As a freelance trumpet player, Cody is involved with a wide variety of music, primarily focussing on big band performances, musical theater work and Balkan dance music. He has acted as musical director of Kef since it formed in 2006, performing at a variety of venues and festivals throughout the Pacific Northwest. Other current ensemble associations include: The Emerald City Jazz Kings, The Beat Crunchers, Slavej, The Fighting Instruments of Karma and The Oregon Brass Society. He has been performing Balkan folk music since the year 2000 when, as a student at the University of Oregon, he was introduced to the rich brass tradition of the Balkans and the wonders of Bulgarian wedding music through Mark Levy's East European Folk Music Ensemble.
Alex began playing trumpet in 6th grade in Sandy, Oregon, where he remained until he graduated Sandy High School in 2000. Alex continued to take private lessons throughout his undergraduate years at the University of Oregon where he both played in the Oregon Wind Ensemble and Oregon Jazz Ensemble, and earned a degree in mathematics. Alex has been involved in a wide variety of community and professional groups since high school, including the Portland Youth Conservatory Orchestra, the Oregon Mozart Players, the Eugene Symphony, Blue Skies Big Band, the Bohemian Dub Orchestra, Moniker, Osprey Flies the Nest, the Beat Cunchers, and of course Kef. Alex was one of the first members of Kef when it started in 2006, and he has toured the Northwest with Kef at Folklife in Seattle, Balkanalia and Balkan Camp in Mendocino, to name but a few. Alex is a math and science tutor full time, and dabbles in robotics, graphic arts and social dancing.
Sarah grew up playing classical piano and flute and picked up the saxophone at age 15. She studied jazz and classical music at the Oregon Center for the Arts at Southern Oregon University under Rhett Bender and has been a member of the Siskiyou Saxophone Orchestra, Southern Oregon Jazz Ensemble, the Rogue Valley Symphonic Band, and various other wind ensembles. Sarah currently plays in Eugene's own community activist street band of women and/or trans folk, Hearticorn Brass Band, makes appearances with local horn-heavy favorites Beat Crunchers, and is a DJ at KEPW-LP Eugene Peaceworks Radio.
Sharon is a life-long musician. She earned her B.A. in vocal performance and general music at O.S.U. and continued with an M.A.T in Music Education. Sharon has taught music in the public schools since 2002, including the last 9 years in North Bend on the Oregon coast. Sharon enjoys International folk dancing and brings a dancer's perspective to the bands she plays in, and to the performing groups she facilitates on the coast. As part of Kef, Sharon is a vocalist and plays accordion, tambura, and baritone horn.
Nisha began her lifelong love of the cello in 1992 at the age of 10. Since then she has performed and recorded with a wide range of musical artists, poets, story tellers, and dancers. Nisha studied the cello in Germany, Gamelan in Bali, and tours regularly throughout the Northwest. In 2006 she became one of the founding members of Kef. In 2008 she earned her degree in music from the University of Oregon, and continues to discover and expand her love of sharing and teaching the cello to people of all ages for educational and professional purposes, competitions, therapy, healing, fun and enjoyment!
Ken's yearning for musical roots led to years of studying and performing the rich drumming traditions of West Africa and India as well as Appalachian, Celtic and Nordic fiddle. "I listened to Bitov and Bulgarian wedding music but, found the timing elusive. When asked to join the UofO Eastern European Ensemble, I was like, I'm your guy!" This gave him the opportunity to experience and play these diverse styles with some great instructors. "Cody and I were practicing and discussed having a session night. I was more inclined to having a working band." Comfortable and adept in many styles from funk to free jazz, he provides his eclectic and propulsive drumming to various ensembles including the Klezmonauts and also master guitarist Paul N Prince. He works building Koi ponds, landscaping and is also the "branch manager" for a tree service. When not playing he can be found in the garden or splitting wood on his remote riverside property.