Biographys

Sonando was founded in 1990 by Fred Hoadley and Lary Barilleau to explore new directions in the blending of Afro-Cuban rhythms and Jazz. For over a decade, Sonando has performed original Latin Jazz at festivals, clubs & concerts throughout the Northwest. Our first two recordings, Sonando (1995) & La Rumba Esta Buena (1998), received airplay and critical acclaim throughout the country. Our third, Sonando Tres, was released May 16, 2006 on the Origin Arts label, and is currently being aired around the country.

Sonando's repertoire includes traditional & modern interpretations of Afro-Cuban styles such as Son, Changui, Bata & Rumba, as well as our signature Latin Jazz. We perform on folkloric instruments such as bata, marimbula, tres, congas, & shekere, as well as modern jazz instruments including flute, sax, trombone, piano, bass, & drumset. Our current lineup includes some of Seattle's most experienced musicians, including:

Originally from New England, Fred studied music at Hampshire College and Berklee College of Music, where his teachers included Jaki Byard, Vishnu Wood, and Charlie Banacos. He founded the Seattle salsa band Bochinche in 1983, which reigned as The Northwest's favorite Salsa band throughout the 1980's, and produced the band’s first album in 1985. After Bochinche, Fred toured nationally with the West African band, Kukrudu, and founded the Seattle based Afro-Cuban jazz band, Sonando, whose 1994, 1998 & 2006 releases received critical acclaim throughout the country. Sonando received The Earshot Golden Ear Award for Best Acoustic Jazz Band of 2007, and was featured in a cover story in the November 2008 issue of Earshot Jazz Magazine.

Fred has performed with a long list of Northwest Latin Bands including Expresión Latina, Yerbabuena, The Puentes Brothers, and Grupo Son. In 1990, he was commissioned by The City Cantabile Choir to write a suite for choir and Latin Jazz Ensemble. He has received grants and awards from The Seattle Arts Commission for educational programs and composition in 1996, and 1998. His love of latin music brought him to Cuba in 1983, 1990, 1993, and 1996, where he studied piano and arranging with Cesar Pedroso and Nelson Diaz, and Cuban tres guitar with Antonio Perez and Guillermo “Boulet” Matalear. He currently plays piano and tres in Sonando, Cambalache, Charanga Danzón, The Susan Carr Ensemble, and Wesito & Friends. He also teaches piano, tres and Afro-Cuban jazz ensemble at Musicworks Northwest and Music Center Northwest.

Tom has performed with several Northwest bands including Los Boys, El Conjunto Fabuloso, and Bochinche. Tom's dance company performance credits include The Bill Evans Modern Dance Company and The Pacific Northwest Ballet. His interests in the folkloric roots of latin music led him to Stanford University to study with the Danza Nacional de Cuba under the direction of Regino Jimenez Saez.

Chris performs and composes in a wide spectrum of styles, including jazz, creative improvised music, and Cuban and Brazilian music. He leads several bands in Seattle: More Zero, the Chris Stover Quartet, and Acquired Involuntary Narcissism, and is a member of Frieze of Life, Sonando, Quake, Quasinada, PK & What Army?, the Alex Duncan Band, and the Jim Knapp Orchestra. Chris has toured around the world with, among others, Pablo Moses and Apple Gabriel, and he can be heard on over thirty recordings. His new CD "More Zero" is available this summer at www.morezero.com.

Jim Coile - saxophones, flute

Jim returned to the Northwest from Los Angeles where he performed with Latin Jazz bandleaders Willie Bobo and Poncho Sanchez as well as Lou Rawls, Manhattan Transfer, The Four Tops, and many others. He is featured on recordings by Willie Bobo, Joan Jett, The Pointer Sisters, Crowded House, Don Ellis, Jack Mack and The Heart Attack , and The Del Fuegos, and was awarded an RIAA Gold record for his performance on Glen Frey's The Allnighter. He is currently active on the Seattle rhythm and Blues scene, and recently composed and recorded the soundtrack for the video project Over Washington produced by
KCTS TV.

Junior Medina - timbales, percussion

“I am, and I always will be, a student of my instrument," says master timbalero Francisco Medina Jr. In his 25-year career in music, Jr as most people know him, has performed and recorded with many different bands such as Expresion Latina, Tumbao, Bochinche, Mambo Cadillac, Sonando, Jazz Police and Nueva Era. Jr has also shared the stage with many top artists such as Tito Puente, Tito Allen, Grupo Gale, Pink Martini, Sonora Dimanita, Melcochita, Oscar De Leon, Lalo Rodriguez, Azabache and Sonora Carruseles.

The following musicians have played with Sonando extensively over the past two decades,
and are often included in various projects:

Pedro Vargas - drumset, bongos, percussion

Inspired by the great Cuban percussionists Changuito and Tatagüines, Pedro began playing conga when he was just eight years old. By the time he arrived in La Habana at the age of twenty three, he had added bongos and timbales as well. In 1997, he joined the Piquete Cubano and started touring with Barbarito Torres of “Buena Vista Social Club" fame. It was during this period that Pedro began playing "set," a unique one-man combination of conga, bongo and timbales. Pedro recorded two albums with Barbarito, including “Havana Café” and the Grammy nominated self-titled “Barbarito Torres.” Pedro has toured worldwide, performing in North and South America, Europe and Asia. He performs locally in Seattle with various latin music groups.

Chris Stromquist - drumset, timbales & percussion

Chris has performed on a variety of instruments since the age of ten, and has traveled and studied in Africa, Cuba & South America. In 1999 he spent six weeks in Cuba studying bata and conga drumming with Regino Jimenez, Roberto Vizcaino, Jose Eladio & Justo Palladitio. In Seattle, he regularly performs with a number of groups, including Kultur Shock, Sambaleiro, Mambrasa, Yerbabuena & Quasinada, and teaches drumming.

Lary Barilleau - timbales, bongos, congas

Lary Barilleau was born into a musical family and raised in Seattle. His mother Vonne Griffin is a jazz vocalist inducted into the Earshot Jazz Hall of Fame. Lary has played Latin percussion in many popular northwest groups over the last 25 years including El Conjunto Fabuloso, The Jazz Police, Bochinche and along with Fred Hoadley was co-founder of Sonando and anchored the timbale chair for 5 years in the Northwest's most popular Latin Jazz band. He has performed and recorded with many jazz artists including New Stories, Peggy Stern, Cedar Walton, Mimi Fox and Greta Matassa. His appearance on Mark Murphy's CD 'song for the Geese" along with New Stories contributed to a Grammy Nomination in 1998 for best jazz vocal recording. He has shared the stage with Grammy winner Poncho Sanchez and opened for Tito Puente. Currently Lary is the International Arts Department Head at Hamilton International Middle School and is percussionist in Marc Seales' New Quintet.

Barney Brazitis - bass

Barney Brazitis joined Sonando in 2000. Barney is, for good reason, one of the Seattle area's busiest bassists, having served in many jazz, salsa, latin, rock and R&B units. Not only has he helmed the bass chores in those groups, but he has also operated as an accomplished arranger and percussionist. Barney's formative time spent at the Cornish College of the Performing Arts (where he met Sonando's Leader Fred Hoadley) prepared him for the diverse artistic accomplishments he would later achieve, and sparked his interest in Afro-Cuban music, in which he is a respected authority.

Jay's credits begin in high school in Seattle where he won a scholarship from Down Beat to attend Boston's Berklee College of Music. He soon moved to New York, where he studied with famed trumpeter Carmine Caruso and frequented Village jam sessions. He was a member of Machito's legendary big band and recorded with James Moody. Since returning to the Northwest, he has performed and recorded with George Cables, Harold Land, Herb Ellis, Ernestine Anderson, Diane Schuur, Red Rodney, Nancy King, and the Mel Lewis and Clayton-Hamilton orchestras. He has recorded several albums under his own name featuring Cedar Walton and Billy Higgins.

Mark is one of the busiest drummers in Seattle. He earned a Bachelor of Music degree at Eastern Washington University, and studied ethnomusicology at the University of Hawaii, including field study of Gamelon in Java. Mark has performed and recorded with many national jazz artists, including Larry Coryell, James Williams, Freddie Hubbard, Mal Waldron, Diane Shuur, Richie Cole, Cannonball Adderly, Michael Brecker, Randy Brecker, Buddy DeFranco, Terry Gibbs, Claire Fischer, Bobby Shew, Joey DeFrancesco, and many others. He is currently in demand for Northwest recording projects for jingles and themes, and performs with the Jovino Santos Neto Quarteto, Nick Manson, and Greta Matassa.

Richard has a B.A. in philosophy from Pomona College, and his Jazz training came from the Dick Grove Music Workshops in L.A, & one year at Berklee College of Music in Boston. He took private lessons from Wayne Marsh (New York contemporary of Lee Konitz & Lenny Tristano, who later played with Supersax) He plays locally with Gary Gibson's steel drum groups, Pn Duo & Calypso Blue, and was featured on Gary's last two albums. He plays locally with Beija Flor & Phil Sheeran, and has been featured on 80 -100 albums by various local artists.

SONANDO