con*sil"i*ence, n: from the latin, consilere, formed from con,"with," and "salire," to leap; an interlocking of explanations of cause and effect between disciplines. An act of concurrence; coherence; jumping together.

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BOARD MEMBERS:

Vinson Valega - Executive Director

Vinson grew up in a musical family near Washington, D.C., studying classical piano from age seven until switching to the drums when he was 12. He played drums for three years in the All-County Jazz Ensemble during high school and subsequently held the drum chair in the University of Pennsylvania Big Band during college. After graduating from UPENN with a B.A. in Economics, Vinson came to New York City in the early 90's to study music at the Mannes College of Music in Manhattan, where he studied with Marvin "Smitty" Smith (of The Tonight Show Band), Vernel Fournier, and Norm Freeman (of the New York Philharmonic).

Vinson has performed in many clubs in the New York Metropolitan area, including the Blue Note, Smoke, Sweet Rhythm, 55 Bar, Birdland, Jazz Gallery, Smalls, Detour, Cornelia Street Cafe, Cleopatra's Needle, Trumpets of Montclair, NJ, and Cecil's in West Orange, NJ. An avid composer, Vinson also teaches privately and served on the staff of the Stanford Jazz Workshop in California from 1999-2001. He has toured throughout North America and Europe with his groups and others, and he appears on Matthew Fries' CD, Song For Today (TCB) and the Ganz Brother's release, First Steps (Extravaganza). Vinson also has four CDs out as a leader, Live@147, Consilience, Awake, and Biophilia.

In addition, Vinson has also worked with or played alongside with many of the great musicians in jazz, such as Grover Washington, Jr., Dakota Staton, Clarke Terry, James Williams, Donald Brown, Harold Mabern, Jr., Jamil Nasser, Ron McClure, Bob Mintzer, Russell Malone, Peter Bernstein, Mark Turner, Terell Stafford, Eric Alexander, Jim Rotundi, David Hazeltine, Joel Frahm, Dena DeRose, and Vincent Herring, and Candido Camero, among others.

Chris Bacas - President

Chris began his career at age fifteen as a sideman with a club band in York, PA, and after attending North Texas State, he began his jazz performance career in earnest. Beginning in 1983, Chris played in the Glen Miller Band, The Tommy Dorsey Band, the Artie Shaw Band, and Buddy Rich's legendary Big Band until Rich's passing in 1987.

Over the past twenty years, Chris has appeared at festivals all over the world, including the Nice, North Sea, Cork, Santiago, Montreal, Moers Texaco, Annapolis, JVC New York, and Central PA Jazz Festivals. He has performed in Copenhagen at the Tivoli Gardens; in Los Angeles at The Hollywood Bowl and LA's Comedy Store; in New York's Blue Note and Birdland; at Chicago's Jazz Showcase; and in Washington D.C. at Blues Alley and One Step Down.

Chris was a member of the Smithsonian's Jazz Masterworks Orchestra under conductors David Baker and Gunther Schuller. The orchestra's concert series was broadcast on NPR, and a CD sampler was released in 1996. In 1999 Chris was soloist on both flute and saxophone in the Mary Lou Williams' "Mass" (which was performed and recorded in the National Cathedral) and also toured Russia and Siberia with a group of Russian and American musicians.

Since 1989, Chris has appeared on over thirty recordings, including three ("Two Choices," "Leave a Message," and "Exits") as leader/co-leader. Since moving to Brooklyn, NY, in 1999, Chris has performed and recorded with Stefan Bauer, The Sound Assembly, and Christoph Sweitzer. In 2004, he attended Brooklyn College on a full tuition scholarship and received a saxophone performance degree with honors.

Chris teaches privately and has been on the staff at Towson State University in Baltimore, MD.

Helen Yee - Secretary

In over twenty years of work as a marketing and strategy consultant to a range of clients, from financial firms to not-for-profit organizations, to telecommunications and public utility companies, Helen Yee has brought creative strategies together with practical, nuts-and-bolts tools to help clients clarify and achieve their marketing objectives. As an original member of the string quartet, Invert, she has brought tight ensemble musicianship and improvisational skill to the success of a unique rock, jazz and world music-influenced ensemble. In its ten years together Invert has released three albums, toured the US, and received airplay on over sixty radio stations.

A native of New York, Ms. Yee holds a BA from Yale University. Her marketing consulting clients at DeSola Group have included companies such as State Street Global Markets, RiverSource Investments, TIAA-CREF, AXA, International Women’s Health Coalition and KeySpan Energy. As a musician she has lent her talents to diverse performance and recording projects including traditional and new music with Music From China, experimental theatre, rock and hip-hop acts, movie soundtracks, and jazz and chamber ensembles. Her teaching experience includes residencies and workshops at Colgate University, Peabody Conservatory, and Manhattan School of Music, and workshops for children in arts-in-education programs. She has also been a presenter on the subject of alternative chamber music and a panelist on strings around the world at the American String Teachers Association national conference.

Dan Rosenberg - Treasurer

Dan Rosenberg is a community activist in North Fork, California, a small town in the Sierra Nevada Foothills. He is a past President of the Board of Directors at the California Vipassana Meditation Center and is the current Board President of the North Fork Community Development Council. He was instrumental in starting a community center and a local currency in addition to working on several economic development programs including the ongoing redevelopment of a 135 acre abandoned lumber mill site. He loves collaboration and bringing about positive changes that didn’t seem possible.

Dan has a passion for playing music and has done so for most of his life. He played trombone throughout his childhood and then in college big bands. In 1998 he moved to North Fork, where he found it awkward jamming with a community of musicians playing mandolins, banjos, guitars and fiddles. So, in 2003 he took up guitar and currently enjoys singing, songwriting and pickin’ with friends.

In his professional career, Dan is an educational planning consultant with Maas Companies, Inc. In his job, he assists community colleges in planning future instructional programs with a focus on identifying and funding future facilities needs. He is dedicated to expanding accessibility to post-secondary education for underserved populations in California and the Nation.

In 2000, Dan won the Democratic Party nomination for US Congress from the 19th District in California. He lost to the incumbent in the general election garnering 32% of the vote.

Anton Denner - Vice President

Born in New York City in 1961, Anton Denner began playing the saxophone in 1974. After early studies with Lee Konitz and Joe Lovano, he began to freelance in the New York area in the early '80's, performing at The Village Gate, Visiones, The 55 Bar, Birdland , and many other venues.

Anton has also worked with or played alongside with many of the great musicians in jazz, such as Ray Charles, Rosemary Clooney, Clifford Jordan, Mel Lewis, Al Foster, Norman Simmons, Brad Meldau, Bill Carrothers, Larry Goldings, Terell Stafford, Dave Stryker, and Bill Stewart, to name only a few. Anton has also been a featured soloist at The Napa Valley Jazz Festival, the Istanbul Jazz Festival (with the NY Jazz Giants) and the LaVillete Festival in France (with the Bill Carrothers Trio).

Recorded work includes the critically acclaimed Bill Carrothers Trio CD, Ghost Ships, Happy Apple's, Blown Shockwaves & Crash Flow, and John McKenna's Apparition, to name only a few. As an educator, he has served on the faculty of the Stanford Jazz Workshop, has been an adjunct professor at Seton Hall University since 1999, and continues to teach private students in northern New Jersey.

Anton is married to Nicki Denner, the Latin Jazz pianist and composer, and resides in Bloomingdale, New Jersey.

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