Greg Smith
Clarinet

• ISTHMUS NEWSPAPER: GREG SMITH FEATURE

A native of Madison, Wisconsin, with a music degree from UW-Madison, Greg Smith performs on clarinet, saxophone and flute in a wide variety of musical organizations and styles. Orchestrally, he is in his fourth decade with the Madison Symphony Orchestra and fills in frequently with the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra.

On the jazz scene, he was a member of the former Lost Century Jazz Band, has been dishing out hot Dixieland for nearly 15 years of Monday nights with the Avenue Sizzlers, and frequently dons a cowboy hat to heat it up with Madison’s own Western Swing band, The North Country Drifters.

Greg is also clarinetist for the world music group Yid Vicious Klezmer Ensemble, recreating the traditional music of the Jews of Eastern Europe, often in some not-so-traditional arrangements, and The Reptile Palace Orchestra, with its own special version of Balkan lounge rock, whatever that is. He also takes on the rhythmic and melodic complexities of latin music having peformed with Madison's Afro-Cuban Latin jazz band ¡Que Flavor! and currently with the high-energy Merenge and Salsa band Grupo Candela.


Chris Wagoner
Violin, Accordion
A founding member of Harmonious Wail, The Common Faces, The Bob Westfall Quartet, and The Moon Gypsies, The StellaNovas (the latter four co-founded with Mary Gaines), Chris has had his foot in just about every musical circle in Madison, Wisconsin. Classically trained as a violinist, he met Mary while attending the UW-Madison. Switching to an alternating diet of jazz and classical violin studies, while playing in bands ranging from rock, blues, bluegrass, and country, to folk and jazz, Chris has been an in-demand performer and session musician in the region for almost two decades.


Jim Huwe
Drums & Percussion
Jim Huwe has been a multi-genre drummer for 26 years. His range of playing includes weddings, shows, recordings and jazz festivals. Jim has performed with jazz vocalist great Diane Schuur and opened for Stevie Ray Vaughn. His dynamic and sensitive approach allow him to work with the finest Midwestern musicians in the jazz, pop and folk spheres including many popular Madison-based groups: The Common Faces, The Stellanovas, Bob Westfall, Madison Jazz Orchestra, Swimming Pool Blue, Caravan Gypsy Swing Ensemble, The Swing-O-Matics, John Becker, Ed Fila's Next Exit, and the Ed Anders Quartet.