BIOS
Vocalist Lorri Bogdanski grew up singing Frank Sinatra, Mills Brothers, and Nat King Cole around the house in NJ, later inspired by Leon Redbone, Billie Holiday, and Django Reinhardt. Her Sonoma County, CA musical foray began in a “hippy rock” band. She then performed for 10 years with the blues trio Kitty and the Delta Hairballs, an homage to traditional, country, and old jazzy blues. Joining The New Horizons Swing Band, an18 piece horn orchestra, shifted her trajectory to the standards. With Lorri B & The Jazz Pack, she has come full cycle, singing the genre she truly loves.
Guitarist Gil Gardner was raised in the Motown area with R&B roots. Early exposure to the music of guitarists Wes Montgomery, Grant Green and Joe Pass changed everything. During the 70’s he migrated to San Francisco where he performed with singer/organist Howard Gayles, cousin and collaborator with bassist Larry Graham of "Sly & The Family Stone." Gil later joined the rock group Java, touring and playing original tunes, including music the band produced for the surf movie “FantaSea,” resulting in an audition at the Los Angeles Improv Club for the “Cher” TV show. Gil studied music production at San Francisco State University. His CD, “Pangaea’s Dream”, was released in 2010. When not busy with Lorri B & The Jazz Pack he performs with several local groups including JazzUP! and the JH Big Band.
Bassist Don Watanabe began his musical career playing clarinet, alto sax, and flute in concert and marching bands, symphony orchestras, dance (swing) and traditional jazz bands. He then took up German and French baroque recorder, performing in France and California, but his love of jazz continued unabated. After studying bass, Don debuted at Bistro San Martin in Sorèze, France. Influences were Paul Chambers, Percy Heath and Scott La Faro, respectively, of the Miles Davis Quintet, Modern Jazz Quartet and the Bill Evans Trio. While continuing to play baroque recorder, his passion is the jazz bass. In addition to Lorri B & The Jazz Pack, Don plays with We Three, the JH Big Band and several Sonoma County groups.
Drummer Alec Axt reveled in diverse musical genres at an early age: traditional blues, old and modern jazz, rock and roll, bebop, and swing, influenced by Muggsy Spanier, Cripple Clarence Lofton, Jerry Lee Lewis, Ricky Nelson, Benny Goodman, and Charlie Parker. Gene Krupa and Max Roach inspired him to pick up the drums. Heavy into jazz and bebop, he also rocked out with R & R. He studied sax after hearing Paul Desmond play “You GoTo My Head”, and currently plays sax with Jazzlinez and Midnight Sun, and drums with the Windsor Jazz Ensemble when not busy with Lorri B & The Jazz Pack.