JIM PORCELLA, Lead Vocals, grew up in Medford, MA, and started playing drums at the age of fourteen. He attended The Berklee College of Music in Boston and studied with Alan Dawson. Jim had aspirations of becoming a studio drummer but fate intervened. After graduation, he began working with a group that included two vocalists, a la Jackie and Roy. One night they were working "a joint in Lowell, MA" and the club owner (basically a tough guy), decided that everyone in the band had to sing. Jim had two options, be replaced by a drummer who could sing or start singing. The latter began his singing career. Working six nights a week, Jim quickly developed vocal proficiency and for many years thereafter, he worked as both a drummer and a self-styled saloon singer. Since then, he has released seven critically acclaimed CDs, performed in jazz and cabaret settings in the Northeast, London, San Francisco and Vancouver. He was also the featured vocalist at Boston's Ritz-Carlton and at Boston's prestigious Bay Towers for six years. Jim is also the brain child and lead singer of the 9-piece band, Bombay Jim and The Swinging Sapphires (a name created by his wife based on his favorite concoction, a Bombay Sapphire martini). Jim, who has always had a love for swing music, loved legendary masters such as Louis Jordan, Cab Calloway and Louis Prima. He wanted to put together a band that embodied that same musical excellence. So he sought out the finest musicians and Bombay Jim and The Swinging Sapphires was born. His most recent project, A Tribute to Louis Prima and Keely Smith is Jim's first collaborative effort with his talented wife, Ida Zecco. The band for the tribute consists of a sub-set of The Swinging Sapphires.

Photo by Susan Wilson www.susanwilsonphoto.com

JIM RICE (music director/arranger/ pianist), native of Worcester, MA, is an accomplished and diverse music director, arranger, and pianist. Most recently, Jim musically directed a production of Always Patsy Cline alongside creator/director Ted Swindley at The Stoneham Theatre in Massachusetts. He has also served as music director for The New England premieres of My Way and Chicago (The Worcester Foothills Theatre in MA). Abroad, Jim has been the musical conductor for the European-Broadway tour of Ken Hill's Phantom of the Opera, as well as the accompanist for the Broadway show Grease, in Zurich. He has also toured nationally with Man of La Mancha, and Camelot. Other theatres Jim has worked at include The American Stage Festival (NH), Olney (MD), North Shore Music Theatre (MA) Kansas City Starlight (MO); and the Tennessee Williams Fine Art Center (FL). Jim also had the good fortune of arranging a show-stopping, 50-piece orchestration recently performed by national act, Randy Roberts, in Florida with the Key West POPS. Jim regularly accompanies, directs, and/or arranges for Boston and national cabaret/jazz artists John O'Neil, Carol O'Shaughnessy, Jan Peters, Jim Porcella, Richard Skipper, Valerie Sneade and Ida Zecco. A dream of his, fifteen years in the waiting, Jim is finally able to contribute his musical talents to a Wild Las Vegas style production based on the music of Louis Prima, Keely Smith and Sam Butera & The Witnesses.

After attending Berklee College of Music, Cecilia Colucci went on the road with the pop group Spectrum. Shortly after returning to Boston, her dynamic vocals and remarkable versatility won her a place in the studios. Today, Cecilia is the most recorded singer in town with hundreds of jingles, commercials, and records to her credit. Recent jingles include: McDonald's (National), Tri-State Mega Bucks, Purity-Heartland, Filene's, Lechmere Sales, Stop and Shop, Shaw's Supermarket, Baybanks, New England Telephone, Special Olympics, Garelick Farms Milk, Almac's, Christy's, Cumberland Farms, ABC After School Playbreak, and New York Telephone - to name just a few.
Cecilia's electrifying vocals were featured on The Dick Tracy Movie Soundtrack and CD. For 10 years Cecilia was the featured vocalist with the popular Ed Peters Orchestra. She left Ed Peters in 1994, to create Stardust with partner Keith Kostick.

Arnie Krakowsky, Tenor Sax & Clarinet,Arnie has played with such greats as: Mel Torme, Tony Bennett, Kenny Drew, Lionel Hampton, Lincoln Center, Jazz Orchestra, Red Rodney, Artie Shaw Orchestra and Herb Pomeroy. His recordings include: "Where The Tenor Meets The Bone", featuring George Mas (1996); "The Feeling's Mutual" (1986).

Gary Johnson, Drums, attended Berklee College of Music from 1972 to 1974. Formal training consisted of extensive studies with Instructor Bill Flanagan, Fred Buda of the Boston Pops and Jazz Artist Alan Dawson. Gary has been working professionally for the past twentu-eight years. For four years he traveled extensively with the Artie Shaw Orchestra under the direction of Dick Johnson. During that time, he accompanied such artists as: Buddy DeFranco, Rosemarie Clooney, Frankie Laine, Helen Forest and Connie Haines. Other appearances with Scott Hamilton, Dave McKenna, Ken Peplowski, Dizzy Gillespie, Ruby Braff and the Nelson Riddle Orchestra. Gary is currently freelancing in the New England Area.

Mike Duke, Guitar, has performed with Cab Calloway, Van Morrison, Peter Wolf, and toured as musical director for blues/jazz great Johnny Adams.  Mike appeared with Adams for five consecutive years at the world famous New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival. Performing with his group “Mike Duke and the Soul Twisters,” he has toured throughout the US, Canada and Europe.

Mark Carlsen, Bass, originally from Minneapolis, MM, moved to Boston in 1977 to attend Berklee College of Music. In 1981 he joined the Tommy Dorsey Band led by Buddy Morrow. He toured with Dorsey until 1984, then returned to Boston to become one of Boston's most sought after bassists. He has backed singers such as Cab Callaway, Vie Damone and Jimmy Witherspoon. He can be heard, as of late, with Herb Pomeroy, Ray Santisi and Dick Johnson.

Richard L. Lowell, Trumpet, is Associate Professor of Jazz Composition at Berklee College of Music and author of "Big Band Arranging and Score Analysis", (Berklee Publications) He has done compositions and arrangements for Buddy Rich, the Stan Kenton Alumni Band, and the Chicago Metro Jazz Orchestra, as well as compositions and arrangements for the following CD's; Dave Stahl Big Band- Anaconda, Live At Knights, Miranda, Standard Issue; Ken Hadley Big Band-Come Sunday, Just Friends: Dick Johnson-My Kind Of Broadway; Wayne Naus Big Band-Big Band Express. Richard L. Lowell has performed with: Sammy Davis, Tony Bennett, Jack Jones, Cab Galloway and Mel Torme.

David Lindsey, trombone, received a Bachelor of Science degree in mathematics from New Mexico State University, and Bachelor and Master's degrees in music from Truman State University. He has toured with big bands led by Buddy Rich and Louis Bellson, and served as contractor/bandleader for many shows, including Ray Charles, Mel Torme, Eddie Fisher, the Temptations, Rita Moreno, Maureen McGovern, Johnny Mathis, and Marvin Hamlisch. Formerly an instructor at Berklee College of Music, he now teaches piano and brass privately. As a member of the Quintessential Brass, he can be heard on two recent recordings, "Miscellanea," and "A Quintessential Christmas."