As the managing director and leader of the band, Cherie sings her heart out with professionalism and creative style. Her love for music goes back to high school when she was the lead singer for “Wild Oats,” a local southern rock band in Westchester County, NY. Cherie adds her talent in several tracks of “Tropical Squeeze,” Alpine Squeeze’s debut album released in 2007. In addition to riveting vocals, Cherie blends percussion with rhythm and and adds excitement to the performances by getting audiences involved, resulting in pure fun. And yes, she also sings in German!
TOOLS OF THE TRADE: Well of course as the only female vocalist in the band, the instrument I bring to each performance is my voice! I rehearse as much as I can, and Eric does a great job in helping with those tricky German lyrics. After trying many different vocal mics over the years, my microphone of choice is the Shure Beta 87A. Not only is it lightweight and durable, it gives me crystal clear sound and I’ve never had a problem with feedback. Hearing yourself during a performance is critical so I choose the Mackie SRM150 Personal Monitor. The onboard 3-band EQ facilitates feedback suppression and is small and compact. No matter who is at the sound board, I can always fine tune my monitor with just a touch of my fingertips. As far as rhythm percussion instruments, depending on the song, I use a half-moon tambourine, wood block, pair of rhythm sticks, maracas and a pair of Tycoon Percussion Supremo STB-B Bongos that were made in Thailand. Oh, and lets not forget the shaker eggs… 🙂
Walter has performed with the Westchester Symphony, Yonkers Philharmonic, Philharmonic Symphony of Westchester, and the Hudson Valley Philharmonic. He has been featured as soloist with many local groups including the Lehman College Community Band, White Plains Pops Band, Manhattan School of Music, Yonkers Philharmonic, and the Westchester Band. He has performed with artists such as Robert Goulet & Frankie Valli. As a Yamaha Performing Artist/Clinician since the 1980’s, he is listed in “Who’s Who in American Music”.
TOOLS OF THE TRADE: I currently play on 6 different trombones, bass trumpet, 2 euphoniums, and tuba, and all of them with the exception of the bass trumpet and one of the euphoniums were made by Yamaha. The two horns that I use the most with Alpine Squeeze are the YSL 897Z trombone, and the YEP 641 euphonium. Both have the combination of being easy to play and great flexibility of tone, coupled with Yamaha’s outstanding craftsmanship. The 897Z trombone is fairly new, I only got it maybe 3 years ago, and I got my 641 euphonium way back when in the mid 1980’s. Sometimes I’ll bring my Bach bass trumpet to an Alpine Squeeze gig, that’s a lot of fun to play. Bass trumpet is pretty rare, it was conceived of by Richard Wagner for his huge operas, and is almost never used outside of a small handful of classical pieces. I like playing jazz and pop stuff on it, and it’s always fun to watch people looking at it trying to figure out just why it looks different to them. (Hint- It’s twice the size of a normal trumpet!) The mouthpieces that I use are either custom made by Schilke, or the fantastic modular mouthpieces from Doug Elliott.
Bob plays many different styles of music including classic rock, oldies, country and ethnic. He has worked with such artists as Kenny Laguna (of Joan Jett), Tommy James, Darlene Love, Bill Medley and Tony Orlando. He has also worked with Dharma from Blue Oyster Cult; the Schwarzenegger Connection (Governor Arnold’s relatives); and international recording and television star Manny Daum. Locally, Bob’s presence has graced the Harry Chapin Stage at Eisenhower Park, My Father’s Place of Roslyn (with Full Circle); and other venues in the Greater New York tristate area.
TOOLS OF THE TRADE: Bob owns several vintage drum sets including a 5 piece 1940’s Slingerland Radio King in white marine pearl with a 28 inch bass drum similar to the set Gene Krupa played, He also owns a 4 piece Ludwig set in Blue Oyster pearl similar to the set made famous by Ringo Starr with the Beatles however, Ringo’s set was Black Oyster pearl. With Alpine Squeeze, Bob plays a 5 piece Rogers Londoner in red glass glitter with Swivomatic hardware manufactured in Dayton Ohio . This set is pictured in the 1967-68 Rogers catalog. During this era, Rogers was considered THE Cadillac of drums due to the many innovations in hardware design they made as well as their solid build and sound. The Rogers set is outfitted with a coated demo Ambassador head on the snare and, Evans G2 clear heads on the toms and an Evans Mx2 batter head on the bass. Bob uses vintage Avedis Zildjian cymbals, some of which he has been playing on for over 30 years !
The music “gene” comes from Eric’s mother, who played the accordion as well as the piano when she was a child. His hobby began at six years old when he picked up an accordion for the first time. Eric has won several awards over the years including 2nd Place Polka Solo at the American Accordionist’s Association competition in Washington, DC. The accordion remains a passionate instrument which allows him to push the limits of creativity each time he plays.
TOOLS OF THE TRADE: Over the years, Eric has had several different accordions including a full size Bugari which was manufactured in 2010 in Castelfidardo, Italy. With its unique “music note” grill, it has 41 keys and 120 bass buttons, weighing in at 26 lbs. This is a beautiful MUSSETTE tuned accordion with 6 tone chambers, Sennheiser mics and MusicTech midi installed. He also uses the very lightweight Roland FR-3x mid-sized digital accordion. In pearl white with red accents, the FR-3x is the perfect fusion of traditional accordion performance and modern digital functionality. In addition to his two accordions, Eric also uses two sound modules which provide flexibility with Midi. The Ketron X4 is an integrated and fully relational; synthesizer module, real-time arranger, sampler, sequencer, and dual multi-function digital effects – all in a single compact unit. The Roland BK7-m is a state-of-the-art music player that packs incredible music playing power into an ultra-portable package.
Chris has a Bachelor of Music Education degree from SUNY Potsdam and a Master’s degree in trumpet performance from SUNY Purchase. Chris has an extensive performing background in various styles of music. As a classical trumpeter he has worked with The Hudson Valley Philharmonic, The Ridgefield and Waterbury Symphonies as well as the Bard College Conductor’s Institute Orchestra. His commercial freelance experience has included working with Disney On Ice, Lou Rawls, Robert Goulet, Manhattan Transfer, Jerry Vale and Ray Charles. Having recently retired from a 30 year music teaching career in New York State, Chris has taught every level of music from elementary to high school and was the founding conductor of the SUNY Purchase Symphonic Winds for its inception year.
TOOLS OF THE TRADE: I currently play a Bach Stradivarius Bb trumpet with a 43 bell, a Bach Stradivarius C trumpet with a 25H lead pipe and a 229 bell and ocaisionally a Bach Stradivarius C rotary valve trumpet. For baroque music, I use a Selmer piccolo trumpet and for shows and commercial work I prefer my Yamaha piccolo trumpet 6310S. My flugelhorn is a Benge Bb that I use for jazz as well as some German polka music. My other trumpets are a Getzen Eterna Cornet, a Yamaha D trumpet and a Bach Stradivarius D/Eb trumpet.
My primary mouthpiece is a Bach 11/2 and I also use a Yamaha 14B4 for shows and jazz. On the piccolo trumpets I use either a Yamaha 14A4a or a Dave Houser 2P.
Alpine Squeeze 