Meet the Band

The Band’s leader and clarinetist is a retired hospitality management consultant and also a retired Marine Corps pilot who began his Dixieland music career with Rosie O’Grady’s band in Pensacola.  Ted earned his BA and MBA from Michigan State University, has a minor in music theory and baritone saxophone, and traveled with the Michigan State University Jazz Band, Chuck Cabot’s Orchestra, Larry Elgart, Peter Palmer’s Voices and Orchestra, and the SS North American cruise ship orchestra.   He has led his own jazz and dance bands, is a member of the Triad Community Concert Band, Triad Community Swing Band, and the New Horizon Gate City Jazz Ensemble, and is most at home playing this most authentic American music. 

The Band’s trumpeter has been a life-long musician. He began playing trumpet in middle school. After high school Steve started performing with CL & The Impossibles, a professional R&B and entertainment band in the New England area.  After moving to North Carolina in 2001, he joined several blues bands playing trumpet and keyboard.   Steve has previously played with the Bethabara Park Concert Band, Salem Band, and the Greensboro Philharmonia. Steve currently serves as the principal trumpet player for the Triad Community Concert and Swing Bands and performs with the Winston-Salem Community Band.  

Hank, the banjoist of the band, is a veteran of the Winston-Salem music scene having performed as a guitarist and banjoist in local and regional bands including the Alamance Jazz Band, the Kings of Swing, 1918 Jazz, the Soul Purpose Band and others. Hank is a self-taught musician and a retiree from Wake Forest University.