Clinton Day

from the San Francisco Bay Area, is a professional bass player, pianist, and music teacher. Currently he is the bassist for the Mic Gillette Band (Tower of Power). Clinton has been playing jazz, funk, and blues for the past 25 years. His first teachers were Marc Van Wageningen (Pete Escovido, Cornelius Bumpus) and Paul Jackson (Herbie Hancock). Clinton began studying music at Columbia College (Sonora, California) in 1982 under Dr. Rod Harris. He finished his studies at San Jose State University in California receiving a Bachelors of Arts degree in 1987 and a Masters degree in 1990. As an accompanist/arranger for the Columbia College music program, he has worked with the likes of Bobbie McFerrin, Carl Anderson, Cornelius Bumpus, Claire Fischer, Don Shelton, Grant Geissman, Richie Cole, and Marvin McFadden.  website

Julie Ford

studied classical and jazz under Perla Warren at American River College (Sacramento, CA) and jazz under Roger Letson at DeAnza College (Cupertino, CA). She holds a Bachelor's degree in Voice from San Jose State University, A Master of Music degree in Conducting from the Eastman School of Music (New York), and a Doctorate of Musical Arts in Choral Conducting from the University of Oklahoma. She has been on the faculties of DeAnza College and San Jose State University, and she teaches the Vocal Jazz program for the Pacific Music Camp at the University of the Pacific (Stockton, CA). Julie led the Oakland Jazz Choir for 4 years and was the recepient of an Oakland "Key to Creativity" Award presented by Mayor Jerry Browm. She is an active adjudicator/clinician for the International Association of Jazz Educators, the Music Educators National Conference, and for the American Choral Directors Association. She is the founder and director of Without Measure, a sextet that performs Renaissance and Jazz music. Julie is the Director of Music and Worship at Lafayette-Orinda Presbyterian Church (Lafayette, CA).  website

Paul Ford

also studied classical and jazz under Perla Waren at American River College (Sacramento, CA) and jazz under Roger Letson at DeAnza College (Cupertino, CA). He has performed with jazz groups at the North Sea Jazz Festival (Den Haag, Netherlands) and at the Montreau and Ozone Jazz Festivals (Switzerland). He won the "Kawai Award (First Place) for Vocal Jazz Solo" and a "Special Award for Jazz Improvisation Duet" at the Pacific Coast Collegiate Jazz Festival (Berkeley, CA). Paul was a member of a group that won "First Place-Chamber Competition" and "First Place Overall-Choir of the World" at the Llangollen Eisteddfod (Wales, Great Britain), and he was a member of the Canterbury Choral Society, the Oklahoma City symphonic chorus (Oklahoma). Aside from Moodswing, Paul sings in Without Measure, a sextet that performs Renaissance and Jazz music, and in the Chamber Singers and Festival Choir at Lafayette-Orinda Presbyterian Church (Lafayette, CA). He holds a Doctorate in Communication from Penn State University, and is currently an HRIS Project Manager for Chevron Corporation.  website

Michelle Hawkins 

has a very diverse background in both jazz and classical performance. She received her Master of Music degree in Jazz Studies from the University of Southern California, where she studied with Tierney Sutton, Jennifer Barnes, Shelly Berg, and John Clayton. Prior to her studies at USC, Michelle received a BA in Music from the University of California at Berkeley where she was principal flutist of the orchestra and studied conducting with Dr. David Milnes. Michelle studied flute privately with Timothy Day of the San Francisco Conservatory. She has performed extensively as a vocal soloist with musicians Kurt Elling, Bonnie Raitt, Taylor Eigsti, Ray Obiedo, and Mike Spiro, appearing at notable venues such as Yoshi's, Kimballs East,  Anna's Jazz Island, the Freight and Salvage, the Agenda, and the Bleu Ginger. She sang lead soprano in the award-winning vocal jazz quintet +4db, which performed across the country and in Japan. Michelle is the director of the vocal jazz ensembles at DeAnza College (Cupertino, CA) and the principal fluist of the Mission College Symphony i(Santa Clara, CA). She is the Director of Non-Traditional Music at Lafayette-Orinda Presbyterian Church (Lafayette, CA).