Blue Skies: A Tribute to the Music of the '40s by Chris Klich Jazz Quintet, featuring Laura Preble

Additionally, in 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, and 2005 the group was runner-up for Best Jazz Band at the annual San Diego Music Awards, and is currently rated #3 most popular San Diego band in all genres by Barstar, an online rating of performance venues and performers. In addition to their regular performances, both public and private, their two excellent CDs, The First Take (2000) and Reflections on Yuletide (2001) are frequently played on San Diego jazz radio station KSDS-FM 88.3. The quintet returned to the recording studio in the fall of 2005 to record their newest album, Blue Skies: A Tribute to the Music of the '40s. The group's Web site includes performances of the quintet, photos, and MP3 audio clips from all three albums, as well as MP3 samples of tunes most frequently requested at their performances.

Here is some information about the performers:

Chris Klich is a native of San Diego, and has performed professionally for the last 25 years, in our county as well as nationally and internationally. Chris earned a Bachelor of Music degree at the University of California, San Diego in 1983 where he was mentored by the great Jimmy Cheatham, and a Master of Music, Jazz Studies degree at San Diego State University in 2005, where he studied with the great jazz composer Rick Helzer. He has worked with bands and artists Tobacco Road, Candye Kane and the Swingin' Armadillos, Harvey and 52nd St. Jive, The Heroes, Wise Monkey Orchestra, and The Fabulous Mar Dels. In addition to his performances with the Chris Klich Jazz Quintet, he frequently performs with Big Time Operator, The Rhythmmakers, The Fabulous Ultratones, and The Rhythm Method, and does many freelance gigs, playing everything from jazz to blues to swing to top-40 and Electronica. He is the featured soloist with the Laura Preble Band, performing alternative-pop originals. He specializes in sax, clarinet, and flute, and is an accomplished studio musician, having recorded on dozens of performers' albums. In addition to his skill on woodwinds, he also produced the C.Ds. Voices in My Head (1999), by his wife Laura Preble, and the quintet's first CD, The First Take (2000), as well as their wonderful Holiday album, Reflections on Yuletide (2001) and their newest release Blue Skies (2005). January 2006 sees a new career chapter as Chris begins his new post as Professor of Music at Southwestern College, Chula Vista, Ca.

Neal Wauchope hails from Georgia, where he performed in blues bands while earning a degree in classical piano from the University of Georgia. While in Georgia, he toured with Sean Costello, Tinsley Ellis, Sandra Hall, Rufus Thomas, and Francine Reed. In addition to the fine organ and piano skills he brings to the Chris Klich Quintet, he also leads the Big Mo Band and The Three Dueces, and runs a jazz and blues CD label, Walk-Up Music, that publishes compilations of the best in San Diego jazz and blues artists and bands.

Pete Woods is an in-demand drummer for many of San Diego's most popular groups. He studied jazz drumming with Alex Acuña and Hal Crook, and has performed with Ed Shaunessey, Keiko Matsui, and Brandon Fields. He currently performs with Harvey and 52nd St. Jive, The Laura Preble Band, Barbara Jamerson, and Will Sumner's Tropic Zone. He also does many private parties with other groups, as well, playing various styles, including jazz, funk, pop and rock.

Brian Wright plays more than nearly all bass players on the San Diego music scene. Performing on upright, as well as electric bass, he has been playing for 36 years. Before moving to California, he studied at Michigan State, where he had the opportunity to perform with many great bands that visited the campus. The highlight of his academic career was when he performed with the Count Basie Orchestra. He regularly plays with Hollis Gentry, Carlos X. Pena, the Del Bybee Big Band, and Wayne Foster, and has recorded with Jaime Valle and Alex Acuna.

Alan Worthington has been playing jazz guitar for over 35 years, in San Diego, primarily, since he moved here in the mid-70's. He has performed with Hollis Gentry and Lynn Willard, and is a lead soloist with the Mesa College Jazz Ensemble. In the early eighties, he toured extensively with the show and jazz group "Wizard," which also included Dan and Pete, performing in Lake Tahoe, Reno, and Las Vegas. He owned Gary Music Co. in Pacific Beach from 1984 to 1990, which specialized in serving the jazz musician community with its line of instructional materials and equipment. Through his guitar instruction at the store, he was formative in the careers of many of the up-and-coming young musicians in the San Diego area.

Frequent contributor Laura Preble is an outstanding creative artist in many fields. In addition to her incomparable jazz singing, she is a celebrated songwriter whose 1999 CD Voices in My Head has received international airplay. A gifted music theatre actor, she has appeared in the San Diego Repertory Theatre's production of Six Women With Brain Death, and La Posada with the Old Globe, as well as Bandido at Southwestern College. She co-wrote the book and lyrics for Dracul, an opera that was performed at the San Diego Repertory Theater in 1994.As an author, she has contributed fiction and humor articles to many national magazines, is a free-lance writer for the San Diego Union Tribune, California Teachers Magazine, Voice of San Diego, and the Troubadour Magazine. Laura's new novel Queen Geek Social Club will be published in September 2006 by Penguin publishers, and she will be touring the country in the fall to promote the book. More information about Laura can be found at her web sites http://LauraPreble.com and http://www.prebles-prose.com/index.html .

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