J.A.M. - Just About Music

Meet the band!

These five dynamic musicians and energetic singer are sure to delight!

 

Gene Butler (Drums)

 

Gene Butler is one of this area’s most versatile and dynamic drummers. With 35 years of experience, he has excelled in mastering the art of groove in most genres of music. His background started in church at the age of 5, by the time he was fifteen, he was touring Europe on the set. He has worked with top producers such as Aaron Linsay, Bobby Sparks, and Steve Lewis. He has been seen on stage with some of the finest artist like, Tamela Mann, Walter Hawkins, Tremaine Hawkins, Donnie McClurkin, Roy Hargrove, Winton Marsalis and many more! He chaired the drum seat for the legendary group Forecast before moving to Dallas, TX. Gene also has an album release to his credit, teaming with another local product Daymond Callahan, to release their Christmas album, Christmas Memoirs in 2010.

 

Gene has spent some time away from Cleveland living in Dallas, TX and Honolulu, HI, and after some wonderful musical and cultural experiences, he’s moved back home to Cleveland, because there’s no place like HOME! 

 

Rob Cunningham (Guitar)

 

Rob Cunningham was born in Brooklyn New York into a musical family, as his father is a jazz bassist in the Brooklyn New York area. Rob is a self-taught musician who started playing guitar around age 16 and eventually started performing with local bands until about age 22. It was then that he met and started working with the R&B group Levert and later with solo artist, Gerald Levert. Rob has lent his musical talents on stage, and on records, to R&B and jazz artist’s such as Pamela Williams, Johnny Gill, Millie Jackson, Zhane, Miki Howard, Silk, Chante Moore, Tom Brown, Alex Bungnon, Men at Large, the Rude Boys and 1 of the Girls, just to name a few.

 

Matthew Horwich (Saxophone)

 

Matthew Horowich’s saxophone playing will mesmerize you. For more than a decade, Matt has worked as a freelance saxophonist in the Midwest playing in a variety of musical settings including contemporary, straight-ahead and modern jazz, rhythm and blues, funk, soul, Motown, blues, swing, pop, dance, disco, merengue, salsa, reggae and classical.

 

Matt has performed at over one thousand special events and weekly engagements at hundreds of jazz clubs, bars, restaurants, country clubs, hotels and private events. You might have seen Matt play in venues including the Akron Civic Theater, Take Five, Holiday Inn’s Impulse Lounge, Cleveland Browns Stadium, CSU’s Convocation Center, Ritz Carlton, Cain Park, Akron Zoo, Tower City and the International Exposition Center. Matt has performed with other bands, including Martha Reeves and the Vandellas, Rumplestiltskin, The Jerry Bruno Orchestra, Shout, The Edsels and The Fat Tuesday Big Band.

 

In addition to playing, Matt has taught saxophone and theory for over fifteen years, as well as served on the faculty at Cuyahoga Community College’s Western Campus. He received his Bachelor of Arts in Music from Case Western Reserve University and studied with renowned saxophonist Kevin Burner.

 

Alphonso D. McDuffie (Keyboard)

 

Raised in Cleveland, Ohio, Alphonso D. McDuffie has a passion for music that began at an early age. At the age of six he began playing his first instrument, the drums, and went on to play the lead guitar, then his love – the piano. At twelve he performed his first piano solo in his church’s Christmas play.

 

During his high school years, Alphonso played at his local church as well as other venues around the Cleveland metro area. In his junior year he was one of the founding members of The Jubilee Singers at Warrensville Heights High School.

 

Alphonso has served in many capacities including but not limited to:

• Staff Musician for many local churches

• Musical Director for J.A.M. Just About Music since 2001

• Keyboardist for Cuba Gooding Sr. of “The Main Ingredients” from 2004 until 2005

• Secondary keyboardist for Smooth Jazz group “Pieces of a Dream” in 2004

• Keyboardist and later musical director for Smooth Jazz saxophonist Pamela Williams from 2004 until the present

• Keyboardist on “A Night Out with the Saxtress” live DVD in 2005

• Co-writer on the song entitled“Elixir” title song for Pamela Williams 2006 CD release

• Song placed on “Sweet, Smooth and Sexy The Ultimate Collection of Sax for Lovers” compilation CD in 2008

 

Alphonso has been influence by many different great musicians including Thomas Whitfield, John P. Kee, Jeff Lorber, Erroll Garner, Keith Jarrett, Stevie Wonder, Rodney Hubbard, Lafayette Carthon and, Pastor Remardo Sales, who he credits with teaching him to play piano.

 

He says to all aspiring musicians “never stop learning and continue to perfect your craft”.

 

Stan Moore (Vocalist)

 

Stan Moore's vocal stylings will wow you at the first note!  Stan performs around Northeast Ohio with various jazz bands, but is most knows as the founder and President / CEO of KATZZ INC LLC. Stan wears multiple hats with the Cleveland based group Katzz. He is a writer, composer, arranger and co-lead singer. Notably, he is the writer and co-producer of Katzz’s hit single "My Everything." Currently Katzz is independently working on a long awaited reunion project.

 

Clarence "Smitty" Smith (Bass)

 

Clarence Smith (everyone knows him as Smitty) is an expert bassist with more than 30 years of professional experience. He became interested in playing the bass at the age of 14. As a teen, he taught himself how to play the lead and rhythm guitar and performed with high school bands: Nightrain Express and the Fourth Power Show Band. Smitty saw the need to truly refine his craft, so at the age of 21, he attended the Cleveland Music Settlement to study bass and music reading.

Smitty went on to perform at Cleveland’s historic Karamu Theater, in productions of Great Women of Song, Unseen, and the play Lord Help – My Marriage is in Trouble. He has performed with the bands: Shakedown, Full Circle; in addition to big bands and wedding bands Eugene Ross and Company and North Shore. His musical repertoire also contains work with Motown recording artists, Hesitation, singing group 702, and Cleveland’s own Katzz.

 

In 1999, Smitty pooled all of his musical experience and knowledge, taking his leadership skills to the next level by founding and currently managing the group, J.A.M. (Just About Music).

 

Smitty is committed to enriching the lives of those in the Cleveland and Maple Heights area by sharing the arts. Some of his most recent community service projects include:

• Jesus Jokes and Jazz – featuring local jazz bands and comedians.

• Musical Director at Warrensville Road Community Baptist Church

• Free guitar lessons at Warrensville Road Community Baptist Church and Maple Heights Library.

• Organizing Cleveland’s first annual jazz reunion featuring Cleveland’s top jazz bands. Proceeds to go toward buying instruments for youth and adults who want to learn how to play.

• Building recording studio for recording purpose and teaching bringing the community together with a positive note