio Mendes on the tracks with Stevie Wonder, will.i.am (Black Eyed Peas), and Jill Scott. Leo also recorded and played with Jovino Santos Neto who was the piano/keys for the Hermeto Paschoal group for over 15 years, both living legends.

Vocals: Mari Nobre, multi talented performer, started to sing as a child and performed in her first national tour at the age of fourteen in Italy. She performed live for years both as a background vocalist for the most famous Italian and European singers and as a solo artist. Soon RCA called her to work in Milan on recording projects which appeared numerous times on the billboard. Her interest for World Music and Jazz encouraged her to move to New York where she created her own original band (Passion Latina). She enriched her musical experience performing and learning from true legends of the Latin Jazz scene like Celia Cruz, Mario Rivera, Paquito di Rivera, Dave Valentin, and many others. Mari also worked for several NY producers as a singer and a songwriter, always with great versatility. Three years ago she moved to Los Angeles, where she is busy recording and performing. She performed last year in Rio De Janeiro, Brazil, with international musicians currently touring with famous artists like Djavan, Ivan Lins and Sergio Mendes. She is currently writing new songs for her upcoming World Jazz CD and collaborating with twice Grammy nominated musician and arranger Jovino Santo Netos.

Drums:Leo Costa, very versatile drummer born in Rio De Janeiro, Brazil, graduated from the famous Berklee School of Music of Boston and moved to Los Angeles where he soon became one of the most requested musicians both in the R&B, Hip Hop world and the Jazz and Latin scene. He performed and recorded with very accredited artists, such as Olga Tanon, Eric Marienthal, Marcos Ariel, Weber Iago Trio, Airto Moreira to name a few.

Guitar: Mitchell Long, great virtuoso of guitar, has recorded and performed with:Sergio Mendes, Usher, Vinx, Ozomatli, Ron Miles, Claudio Roditi, Herbie Mann, Dr Lonnie Smith, Paul McCandless, George Howard, Art Lande, Peter Sprague, Claudio Slon, Rudy Love and the Love Family, The Organ Grinders, Pat Bianci, Pau Brasil, Hazel Miller, Brad Upton, Nelson Rangel, Mary Ann Moore, Bill Summers, Angela Hagenbach, Michele Shocked, Rare Silk, Nathan Watts, Mark Soskin, Buddy Williams, Frank Colon, Janice Siegel, Paul Jackson Jr., Jeff Jenkins, Eduardo “Bijoux” Barbosa, Eric Gunnison and Wake Up Call, and Joe Bonner among others.

Percussion: Gibi, from Salvador, Bahia, one of the most important places for Afro-World percussion in the world. He currently tours with Sergio Mendes. He has performed with Airto Moreira another legend of Brazilian percussion. Gibi also organizes many percussion bands in the style of his native Bahia every year for the “Brazilian Carnaval”, always with exuberance and enthusiasm.

Born in 1951 in Pasadena, California, Donald Crockett is dedicated to composing music inspired by the musicians who perform it. He has received commissions from the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra (Composer-in-Residence 1991-97), Pasadena Chamber Orchestra (Composer-in-Residence 1984-86), Kronos Quartet, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Hilliard Ensemble, Stanford String Quartet, Pittsburgh New Music Ensemble, Charlotte Symphony, Music from Angel Fire, the Chamber Music Conference and Composers’ Forum of the East (Senior Composer-in-Residence 2002-), Pacific Serenades and the California EAR Unit, among many others. Recent projects include commissions from the San Francisco-based chamber choir, Volti, Composers Inc. for its 20th anniversary, a work for piano and orchestra commissioned by the University of Southern California for its 125th anniversary, and a chamber opera based on a novella in verse by poet David St. John. His music has also been widely performed by ensembles including the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, Los Angeles Master Chorale, Collage, Xtet and the Arditti Quartet, at the Tanglewood, Aspen and Piccolo Spoleto festivals, and by artists including violinists Ida Kavafian and Michelle Makarski, mezzo soprano Janice Felty, oboist Allan Vogel, pianist Vicki Ray, percussionist Lynn Vartan, and conductors Jorge Mester, JoAnn Falletta, Hugh Wolff, Sergiu Comissiona, Jeffrey Kahane and Christof Perick. Donald Crockett was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship in 2006, and has also received the Goddard Lieberson Fellowship from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, a commission from the Barlow Endowment, an Artist Fellowship from the California Arts Council, an Aaron Copland Award and the first Sylvia Goldstein Award from the Copland House, a Kennedy Center Friedheim Award, as well as grants and awards from the American Music Center, BMI, Bogliasco Foundation (Aaron Copland Fellowship, 2007), Composers Inc., the Copland Fund, Meet the Composer and the National Endowment for the Arts. His music is published by MMB Music, St. Louis and Doberman/Yppan, Quebec, and recorded on the Albany, CRI, ECM, Laurel, Orion and Pro Arte/Fanfare labels.
Also active as a conductor of new music, Donald Crockett has presented many world, national and regional premieres with the Los Angeles-based new music ensemble Xtet, the USC Thornton Contemporary Music Ensemble, and as a guest conductor with the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, Pittsburgh New Music Ensemble, Cleveland Chamber Symphony, Hilliard Ensemble, California EAR Unit and the USC Thornton Symphony. He has also been very active over the years as a composer and conductor with the venerable and famed Monday Evening Concerts in Los Angeles. His recordings as a conductor can be found on the ECM, New World and CRI labels.
After composition studies with American composers Robert Linn, Halsey Stevens and Edward Applebaum, and British composers Peter Racine Fricker and Humphrey Searle at the University of Southern California (BM Magna cum Laude 1974, MM 1976) and UC Santa Barbara (PhD 1981), he joined the faculty of the University of Southern California Thornton School of Music in 1981. He is currently Professor and Chair of the Composition Department and Director of the Contemporary Music Ensemble at Thornton, and Senior Composer-in-Residence with the Chamber Music Conference and Composers’ Forum of the East.