Doug Oatley is a retired band director who, during his 31 years in the public schools, specialized in jazz performance and jazz theory. As a bass trombonist, he played with Stan Kenton, worked as a studio musician in New York City, played in the orchestra for “A Chorus Line”, and has backed up celebrities such a Bob Hope, Vickie Carr, Marilyn McCoo and Billy Davis, Jr. He is an accomplished composer and arranger whose work has appeared in a variety of venues including 88 jingles for T.V. and Radio and orchestrations for 14 albums of various artists. The MetroGnomes are the current beneficiaries of his writing and conducting skill and include in their repertoire a number of his compositions and arrangements. In addition to all this, he is a hot rod enthusiast who buys, sells, and restores classic cars.
Chris plays saxophone, clarinet, and flute in Jazz, Rock, Funk, and Christian worship settings, and has enjoyed working on different recording projects, including UK's Mega Sax and Jazz Ensemble recordings, "Profound Like Gumbo" and Self Contained". Chris has also been involved in the Lexington Bethel Harvest Community Church's Gospel recording "Rain" and Lexington's DJ Messenjah's recording entitled "DJ Messenjah and Friends". His favorite musician list is long, but includes Chris Potter, Miles Davis, Cannonball Adderly, Maceo Parker, All Together Separate, and Sting. Chris played in multiple ensembles and studied music theory in high school, going to UK in 1999. There he studied under Miles Osland and left with a BA in Music Education. He is currently a student at Asbury Theological Seminary, working on a MA in Intercultural Studies, and he teaches private saxophone lessons.
Josh is from the Chicagoland area and his musical influences include Bela Fleck and the Flecktones, Nickle Creek, Megadeath, Michael W Smith, Cake, Five Iron Frenzy, and Phish... He has a bachelor's in music from Asbury College, currently serves as Music Minister at Mt Freedom Baptist in Wilmore, and drives a school bus for Fayette County Public Schools. Josh has been a member of "The Mad Hatters", a ska band (sax, guitar, keys, harmonica), "Small Price to Pay", a rock band (bass guitar), "Nailed", a goth band (drummer), and now "The MetroGnomes", where he plays alto sax. He spends his spare time with his wife, Rachel, his cat Orion, or his Finale, Fernando Raul, writing or composing for the church choir.
Jim Foster likes a variety of music, but particularly progressive jazz, and some later jazz-fusion experiments, including both big bands and combos. He especially appreciates the big bands of Stan Kenton, Gordon Goodwin, and Rob McConnell. His favorite saxophonists would be Getz, Pepper, and Beckenstein. Jim joined the union and began playing jazz around Lexington at 15. Later, He received a degree in music education from Asbury College. Although his work took him in another direction, pastoral ministry, He has tried to stay involved in music in some way over the years. Jim states, "Upon returning to the Bluegrass, I have had some excellent chances to play my horn in the community and in the church. My time with the MetroGnomes has been a great experience!"
Kevin Dennison is a retired public school music educator who has taught band, jazz, theory, elementary music, general music, and chorus over the course of his 27 years of service in Nelson, Woodford, and Fayette counties. For 10 years he was the director of the Lafayette High School Jazz Ensemble. This group performed frequently throughout central Kentucky for a variety of venues including The Lafayette Club (a private, upscale dining facility), wedding receptions, private parties, nursing homes, and dances. In addition to teaching, Kevin is an active music arranger and composer. Many of his arrangements were done for his students to perform and to use as educational tools. His arrangements and compositions are for a variety of performing groups including band, orchestra, jazz ensemble, jazz combo, and small ensembles. His arrangement of Carl Schlesinger’s “The New York Times Color March” is recognized as the official march of The New York Times, which was premiered in New York City by The Goldman Band in the summer of 2000. He continues to write, arrange, and publish music (with an emphasis on small ensemble music for young musicians) through Dennison Music Service, a small publishing and instrument repair business. Kevin is now an instrument repair technician. He repairs woodwind and string instruments both in a shop at his home and for Hurst Music in Lexington, where he is a part-time employee. As a professional saxophone and clarinet performer, he gigs in the central Kentucky area with a variety of groups including The MetroGnomes. He resides in Lexington with his wife Ellen, an orchestra teacher in Fayette County. Together they spend as much time as possible spoiling their 3 grandchildren.
While saxophone is Jason's main instrument, he really enjoys taking up new ones like piano, guitar, and some percussion. on the list: uilleann pipes. His favorite saxophonist would have to be Cannonball Adderley. In addition to jazz, Jason listens to a wide range of rock, country, classical, rap, blues, Celtic, and funk. Current favorite musicians/bands include Wilco, Old 97's, Guster, and Soulive. He studied music for a short time at the University of Kentucky but switched majors, received a Bachelor's degree in Telecommunications, and then a law degree from Northern Kentucky University.
Dora loves playing and learning about Jazz, as well as playing in chamber groups such as brass quintets or trombone quartets. She also enjoys listening to, watching, and participating (when able)in drum and bugle corps. Dora generally likes something from every genre of music; her favorites including almost any Jazz, The Beatles, Led Zeppelin, Over the Rhine, and most Bluegrass music. She recently graduated with a Bachelor in Music Education degree from the University of Kentucky. She has played trombone for the last 14 years and has played in various ensembles including jazz bands, symphonic ensembles, chamber groups, marching bands, and drum and bugle corps.
Dan studied music in college before changing his major to Law Enforcement and becoming a State Trooper. He continued his love of playing the trombone as a member of the 202nd Army Band for 31 years. He currently plays in the the brass section at his church and for various charitable groups. His favorite musicians are Carl Fontana,Frank Rosolino,Gordon Goodwin and Rob McConnell. Dan considers it an honor to have the opportunity to play with such a talented and dedicated group of people as the MetroGnomes.
Mark's musical interests are Classical, big band, and brass bands/ensembles. He studied accounting at Asbury College, and participated in the College's brass ensemble and stage band under the direction of Dr. Ron Holz. Mark's favorite musicians include Handel, Holst, Copeland, and Tchaikovsky. He also likes the Basie and Ellington big bands, and loves to listen to the music and message of the Salvation Army Staff band.
Colby is a student at the University of Kentucky pursuing his Bachelor's degree in Music Performance on trombone(s). He is very interested in many styles of music including orchestra, chamber, and wind ensemble but his favorite is swing. Colby plans to further his study at the doctoral level and hopes to teach at the college level and perform in the top orchestras and jazz ensembles in the world. Colby's idols include Charles Vernon, Ben van Dijk, Joe Allesi, Christian Lindberg, Matt Nies and Maynard James Keenan.
Kenny is a native Kentuckian who likes a variety of music including jazz, rock, R&B, funk, alternative, blues and classical. Some of his favorite jazz musicians include Louis Armstrong, Bix Beiderbecke, Dizzy Gillespie, and Miles Davis. Kenny also plays in the funk/r&b band Funk Seminary and has played in the Southland Christian orchestra since 1991. Kenny enjoys spending his spare time with his wife & his pet parrot, traveling and riding motorcycles.
Kyle is a graduate of Middle Tennessee State University with a degree in Music Industry. While at MTSU, he was an active participant in the university's Wind Ensemble, Jazz Band, Salsa Band, and acclaimed Band of Blue Marching Band. Kyle worked in Nashville for a music publishing company upon graduating and decided to head back to school. He now attends the University of Kentucky College of Law in hopes of becoming an entertainment lawyer. His musical influences include Miles Davis, Bela Fleck, Frank Sinatra, Frank Ticheli, and Tower of Power.
David is a software developer with Avnet, Inc. He completed a dual degree with a Bachelor of Music in Performance and a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science at the University of Kentucky. He enjoys Jazz and Symphonic music. David was raised in Lexington and is an avid Cats fan, who spent five years in the UK marching and pep bands. He enjoys music in his spare time, as well as a healthy dose of video games. David also serves as director of the Brass Guild at the UK Newman Center.
Dr. Milton Lowe is the Assistant Director of the Doctor of Ministry Program and an affiliate faculty member at Asbury Theological Seminary in Wilmore, KY. He spent 26 years in full-time and bi-vocational ministry and worked for 5 years for a church software company. His first experience with a jazz band was when, as a masters student in seminary, he played in the Asbury College Jazz Band under the direction of James Curnow, internationally renown composer, arranger, and director. Milton enjoys helping fulfill the mission of The MetroGnomes, providing music that is fun to play and fun to listen to.
Frank began playing clubs on Long Island (New York) at the
age of 16, in 1963. Throughout the next 15 years he continued playing in all
sorts of bands, mostly weekends, while earning several degrees, including a
Doctorate in Education from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. In
1978 he formed a trio named Richardson/Messina which toured the Southeast,
playing clubs and lounges full-time (6 nights per week, 48 weeks per year).
That group was followed by another full-time group, Messina & Co. Both
those groups were essentially "Country" bands - the only thing that
was commercially viable during that period. By the early 80s Doc was working
solo and becoming an entertainer as well as a musician, working primarily in
Kentucky. However, in 1986 he returned to public school education, ending his
career as the head of Arts and Humanities for the local school district in
Lexington, Kentucky. In November of 2007 Doc returned to his first love, performance.
Working now as a singer/song writer/entertainer, he began with a sold-out show
at Natasha's Cafe (bistro) in Lexington and is in the process of developing
a regional presence in Louisville, KY and Cincinnati, OH as well. Still working
solo, Doc relies on many of his professional friends to do guest appearances.
His show has been described as "Intimate, delightful, bistro entertainment
at its best."
Kristen's favorite musician is Freezepop. Not traditional, but still a good choice! Her musical interests are rock, funk, jazz, techno, swing, show tunes, and orchestral music. Kristen's musical education includes training in Violin for two years, string bass for nine years, and bass guitar for six. She was mostly raised with orchestras, but likes playing with this band as well!
Casey DeMattina is a professional percussionist and educator residing in Lexington, Kentucky. He holds a Bachelor's Degree in Music Merchandising and Performance from Eastern Kentucky University, where he studied under percussion professor Jason Koontz. As a member of Eastern's percussion ensemble and steel band, Casey performed with the award-winning indoor drumline at PASIC in 2003 and 2005, at the 2007 KMEA In-Service Conference, and alongside renowned pan players Andy Narell and LiamTeague at the 2008 PANorama Festival at Virginia Beach. In addition to the Metrognomes, Casey can be seen gigging around the Lexington area with Big City Groove, The Moonlighters, and in the pit at Woodford County Community and Lexington Children's Theatres.
JR enjoys listening to a variety of music and especially likes jazz from the 1950's and 1960's (Davis, Coltrane and Shorter). He has a Master’s Degree in Chemistry and has worked in the music industry as a recording engineer, producer and composer. He has album, jingle and film credits. As a producer he has worked with various artists and has produced a national award-winning jingle. As a composer, JR has written songs for animation and album projects.
Cheryl has sung professionally since 1985. Her list of jingle vocals number well over 1000, several having won national awards. She was the voice for G.E., Nationwide, McDonalds, and the Kentucky Department of Tourism, as well as numerous award-winning children’s albums. She was the featured vocalist from 1990-94 on “Winsome Ministries,” an international weekly radio broadcast hosted by Dr. J Ellsworth Kalas, president of Asbury Theological Seminary. She is a first call vocalist for many producers in Nashville, Indianapolis, Orlando, Dallas, Seattle and Atlanta. Her list of album background vocals reads like a “Who’s Who” in the music industry. She has assisted her husband in production of Christian Radio air-play Singles and provides dinner music with him at an occasional banquet. She is a soloist with the nationally known “Americana Music Group” which travels abroad representing the U.S.A. in efforts to share the Gospel in countries like China and Ukraine. On Sunday mornings, she participates in local church music ministries. She operates a glass-blowing studio when not on the road.
Joe Gierlach has been providing sound and lights for The MetroGnomes since 2005. He is a local craftsman who is highly involved in the local music scene. Joe plays Dobro, mandolin, and guitar and performs with the local bluegrass group, "Blue Dawg." He also participates in the planning and production of various musical events and festivals in the central Kentucky area including Wilmore's Stonebridge Summer Concert Series. You can also hear him on the radio on WRFL-FM on Saturdays from noon till 2:00 pm playing an eclectic variety of Americana Folk and Bluegrass music.