Straight Ahead, the band
is one of New York City’s
most swellegant, elegant bands.
As driving as disco, as cool as Cole Porter, they swing with the flair
of Ellington and rock with power of Bruce and the Stones. Straight
Ahead,
the band is a full time working band of musicians and vocalists, New York’s
finest.
They travel to
New Jersey,
Philadelphia,
New England and the Islands, the Hamptons
and Upstate New York,
so they are truly one of the East Coast’s best dance bands.
Come
in and look at our site, get to know us,
check out our bios,
view our extensive,
eclectic songlist,
and see why so many
clients praise our skill
and commitment to providing the best
dance and listening
music in the
Tri-state area.
We will send you a CD,
sign you up for our newsletter, and we would love to meet with you personally.
In our 12 years together, we have played a hundreds of events for a wide range of clients, providing great music for dancing and listening. Our band members have worked for superstars such as Sting, Gloria Estefan, Jewel, Joey McIntyre, Maynard Ferguson, Bruce Springsteen, Rod Stewart, Southside Johnny, Tommy Tune, The Lounge Lizards, and Tina Turner as well as playing for numerous Broadway shows.
Lead vocalist Donna Harris has worked with giants like Garth
Brooks and Enya, has appeared on Late
Night with David Letterman, The Rosie O’Donnell Show, The
Grammy Awards, as well as having TV commercials and voiceovers
to her credit.
Emmy
Award winning composer, pianist, and vocalist John Bauers
has several charted pop and dance records to his credit; an Emmy
Award for his theme for the Los Angeles Marathon broadcast; and
themes for ABC, Lifetime TV, New York Mets, LA Clippers,
WNBA, Court TV, WWOR TV, and KCOP TV.
Donna grew up in Greenwich Village in a musical family, her mother a singer, her father a singer, tap dancer, drummer and personal friend and singing partner of Frank Sinatra, her brother Michael a drummer, and her brother John Bianculli, a well-known jazz pianst in N.J. She studied acting and received her BFA at the Mason Gross School of the Arts at Rutgers University. After working in television, film and theatre, she settled on her first love, singing. She has performed with numerous artists such as Enya and Garth Brooks, appearing on the Grammy telecast, Late Night with David Letterman and Rosie O'Donnell, as well as commericials and numerous voiceovers.
After her recent marriage to the very international guitarist-singer and painter, Ken Richards, Donna received her Master of Social Work degree from RIC. When she can slip away (which is not that often), Donna and her husband love to ride motorbikes and perform in nightclubs on the island of Mykynos in Greece where they own a home and art studio.
Jim Cifelli has been active as a trumpeter, composer and jazz educator in New York City for the past 15 years. Born and raised in Yorktown Heights NY, Jim holds degrees from New York University and the Manhattan School of Music. His compositions and arrangements have been performed by numerous ensembles including the Stuttgart Radio Orchestra, The Composers Big Band, The Navy Commodores and others. Jim also leads his own nine piece band, The New York Nonet, which has just released it’s third CD: Tunnel Vision. He has also been active as an adjudicator and clinician and is the Director of Jazz Ensembles at the Trinity School in New York City.
Dave hails from Denton, Texas where he and his bass playing twin brother grew up steeped in Southern blues and rock. Dave began to get interested in jazz in college and studied at North Texas State. He also did independent studies with Dave Liebman and Ben Monder. Dave has his own group, the Eclectic Troubadours, which plays and sings his original mix of jazz and singer-songwriter compositions.
John, besides being a busy father of two boys, stays active in many aspects of the music business. He hails originally from Kansas City, Missouri and came to New York after earning his degree in music composition at Berklee College of Music in Boston. He studied arranging with Don Sebesky and received a National Endowment of the Arts grant to study jazz piano and composition with Joanne Brackeen. He has led blues bands, jazz trios, and performed in Europe, the Midwest and West Coast. He performs in clubs and restaurants throught the New York area. “I love to play, and performing in the clubs keeps it all alive and happening for me.”
John is a sought after composer of music for TV, documentaries, and audiobooks. Recent projects include commercials for AOL, Target, Sax Fifth Ave, and Plavix. Audiobooks he has recently scored include bestsellers by Patricia Cornwel, Neil Stephenson, Maeve Binchy, Jan Karon, and Dean Smith. John is also active in the community, having served on several non profit boards, including that of his children’s Charter School. He also does volunteer work at the school, running the locally famous Doo Wop Shop elementary school vocal group, as well as working with kids on their own music recording projects.