De Anza Daddios 

Welcome to DeAnzaDaddios.org!

The De Anza College "Daddios" Evening Jazz Ensembles are in the forefront of preserving and presenting contemporary Big Band Jazz to the south San Francisco Bay Area community. The Daddios have come to be generally regarded as among the finest evening rehearsal jazz bands in Northern California, and present regular concerts on campus, at jazz events and at various venues in the bay area.

Upcoming Concerts

Thursday night, December 4:

De Anza "Daddios"         IN CONCERT

Special Guest:                Trumpeter MIKE VAX

Featuring the Homestead High School and Miller Middle School Jazz Bands

Bandleader, trumpeter and educator MIKE VAX will be the featured guest at a jazz concert to be held at the Homestead High School Theater on Thursday night, December 4, 2008, beginning at 7:00 p.m. Tickets are $8 general, $5 students and seniors, available at the door.

Mr. Vax will share the stage with De Anza College's Six O'Clock and Eight O'Clock "Daddios" evening jazz bands, directed by Steve Tyler, the Homestead High School jazz ensemble, directed by John Burn, and the Miller Middle School jazz band, directed by Steve Tyler.

Mike Vax has played lead and solo trumpet with the Stan Kenton Orchestra, the Clark Terry Big Bad Band, and the U.S. Navy Show Band.

Mike has also performed and/or recorded with such greats as Art Pepper, Al Grey, Freddy Hubbard, Gene Krupa, John Handy, Don Ellis, Don Jacoby, Louie Bellson, Joe Williams, Anita O'Day, Barbara McNair, the Four Freshmen, The Glenn Miller and Jimmy Dorsey Orchestras, The Navy Commodores, The Army Blues, The Army Jazz Ambassadors, The Air Force Falconaires, the Beverly Hills Unlisted Jazz Band, and the Dukes of Dixieland in New Orleans.

He has appeared as guest lead trumpet and soloist with symphony pops orchestras around the United States, as well as the All-American Collegiate Orchestra at Disneyworld. He has toured extensively in Europe, Scandinavia, South America and Japan.

As a recording musician, he has performed on more than 75 albums, including 20 under his own name.

Currently he is leading his own groups: The Mike Vax Jazz Orchestra, The Mike Vax Big Band (featuring alumni of the Stan Kenton Orchestra), TRPTS (Trumpets), The Great American Jazz Band, and the Mike Vax Quintette and Sextette.

Mike has done workshops and concerts in over 2000 elementary and junior high schools, high schools, colleges and universities all around the world, over the past 35 years. He is very active as a clinician and soloist in both the classical and jazz idioms.

New Class at De Anza

LATIN JAZZ ENSEMBLE being formed for Winter Quarter 2008

A new daytime class will have its first meeting on Monday, September 22. De Anza's new LATIN JAZZ ENSEMBLE will rehearse and perform music in the various styles of jazz influenced by Latin American and Caribbean rhythms. 

"I'm excited about the chance for us to form this new group," says Steve Tyler, De Anza music instructor. "This is a thrilling and exciting style of music to play. One advantage we will have with forming the group is that we can be very flexible with the instrumentation, since we won't be locked in to a standard 'big-band' format. The horn section could have any number of horns, from as few as 2 to 6 or more."

"We will be looking for rhythm section players, particularly percussionists, who are interested in studying and learning to play authentic Latin rhythms on instruments such as timbales and congas, and styles such as songo, rhumba and guaguanco, to name a few."

Interested students should register for MUSIC 25G and plan to attend the first class on Jan. 5 at 3:30 p.m. in building A3. For more information about this and other jazz classes at De Anza College, visit Steve Tyler's faculty website at: faculty.deanza.edu/tylersteve

Join Our Mailing List

Stay notified of upcoming De Anza Jazz events! Send an email to De Anza music instructor Steve Tyler at tylersteven@deanza.edu and ask to be added to the mailing list.