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Richard Herrera

Richard Herrera has been a guitar player for more than 25 years. Though he grew up at an early age listening to Hard Metal, over the years Richard has added a blend of music in his life to include all sorts of music era’s from the 20’s on to the current age which adds to his eclectic taste of music today. Over the recent years, Richard has picked up some Bass and Piano to help fine tune the music and to be an all around musician.

Though Richard helps compose most of the music with Almost Jazz, he gets most his talents of playing from his heart and love of music. Its no surprise that Richard is a self taught musician.

With Almost Jazz, Richard keeps the rhythm going with all the songs regardless if he is playing guitar, bass or piano. This helps keep the song going strong so that the other fellow musicians can focus on filling in the gaps to bring the music to its true taste.

Paul Foschino

In the beginning: Paul was inspired to play guitar when I saw the Beatles play on the Ed Sullivan show. Started playing guitar when I was 12 years old and in my first band by 13.

Song that inspired me to play Rock and Roll: The guitar break in “Stairway to heaven”.

Song that pushed me over the Rock edge: “Mississippi Queen”

In my first Rock band we were too young to get into the events we were playing at (CYO dances for the older kids).

Moved onto high school dances and summer gigs at the Paramus pool.

Played in various bands all through High School and College (was in a band with my college English professor, how weird is that?).

Was an official hippie through the 70’s with the long hair the beard and everything else that went along with it. Sat in the grass and played my acoustic guitar a lot (a 1970 Guild D40, purchased at Sam Goodies where I worked in the 70’s).

First Guitar: my Dad’s Silvertone acoustic (which I still have)

First guitar/amp purchase: Guild solid body electric “Jet Star”, Kalamazoo amp (still have the guitar, not the amp), quickly moved up to an Ampeg Gemini 1 amp (which I do still have and use). Never stopped loving guitars or playing music and my list of gear has grown over the years.

My motto: “Love one women but many guitars”

Ernie Pellegrino

Ernie Pellegrino has been a drummer~percussionist for over 38 years and an instructor for over 20 years. Ernie's style is verse and includes most types of music: Jazz, Rock, Blues, Latin, Contemporary Christian, Pop, B'way, etc...

Throughout the years, Ernie has been in Drum & Bugle Corps, Marching Bands, Jazz Bands, Rock bands, Wedding Bands, and Special Occasion Bands. He studied with Big Band Jazz drummer Sonny Igoe and attended William Paterson University School of Music for two years.

Early years bands/ensembles: 'Commanders Drum & Bugle", "Midland Park HS (Marching, Big Band, and Concert Bands)", "Moonshine" Country Rock, "Identity Crisis" Fusion Jazz, "William Paterson University Percussion Ensemble and Jazz Bands", "Harbor Lights music and Bob Thomas Orchestra's" wedding bands.

Over the past 10 years, Ernie has been involved in St. Catherine's music ministry and musical theater shows ("King and I", "Children of Eden", "Oliver", and Joseph & Technicolor Dreamcoat" up coming summer '08).

Over the past two years, Ernie has been in the music pit for the 4th Wall Musical Theater in Upper Montclair. In '07 "Invisible Fences" and '08 "Heaven Knows".

Recently, Ernie completed a Jeannette More Hodelin Jazz CD project - "Takin A Chance". The 25 song CD became available in July 07' and is being distributed in Europe.

Ernie's most recent projects are with talented local musicians who formed a group called "Almost Jazz".

Please visit Ernie's personal site:

Paula Auteri

Ever since I could remember, I have had a love for music. One day I was so into a song, that I opened my mouth and started belting it out! From that day forward, I realized that the best way to show my love for music is to sing it! I started exploring different genres to see which one interested me the most. When I first heard Ella Fitzgerald singing “Can’t Take that Away From Me” with Louis Armstrong, I fell in love with Jazz and Blues. I just loved the sound that came out of her mouth; soulful yet light and fun; sweet, yet heartfelt and deep. I did much research on different jazz and blues artists throughout high school, but still kept up with popular music from the radio. I was always a part of the school chorale since 6^th grade, and participated in my high school musicals. By the time I started college at Drew University, I had grown such a great interest in jazz and blues that I decided to take some music history classes. I wanted to know where music came from, and how it all began. A few years back, I joined St. Catherine’s “Inspirations” and had the pleasure of meeting the other fantastic musicians that now make up “Almost Jazz”.

Just like any other music genre, jazz and blues have come a long way. Often Jazz of today can be considered R&B. Musicians such as Alicia Keyes, Norah Jones, and Joss Stone are great examples of jazz musicians of today. I sing songs from both original Jazz/Blues artists as well as the more current Jazz/R&B artists. I also throw in the occasional light rock or country hit to spice things up. All in all I am a singer who loves all music. Although I have a special passion, and therefore spend most of my time studying and learning, Jazz and R&B songs, I am always interested in exploring different genres. My motto has always been, “Sing a song once, if I give myself goose bumps and feel it in my soul, sing it again; if not, put it aside for someone else to sing!”