Somewhere in Between

Marcus Duke

Keyboards

Marcus, who hails from New York City, got into music by way of therapy for a severe, infection-induced hearing loss. He went to the School of Performing Arts (the "Fame" high school) and attended Juilliard Preparatory School and Mannes College of Music. He migrated to LA in '71, and spent the next 8 years recording and performing, including a tour with Lou Rawls. He recorded three albums there with his instrumental group, Nothin' Sirius, and played on many other recordings for the same label, Baby Grand Records.

Marcus moved to the Northwest in '79, where he has been performing with many different groups ranging the gamut from rock to R&B to reggae to Klezmer to world fusion.

In the Pac NW, he has performed or written music for diverse projects, from a Seahawks theme (with Eric Apoe), to the renowned northwest Klezmer band, The Mazeltones (with multi-instrumentalist Shawn Weaver), to a mixed-media composition of music, imagery and poems—Adagio—in collaboration with Galen Garwood. For several decades, he was also a regular on the reggae scene, playing with Sundance, the World Beat Band, and BoomTali Posse.

He formed the group Somewhere in Between in the late '80s with Shawn Weaver, recording the CD Floating Point and performing around the region, including at the Earshot Jazz Festival. When he finished his latest CD, Petrichor Dreams, in 2013, he reformed Somewhere in Between in support of the recording and because playing live is just too much fun. He plans to continue performing until he drops. More on Marcus…

Sammy Alamillo

Drums and percussion

Sam, who hails from Chicago, has been been a professional drummer and percussionist nearly two decades. He studied percussion at Indiana University and played Latin Jazz under the direction of Mariano Morales and Dr. David Baker. He continues to hone his craft studying with Grammy nominated Paoli Mejias and Afro-Cuban All Stars drummer, Calixto Oviedo Mulens.

Throughout his career, Sam has collaborated with numerous international and local musicians including Tito Puente, the Morales-Matos family, Steve Guasch, Julio Jauregui, Carlos Cascante, and Johnny Conga. He has also toured with the band Nueva Era, a popular Salsa band known for its high energy and musicianship.

These days, Sam can be seen playing in a variety of music groups including Buena Vibra Seattle. He is the house timbalero/drummer for salsa night at the historic Century Ballroom in Capital Hill Seattle. He has also performed with the Tacoma Symphony and Bellevue Choral Society.

Dennis Staskowski

Basses

Dennis could be considered the "long-hair" of the group. Originally from Detroit, he came to Seattle by way of LA in 1990. He received a degree in instrumental performance from the University of Washington, graduating with top honors in 1995. While at the UW, he studied with Barry Lieberman of the LA Philharmonic and Seattle Symphony.

He has performed with many ensembles and orchestras, including the UW Symphony, the University Strings, The Contemporary Group, the Octava Chamber Orchestra, the Bellevue and Federal Way Symphony Orchestras, The Evergreen City Ballet Orchestra, the Young Composer's Collective, and the New Chamber Orchestra. Dennis recently performed and recorded several new works by contemporary composers Byron Au Yong and Sumiko Sato, as well as the contemporary improvisational group bass/hornz .

Beyond the classical arena, Dennis has performed, recorded, and toured with numerous Northwest jazz, rock, and world music groups, including the Seattle Creative Music Orchestra, One Hand Clapping, the Valse Cafe Orchestra, Opera Jupiter, and the Deepak Ram Quintet.

Jye Paet

Guitars

Among the migratory-prone members of this band, Jye traveled the farthest, coming to the Pacific Northwest from his native home of Guam (US territory) in 2005. Taking a cue from his grandfather, a lead guitarist whose gigs Jye attended as a child, he started playing when he was 16.

Given where he lived, it was inevitable that the island music and lifestyle found it's way into his playing style, becoming the roots of his sound. This led him to play guitars and synths with a pivotal local reggae band that spread an appreciation for roots reggae and and cultivated a teeming roots scene. Jye’s work with guitar synths, coupled with his playing style, helped usher in a new wave of open-minded guitarists.

When he moved to Washington, Jye expanded his palette to a diverse range of styles, including jazz, funk, hip hop, soul, R&B, and samba. He plays in several bands, including a soul/R&B/classic rock/jazz outfit called @5, and the reggae band, Po 'okela Street Band, establishing himself as a musician of note in the Pacific Northwest. In the recording realm, most recently, Jye played on several tracks of Marcus Duke’s latest CD, Petrichor Dreams.