Band  Member Bios

The members of Cookin’ With Brass have performed with each other in a variety of other projects but their common love of Funky brass band music brought them together in the fall of 2021. The first rehearsal was such an unstoppable PARTY that Cookin’ With Brass knew they had to share their music with the world.

Kevin Tang, Trombone

Known as an energetic and engaging performer, Kevin has been an active freelancer and arranger on the Vancouver music scene over the past two decades. Trained at Capilano University and the Banff Centre, he is well-versed in Jazz, Pop, Soul, Rock, Latin and World Music. Kevin has a stage presence and energy that is often compared to Trombone Shorty.


Kevin has performed with such Soul / R&B bands as Big Easy Funk Ensemble, The Ponderosas, Kyprios and Mostly Marley. His Latin / World Music acts include Camaro 67, SalsaHall Collective, The Paperboys, Locarno and BC World Music Collective. He has even played with country acts including The New Shackletons and Chantelle Mussell. This versatile trombone player also plays in the Impressions Big Band with Janine King. Kevin has been featured on the main stage for numerous festivals including the Vancouver International Jazz Festival, Northwest Folklife Festival (Seattle), Vancouver Island Musicfest, Kaslo Jazz Etc Summer Music Festival and Shambhala Music Festival.


"... the trombonist was the hardest working dude up there all night ..."  Lana Muirhead, Metal Titans


Janine King, Trombone

Born and raised in Calgary, Janine moved to Vancouver to complete a Bachelor of Music followed by a Bachelor of Education from UBC. She is an active member of the Vancouver music scene, working with numerous ensembles across many genres. Janine is a teacher with the West Vancouver School District and continues to grow the band and music programs at both Irwin Park Elementary and Ecole Pauline Johnson. 


Janine has shared the stage and the studio with many of Vancouver and Melbourne’s great musicians. She has played at Vancouver’s Jazz Festival with Mike WT Allen’s experimental big band Space Elevator and performs in The Sisters Jazz Orchestra with Heather Anderson. Janine currently plays with Kevin Tang in the Impressions Big Band under the direction of Jill Townsend and has played with the Top 40 cover band Trilojay.


Janine combines her passion for the empowerment of young women and her love of music making to push the boundaries of the genre, increase the visible representation of women in the industry, and inspire tomorrow’s women of music.   

Heather Anderson, Trumpet

Originally from the prairies, Heather studied jazz performance at McGill University and the Banff Center for the Arts. She is very active on the music scene playing regularly around BC with many diverse musical groups. Heather has been part of numerous Latin bands and ensembles including the Salsa/Cumbia/Merengue 11-piece powerhouse band Wasakaka All-Stars and the Punk Rock group, Caracas.  She also plays with the Mike WT Allen's Jazz/Metal big band, Space Elevator. Heather has performed at the Richmond World Festival, Carnaval Del Sol, and the Victoria Latin Festival. A gifted musician who has appeared as a session artist on numerous albums, she is known for her versatile performances across the Ska, Jazz, Indie/Folk, and Latin genres.


Heather is passionate about diversity and inclusion in the music scene. She is proud to play with Janine King in the all-female professional big band, Sister Jazz Orchestra and to be a mentor for aspiring women in Jazz at the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra Girls’ Jazz Days. 

Al Guraliuk, Trumpet

Since receiving a Bachelor of Music degree from UBC, Al Guraliuk has been actively involved in Vancouver’s musical community. He has traveled to Banff, Los Angeles, New York, New Orleans, Havana and Rio to further study music. The vast majority of his musical career was as leader of Champagne, a top forty cover band. Al has been a featured jazz soloist at concerts held at the Queen Elizabeth Theatre and The Arts Club Theatre and has performed at the Vancouver International Jazz Festival and Harmony Arts Festival. He has toured with The Official Blues Brothers Revue and performed with The Night Train Revue, Orquesta Tropicana and Groove n Tonic in addition to playing lead trumpet in many Big Bands.


Al’s current projects include Latin Lounge, The Gastown Strutters Dixieland Band, The Gatsby Strutters Jazz Band and the Al Guraliuk Jazz Trio. Al Guraliuk is President of Total Entertainment Network, which has booked talent for over 10,000 corporate and private functions including contracting an orchestra for a Hip Hop concert at Rogers Arena.

Mike WT Allen, Sax

Described by Discorder Magazine as a “tour-de-force,” Mike WT Allen is a composer/saxophonist based out of Vancouver, Canada. As a composer with credits including the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra, Hard Rubber Orchestra, award winning films, as well as his own projects, Mike has an ear open to everything from Jazz to Metal, Classical to Hip Hop and everything in between. Mike has been stubbornly forging his own pathway since graduating in 2014 with a degree in Music Composition from Capilano University’s Jazz program.


Mike has toured internationally, headlined festival stages to thousands of people, and played in a hair salon... twice. Space Elevator, his 20 person Jazz-Metal freak-show, released their debut album on Redshift Records.


Mike has toured and performed with many recording acts including Five Alarm Funk, Marianas Trench and History of Gunpower. His other projects include Balkan Shmalkan, a Balkan brass band with Andromeda MacIsaac, and his Klezmer/Pop/Jazz duo called Teapot in the Tuba.


Mike is constantly looking for new ways to explore music across a wide variety of instruments and styles.




Ashton Sweet, Tuba

Ashton Sweet is a talented multi-instrumentalist who plays tuba plus trumpet, flugelhorn, baritone horn, saxophone, and clarinet. He is leader of Balkan Shmalkan, East Vancouver’s sweet dance party orchestra specializing in South Serbian Trubaci music. Ashton performs with numerous projects including the Afrobeat group Kara Kata and Mount Pleasant Brass Ensemble, a British Style Brass Band. He has played traditional New Orleans Style Funeral processions with The Homecoming Brass Band and even paraded South Asian Bridal Parties with Vijay Brass Band. Ashton has also toured international with Indie recording act Blackberry Wood.

He has extensive festival experience including Burnaby Roots + Blues Festival, Artswells Festival, Mission Folk Fest, Woodstove Festival, Victoria Ska & Reggae Festival, Desert Daze Festival, African Descent Festival and the Atlin Festival.

Ashton plays the Helicon, a brass musical instrument in the Tuba family.   He is known for his Funky Tuba grooves that drive the members of Cookin’ With Brass. During a rehearsal the band was discussing if a tempo should be 120 or 132 beats per minute. Ashton suggested  “it should be this fast” and proceed to stroll about in a relaxed but upbeat groove.

Chris Haas, Drums

Originally from Stuttgart, Germany, Chris has studied music at Humber College in Toronto, Brandon University in Manitoba, University of Calgary, UBC, and the American Band College in Ashland Oregon where he received a Master’s Degree in conducting. He is a passionate educator with 25 years of experience teaching music in Secondary Schools as well as adjudicating the Surrey Jazz Festival and conducting UBC Summer Music Institute ensembles.


Chris has laid down Salsa beats with Rumba Calzada, BC Salsa, Mazacote and Tanga. His swinging rhythms have been the driving force for Jazz ensembles and Big Bands including Gabriel Palatchi, Gabriel Mark Hasselbach, The Dal Richard’s Orchestra and the Bruce James Big Band. Chris has opened for such headline performers as Paul Anka and Chris Botti. He has played many international festivals including the Vancouver International Jazz Festival, Harmony Arts Festival, Harrison Festival of the Arts, Surrey Festival of the Arts, Ft. Lauderdale Jazz Festival and the Bella Coola Music Festival.


Chris Haas is a very versatile drummer with an incredible groove.

Band members are all busy freelance and touring musicians. Personnel may change depending on availability. 

Cookin' With Brass is a collective of experienced, well rehearsed Funky brass players who ALWAYS bring the party.

 Additional members include Vancouver's TOP horn players:

Tim Sars, Sax

Tim grew up in a musical family where both sax playing parents created a culture that values creativity. Tim has his Bachelor of Applied Music and Bachelor of Education and is equally comfortable in the classroom or on stage.


Tim takes great pride in bringing people of all walks of life together through his music making. He is involved with a variety of projects including The Carnival Band (activist community brass band), Greenhorn Community Music Project (youth brass band), the Sweetpea Swing Band, Tiny Islands (specializing in schools shows), Camaro 67 (funk/afro beat band), and The Tim Sars Band (performing original jazz inspired compositions).

Tim has played numerous festivals including Vancouver International Jazz Festival, Celebration of Light, the Vancouver Dragon Boat Festival, Winterruption Festival, Garden City Grooves, Wapiti Music Festival, Woodboat Festival, Maple Ridge Country Fair and BC HONK! Tim also performs regularly at Guilt & Co, Vancouver’s hippest live music venue.

 

Tim has incredible energy on stage and plays the sax with a wild abandonment that wins over every crowd.

Geeta Daas, Trumpet

Geeta Das is a highly skilled professional musician that has been performing and teaching music in Vancouver, British Columbia, as well as around the world, for over twenty-five years. She studied music at Douglas College, the University of British Columbia, and she has also studied privately in the eastern United States. She is well versed in a variety of musical styles, everything from Classical and Jazz, to Latin, Funk, R&B, Soul, Pop, Rock, Reggae, and more. Geeta has had the honour of performing with such world renowned artists as: UK singer/songwriter Adele, rapper Kanye West, UK pop/rock sensation The Heavy, historic big band The Glenn Miller Orchestra, Iranian/Persian pop star Mazyar Fallahi, and many more.


Geeta is a member of the Sisters Jazz Orchestra with Heather Anderson and Janine King. She also plays with Steelin’ in the Years, a Steely Dan Tribute Band and has played many festivals with Jack Duncan Latin Band Timba Cartel with Drummer Chris Hass. Geeta has a great deal of knowledge and passion for music that she hopes to continue sharing with the community.

Brian Harding, Trombone

Brian Harding is one of Vancouver’s most in demand trombonists. Since his early days at Vancouver Community College playing with Hugh Fraser’s Vancouver Ensemble of Jazz Improvisation, Brian has been active in a variety of musical projects. He has performed and recorded with both Cory Weeds Little Big Band and the Daniel Hersog Jazz Orchestra. Brain plays with a wide variety of bands in many genres ranging from performing for Swing Dancers at the Lindy Bout with the Josh Robert’s Orchestra to the inaugural performance at the VSO School of Music Pyatt Hall with The Vancouver Jazz Orchestra to the Rave inspired Drum and Light Festival with Vancouver's Godzilla of Jazz orchestras, the Hard Rubber Orchestra.

 

Brian also has a great love for Latin music and is member of Jack Duncan’s Timba Cartel and John Korsrud’s 20-piece Salsa/Latin-Jazz-Orchestra Orquestra, Goma Dura, Brian has vast brass band experience and often performs with the Homegoing Brass Band, Terminal City Brass Band and the East Van Horns.

Andromeda MacIsaac, Tuba

Andromeda began playing the violin at the young age of 9 and switched later in life to the tuba. This exceptionally energetic low brass player performs in a variety of bands including Balkan Shmalkan, a Global Music brass band, with saxophonist Mike WT Allen. Andromeda has opened for the touring/recording act Five Alarm Funk at the Commodore Ballroom and has played many festivals including Brasstopia 2021, Honk! BC and the Koksilah Music Fest. This versatile musician has played every type of event from The Fraser Valley Children’s Festival in Fraser River Heritage Park, Mission to Punkstravaganza at the Rickshaw Theatre, Vancouver.


Andromeda plays the Helicon, a brass musical instrument in the Tuba family. She is known to Raise A Little Hell on her Helicon. 

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