About

Alan Lee started playing piano at age 8, begging his parents for piano lessons after hearing his older sister practicing hers. At age 10 he took up french horn, playing in the symphonic band through high school. It was also during his high school years that he was first introduced to jazz, playing piano in the Carlmont HS jazz band. Later as an adult, Alan took up tenor sax, studying for several years with jazz saxophonist Sonya Jason. He has also studied music at the College of San Mateo playing piano in the CSM all-star jazz combo, and saxophone in the jazz big band. He has advanced jazz piano training with Art Lande, and with Grammy-nominated jazz pianist, Randy Porter. In addition to the Half Moon Band, Alan has gigged extensively as a solo pianist, and with the groups Vivace, a sax/flute and keyboard duo; the Alan Lee + Vocal duo; the Montara Jazz Trio, a classic piano/bass/drums trio; Jazz Con Fuzion, a funk/fusion quartet; and Mojazz, the house band of the Pacifica Performing Arts Center.

John Higham has been involved in music, recording and theatre performance all his life. He started with classical piano, moving on to rock and jazz guitar, attending Howard Roberts seminars at GIT in Los Angeles. Having studied upright bass with Seward MCain, and electric bass at the California Jazz Conservatory in Berkeley, he now plays bass in jazz and Latin groups in the Bay Area, including the Blue Flamingo Quartet, JazzOnTheGo, The Half Moon Band, and other groups and big bands. He has also had an album of synthesized music that he composed distributed in the USA, and he currently spends a good deal of energy on recording and music production through his home studio.

“I have seen them play in person and they sound fantastic!! I had the band play at my wedding and it made that day so much more special!!”
– Melissa Avila

Claudia Conrad has performed in the Bay Area as a vocalist for many years. As the co-founder and lead vocalist of several rock bands, she wrote and recorded a highly acclaimed CD while in the group Psycho Betty, from which two songs received national attention on television and in international syndication. Psycho Betty opened for a number of rock groups, including War, Edgar Winter and Ronnie Montrose. Claudia also performs with jazz big bands and now in the Half Moon Band doing rock, blues, funk and soul music.

Janeene Wilkinson comes from an Ohio family of natural musical talent. Janeene’s vocal spark was ignited at an early age when she started singing in elementary school. In high school, she sang in women’s and show choirs where she performed in competitions throughout Ohio. A few years after moving to Half Moon Bay, she began, and continues, singing with the worship team at Calvary Chapel Half Moon Bay. Janeene enjoys carrying out her family’s legacy of the love of music and sharing her voice with others.

Bill Burnside started playing around with tape recorders when he was in Junior High.  In college, he worked in the radio station and went on to study broadcasting at S.F. State.  Since 1984, he has been partner in and then owner of Sounds Natural Audio, specializing in sound for live corporate events including multisite international webcasts.  He worked on Arnold Schwarzenegger’s  inauguration, HP satellite broadcasts from Europe and Asia, and productions for National Geographic TV and the CBC.  Along the way he produced an album for Clareon, and worked with Ray Charles, James Brown, Graham Nash and Dave Brubeck among others.

Luis Rojas has been active in the Northern California music scene as bandleader, sideman, and guitar instructor since moving to the Bay Area from Los Angeles. He loves to combine jazz, blues, and latin influences to create a unique and personal sound. Luis studied at the Dick Grove School of Music in LA. and at The Jazz School in Berkeley (now the California Jazz Conservatory). He also studied with Mimi Fox, Warren Nunes, Jeff Massanari, and Rick Vandivier. He has played with Equinox, Caribe, The Bruce Wells Quartet, Darrell Harris Band, Déjà vu, Flashpoint, Fusion Blue, The Luis Rojas Quintet, and Spectrum. Luis has recorded at the Record Plant in LA, Media Arts in Redondo Beach, and Alley Cat Studios in Pasadena.

Collette d’Almeida, a professional musician since the 1990’s, Collette has performed in the Bay Area, Europe and Asia. Known by her jazz colleagues as an exceptional drummer. Collette began singing at the age of two with her identical twin sister, Lizette, as both were trained by their opera singer mother. Collette was attracted to the drums at the age of four using chopsticks as her first drumsticks. As a child she was exposed to classical, big band, jazz, Hawaiian and pop music from her father who was a guitarist and ukulele player. At UC Berkeley, she played in the jazz combo, big band, and composed music for the Dramatic Arts Department. Music has always played an integral part of her life. She continues to perform as a drummer, vocalist, and vibraphonist and is honored to join the Half Moon Band in contributing her musical drumming talent to this wonderful group
of musicians.

“I just want to give a review for the Half Moon Band. We really enjoyed their music, and my husband-to-be wanted a live group at our wedding, and after listening to this group that night and another time, we thought we would inquire if they might book for our wedding reception. They were wonderful, dressed so professionally, their music was perfect. We received so many compliments from people at the reception re “The Band”! and inquiries from the Event Coordinator at the reception as to how to contact them for future referrals. We would highly recommend the Half Moon Band.”
– Catherine Chomiw