Quintessence is one of the premier big bands in Los Angeles and VenturaCounty.  Quintessence is also made up of some of the best musicians in Los Angeles and VenturaCounty. Quintessence is available for weddings, anniversaries, birthdays, private or corporate parties or events, mall entertainment, grand opening of a business, concerts in the park, etc.. Quintessence is also available for sidelining (if you need a single musician to a 16 piece big band with singer or anything in between, we can accommodate you).  Quintessence is also available to backup a wide variety of musicians and singers.  Please ask about our special pricing for charity events.

Quintessence Big Band is led by Joe Gray and Brad Carow

                                           Brad Carow                              Joe Gray

      Born in Los Angeles, Brad began playing clarinet at age 11.

At age 18 he organized and led a 17-piece jazz orchestra that performed regularly on the Sunset Strip.  In 1998 he began working as a composer on the Nickelodeon series, "SpongebobSquarepants", writing featured songs and performing clarinet for the show’s character “Squidword”.

Joe is an alumnus of California State University Northridge Music Department.  Upon graduating with a B.A in Music he played in many horn bands of the time and did studio work.  He was a member of the Hollywood Horns, The Vic Asher Band and the popular Los Angeles Band Smoothwater along with his own band Mom’s Apple Pie. He has since played with many of Los Angeles’ Big Bands for the past 26 years.

Quintessence Big Band

Our band members have a wide variety of experience working with artists, including:

The Jimmy Dorsey Orchestra, Buddy Rich, Milton Berle, Edie Adams, Petula Clark, Bill Cosby, Norm Crosby, Sammy Davis Jr., Shecky Green, ErthaKitt, Gladys Knight and The Pips, Marilyn McCoo and Billy Davis Jr., LizaMinelli, Della Reese, Chita Rivera and many more…

Jim Stephens

Quintessence also features the wonderful vocals of Jim Stephens. Jim is a member of The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame with his number one single “Image of a Girl“ with the Safari’s. He now sings the Classic standards of Frank Sinatra, Bobby Darin, Dean Martin, Matt Monroe and others.

Bookings:   818.421.0170 / 818.917.2290

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