Our assorted stories and bios - Jackie

Once upon a time, there was Jackie, the bassist...

Well...not really, I was supposed to be a pianist but destiny had other plans.  Besides, bass players get more scholarships than pianists...heehee!!

Jackie De Los Santos, double bassist and a native New Yorker, earned her Bachelors and Masters  of music from the Juilliard School.  While residing there, Ms. De Los Santos was the principal bassist of the Korean Chamber Orchestra of New York and performed her solo debut with them at Weill Recital Hall, Carnegie Hall.  She also performed with the Westchester Opera, the York Theater Company and the Greenwich Symphony.

Since moving to South Florida, Ms. De Los Santos has performed with numerous groups on the east and west coasts of Florida: Naples Philharmonic, Symphony of Southwest Florida and the Boca Pops.  She also performed with the Florida Grand Opera and Miami City Ballet for many years.

Ms. De Los Santos has played alongside many world renowned artists including Andrea Bocelli, the Moody Blues, Neil Sedaka, Vikki Carr, Sarah Chang,  and Yo-Yo Ma.  Currently, you can find her in Miami Symphony’s bass section.

Showing her versatility as a bassist, Ms. De Los Santos has performed on bass guitar in various musicals, including Respect and Pageant, as well as the 2010 Florida run of the Carbonell winning show, Vices, A Love Story.

Ms. De Los Santos has been the principal bassist of the award winning Klezmer Company Orchestra (KCO) since 1998 and is also one of the founding members of the innovative Latin/Jazz/World Fusion group; J.E.T..  Along with performing, she has been teaching strings for more than 20 years and has her own private studio of students.

So now here comes the nitty gritty about me -- you've been waiting for this, I know.


I'm married to... 

 A N D

(rustling and flurry of whispers..."What the?? What does THAT mean??  Is she married to herSELF?? WHAT IS SHE TALKING ABOUT??").  No, no, no...I'm married to my two BASSES....geez-o-flip folks! 

The one I'm playing on in the top photo, with the blue background, is White Prince - yes, I name them!  He's been with me since September of 1982.  Barrie Kolstein, from Kolstein & Son, made the little guy.  The one in the second picture is Jackson Bear.  Hannah Mayne, from Mayne Basses, made him and he's been with me since March of 2008.  I love them both dearly and both are very supportive, very temperamental and very much kick @ss basses!

Oh, by the way, see that little white speck on Jackson Bear's tailpiece?  That's a mother of pearl inlay of this:

Which I had Hannah put in.  I love it!  Just sayin'!


My nickname is Bear - "Osa", in Spanish, or Osita (Little Bear).......I'm sure the peanut gallery is preparing a whole treasure filled chest of comments!
To wrap my page up...I'm a Reiki master and have been since 1997.  I've had a fair number of interesting and successful results dealing with Reiki.  I've also recently taken the Richard Bartlett Matrix Energetics seminars - Levels 1, 2 and 3.  Boy, is THAT stuff fascinating!  It's quantum physics and healing all wrapped up in one,  and let me tell you what a quirky, energetic, fun, loopy guy Richard is!


All right....now that everyone's eyebrows are up and meeting their hairlines (I also see a quite a few people twirling their finger around their ears in that decades old sign of "she's nuts!") I'll exit stage left and take a much needed break!  Ta-ta all!!!

Our assorted stories and bios - Teresa

Now we get to (harass) Teresa....heehee....just kidding, babybaby sis.  Oh yes, that reminds me!!  I'm the oldest and we all love each other as if we were sisters, soooo.....I call Elena "baby sis", Teresa is "babybaby sis" (so no, that wasn't a typo back there) and Emily - Teresa's younger sister - is affectionately known as "embryo".  I know, there is no rhyme or reason, here.  Onwards...

Once upon a time there was Teresa, drummer and percussionist...

Teresa Flores-Diaz is originally from Los Angeles and started playing percussion at the young age of 13.  She attended Fullerton College, where she studied jazz with Matt Johnson and classical percussion with Robert Slack.
 
In 1997, Ms. Flores-Diaz received the Woman of the Year award from the Fullerton College Music Department.  She earned her Bachelor’s of Music from the University of Southern California Thornton School Of Music in 2001. At USC she studied with Erik Forrester and guest professors Raynor Carroll, David Johnson, Ndugu Chanceller and Morris Lang. While at USC, the Thornton Percussion Ensemble performed at the 1997 and 2000 Percussive Arts Society International Conventions.

In 2001-2003, Ms. Flores-Diaz worked as a percussion instructor for the Pasadena College Tournament of Roses Honor Band. While in Los Angeles, she performed with various groups including the Pacific Symphony Institute and the Debut Symphony Orchestra.

In 2006, she received a Master’s of Music degree from Florida International University. She studied with both Keith Aleo and Michael Launius.  Ms. Flores-Diaz has performed in Florida with the South Florida Symphonic Pops, the Klezmer Company Orchestra, Symphony of the Americas and the Palm Beach Symphony.  She is currently teaching music for Miami-Dade County public schools and is the drummer for the trio the J.E.T..

And there was Felipe, drummer and percussionist...no, really...

 Felipe gets to teach in the Miami-Dade County school system.  Trust me, this is a good thing and he deals with it wonderfully.  If anyone misbehaves, he just gives them this look:

WHOOPS!!!  Sorry!!  Not that look, THIS one.....

If you get really REALLY close to your screen, you can see that "don't mess with me" expression in his eyes, it would scare anyone, truly...
Looking around his office, you can tell he's a sweetie and loves his wife...he has some pics on his desk:

Just too sweet!!!  Then, there's the one behind his desk, on the wall, 27"x41".....

Yes, t'is true!  Let me explain before you thud to the ground...part of his birthday present from Teresa was to give him a session of target practice lessons.  The day we could all meet and go also happened to be my birthday and I LOVE target practice...heh...our teacher was none other than Olympian marks(wo)man and champion: Gabriela Franco.  And a good time was had by all!!


(psssst, it's not really on the wall, behind his desk, I'm just playing with you!)

Onwards!!!

Our assorted stories and bios - Elena

Here I am, back again, to continue regaling you with our story...

Once upon a time, there was Elena, the opera singer...

 West Palm Beach based soprano ELENA CORREIA received her Master of Music from The Juilliard School and her Bachelor of Music from San Diego State University. She has performed with the Palm Beach Opera, Corpus Christi Symphony, Aspen Opera Theater Center, Juilliard Opera Theater, San Diego State Opera Theater, Sarasota Opera, San Diego Chamber Orchestra and Cobb Symphony Orchestra.

Ms. Correia has been a member of the master classes of Gerard Souzay, Evelyn Lear, Janet Bookspan, Muriel Costa-Greenspon and Hakan Hagegard and Jack Harrold. She was asked to perform at Mr. Harrold’s Memorial Concert at Merkin Hall alongside Ms. Elizabeth Futral. Among her numerous awards are First Place Winner of Classical Productions Award in Weill Recital Hall, Carnegie Hall, First prizes in the prestigious Graz (Austria) Meistersinger Competition, the NATS Competition and the San Diego District of the Metropolitan Opera Competition.

Highlights of her operatic roles include Rosalinda in Die Fledermaus, Cio-Cio San in Madama Butterfly, Violetta in La Traviata, Suor Osmina in Suor Angelica, the Second Lady in The Magic Flute and Stella in The Tales of Hoffmann. While performing the role of the Foreign Woman in the Consul, with IVAI in Israel,  Ms. Correia was asked to learn and cover the role of Lucia in The Rape of Lucretia with 6 days notice, and performed the role in dress rehearsals to much acclaim by Maestro Martin Isepp.

In 2001, she made her debut at Palm Beach Opera as Countess Ceprano in Rigoletto. Recently, her performances within the past several years include several recitals in Barcelona, Spain, Soloist with the Coral Springs Symphony, Hallandale Symphony and Soprano soloist, for the The Messiah at Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church.

Ms. Correia is now scheduled to give concerts and recitals throughout South Florida in the coming year, as well as a special concert for her band J.E.T., at the Pine Crest Concert Hall this Fall 2011, promoting autism awareness.

Ms. Correia is featured in 3 songs on the Beyond the Tribes album with the Klezmer Company Orchestra, which won the Just Plain Folks award; an “Independent Grammy” in 2009 for Best Klezmer Album and Best Klezmer Song.  Past performances with The Klezmer Company Orchestra, include the Eissey Theater, Parker Playhouse, & the Carole and Barry Kaye Performing Arts Auditorium, with standing ovations at all concerts.

Ms. Correia is performing her debut recital in Weill Recital Hall, Carnegie Hall, scheduled to take place in October 2012.

And there was Rafael, the architect...

  
Sorry Ralph, no bio, this is about the girls!

And they fell in love and and got married on the beach...

All right, we got that out of the way....fast forward.....(remember that? Fast forward? Rewind? Sorry, showing my age.....heh).


Since the boys aren't getting any kind of bio, I'll be kind.  This is what Ralph, um, sorry, what Rafael does when he's not busy showering his wife with love, adoration and kindness:

He creates houses and buildings in his imagination, then does the renderings (the drawings above).  He runs away to his man cave, I mean, his office so he can....work....yeah, that's it...

 

All kidding aside (which is VERY hard for me), isn't that a cool office? He has living walls in his office, nice, Ralphie!!

When he's done and his creations and goals become real edifices, this is what happens:

 

I know, I know....we all want him to make us one now!  

More to follow!!

 

J.E.T. - Our version of the Universe!

Welcome to the world of J.E.T. - Jackie De Los Santos, Elena Correia and Teresa Flores-Diaz; the three ladies that make up J.E.T., became friends in 2005.  All three have music in common, Jackie earning her Bachelors and Masters at the Juilliard School, Elena earning her Bachelors at San Diego State and her Masters at Juilliard and Teresa earning her Bachelors at the University of Southern California and her Masters at Florida International University.
One night, in 2008, while hanging out at Elena's house - a weekly Friday evening occurrence known as "Sangria Night" (with some Scrabble thrown in for good measure) - the idea of forming a band was thrown around.  We came up with calling ourselves J.E.T. because, after all, the first letter of each of our names actually formed a word.  Thank goodness our names aren't Teresa, Isabel and Tracy!!  WHEW!!!

Come with me as I share a little bit of ourselves with all of you.  I'm Jackie, the rockin' bassist, and I'm the oldest. I'm forty------ummm, never mind....years old. Elena, our wonderful soprano, follows, being -----(wait, I'm not saying, I don't have a death wish.....!). And Teresa, the cool and talented drummer, is...no! Teresa.....WAIT!!!  ***C-R-A-S-H*** All RIGHT!! SHEESH!!!
Ahem....cough...SMH (shake my head).  Uh, sorry folks, it seems Teresa’s hand had an involuntary muscle spasm and her drumsticks went flying (accidentally, of course) and I had to duck. (**whispering** I wasn’t really going to tell them your age, T!!)
 
ANYway...Well, let’s get going and I’ll share some more history and a few cool pics.......(as I look nervously around, checking to see if anyone is going to raise hell about what pictures I put up).

I'll start back in 2008 with the first time we stepped into a recording studio....ahhhh....memories...

That's right, there aren't any of me.  I wasn't too fond of the ones taken and besides, I have some pictures that I actually like (holy moly, that's a first) so I'll put those up later.

Ladies and gentlemen, the next chapter cometh......