About Us

We are the musicians who love to entertain you!

Sue Garrod - Trombone

Sue Garrod has been performing trombone and piano, balancing music with her academic and technical career activities. She is a Purdue Boilermaker, with electrical engineering B.S. and M.S. degrees, and a Ph.D. in strategic management. Sue served on the faculty of electrical engineering technology at Purdue, and then later worked for Cadence Design Systems. She retired from Hawaii Electric Light Company (HELCO) where she was the Commercial Account Manager in Kona for 10 years. During her years in Indiana, Sue was a member of the Lafayette Symphony Orchestra, the Lafayette Citizen’s Band, and the Big Swing Band, as well as the Purdue University Symphonic Band, Marching Band, and Orchestra. In Hawaii, she performs with a variety of musical groups, including The Kona Brass Quintet, The Olliephonic Horns big band, Casablanca Jazz Quartet, Kamuela Philharmonic Orchestra, Kona Choral Society Orchestra, Waimea Community Chorus Orchestra, Kona's Jewish Traveling Wedding Band, and other groups as well as musical theater productions.

So why is an engineer playing trombone? Because it is a kick to share music with others! Music is a ticket to travel through space and time, the ultimate journey, to share the creativity of composers and musicians. There are many famous mathematicians, scientists, and engineers who were also musicians, including Pythagoras, Galileo, Newton, Kepler, von Braun, Einstein, Shannon, Bell, Grove, Neil Armstrong, and others who make our life what it is today. Indeed, Purdue University, with vibrant musical opportunities co-existing with their schools of engineering and science, has graduated many musicians-scientists-engineers-mathematicians. Sue's favorite is her friend and fellow-Boilermaker with a B.S. in aeronautical engineering, astronaut Neil Armstrong, the First Musician on the Moon, who was also a brass musician and a dedicated fan of Duke Ellington! Go Boilers! Jazz it up!

Leslie Harlib - Piano and Vocals

Leslie Harlib has been a saloon-style cabaret singer, pianist and entertainer since 1971 when she began her career in London, England. Over the years she has gigged around the world in hotels and upscale restaurants, on cruise ships, and created several one-woman shows.

Leslie has won various awards, such as a Cabaret Gold Award in the 1980s in San Francisco for best pianist/entertainer, and in 2013 was nominated for a San Francisco Bay Area critic's award for the original music and lyrics she wrote for the Marin Shakespeare Company's country/western production of "A Comedy of Errors."

With a repertoire of 4000 songs and more added all the time, she is never at a lost for words...or music. Leslie has been a full-time Kona resident since 2019.

You will hear Leslie performing at the Hapuna Prince Hotel on Fridays and Mondays, monthly at Gertrude's, and at various other locations on the Big Island.

Scott Jeffrey - Acoustic Bass

Chris James started his jazz explorations in high school ultimately performing on behalf of the Monterey Jazz Festival with the California Jazz Choir in Australia and New Zealand in 1993. From there, he has played instrumental rock, funk and blues with a variety of bands, first as a bass player and auxiliary percussionist, and for the past 6 years on drum kit. He leans into bebop and modern jazz with particular appreciation for small bands. Drumming influences include Billy Martin, Jack DeJohnette, Tony Williams and David King.

When not at the drums, Chris is running his acupuncture clinic, Natural Balance, with his incredibly talented wife, Amy, who is a massage therapist, Rolfer and fellow musician. They have lived on the island since 2007 and have a busy practice in Ocean View, in the Kau district on the Big Island. Their son Felix is a student at the University of North Texas.

http://www.naturalbalancehawaii.com/