Drummer Vinnie Rodriguez puts together a combo on the fourth Saturday of every month.  For his June date, he’s got Dan Magay on reeds; Neil Kelly on guitar; and Aaron Germain on bass.  

Vinnie reports: “Neil’ s got a few original modern jazz tunes, plus Mingus, Kenny Kirkland, Sonny Rollins’ ‘The Bridge,’  hard stuff.”

Born in Los Altos, reed player Dan Magay grew up surrounded by music, starting clarinet studies at 9 and adding saxophone at 10.
During his high school years he studied clarinet with Don Carol (San Francisco Symphony), Bill Menkin, and Michael Corner; and saxophone with Mary Fettig, Mel Martin, Burt Corelli and Rory Snyder, moving on to USC as a music major from 1988 to 1990 before transferring to the Berklee College of Music in Boston in 1991.  At Berklee, he studied privately with George Garzone, Bill Pierce, Joe Viola, Jerry Bergonzi, Hal Crook and continued studying classical clarinet with Peter Cokinias. He graduated magna cum laude in 1994, and moved to New York in 2000, co-founding an eclectic jazz trio, “The Hub,” that toured  extensively in Europe, Japan and the U.S. from 2000-2004.  In 2005, Dan moved back to the Bay Area, performing with a groups spanning a vast range of styles and sounds, including the Fil Lorenz Jazz Orchestra, among many others.

Guitarist Neil Kelly, well known for his work as a composer/arranger/band leader, has been working in the Bay Area for the past ten years. Originally from the East Coast and Chicago, Neil arrived in California in 1992. Since that time he has devoted his life to the craft of music. He holds a Master’s Degree in Jazz Studies from San Jose State University where he majored in jazz composition and arranging. He received the award for outstanding Graduate Student of the 2009 graduating class from the Department of Music and Dance. Neil’s original compositions “Threshold,” and “All the Things We Were,” orchestrated for big band, were winning compositions for the San Jose Jazz Society’s Local Composer’s Showcase of 2009 and 2010.

Born in Massachusetts,  bassist Aaron Germain grew up playing electric and upright bass in jazz, blues, funk and reggae bands. In 2000, he moved to the SF Bay Area and began gigging as often as two and three times a day, and also started getting into the Afro-Cuban and Brazilian scene.  He performs with Brian Andres’ Afro -Cuban Jazz Cartel and has played with jazz greats including Yusef Lateef, Stanley Jordan, Jason Marsalis, John Handy and many more. His 2013 cd release, “Chance” features French-Vietnamese guitarist Nguyen Le.

Drummer Vinnie Rodriguez was born in Daly City and raised in Danville, where he spent most of his childhood and teen years playing sports. At the age of 20, he bought a drum set and got deep into jazz, and was fortunate enough to study with John Maltester (LMC-Pittsburgh) and Ray Brown (Cabrillo-Aptos). He earned a BM & MA in jazz studies from SJSU, where he studied with Joe Hodge, Jason Lewis and Frank Sumares. Since finishing school, he’s stayed busy gigging in San Francisco venues including The Bayview Boat Club, Bird & Beckett Books and Club Deluxe. He plays with Don Prell, Grant Levin, Keith Saunders, John Shifflett and others.