Musician Bios
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Vernon James
Saxophones and flute. Vernon James holds a Bachelor's degree from Berkelee College of Music and studied with Robert "Boysie" Lowery. Vernon has a been a mainstay in the local jazz and latin music community for many years. He has performed regularly with the likes of Gil Scott Heron, Unit Circle, Orquesta Insaciable, Nueva Direccion, Atiba's Dream, and the University of Delaware Faculty Jazz Ensemble. He currently teaches at the University of Delaware and was a founding member of Pastiche.

Karen Rege
Piano. Dr. Karen Rege earned a Bachelor of Music degree from the Hartt School of Music, University of Hartford and a Master of Arts degree from the University of Michigan, as well as a Doctorate in Education from the University of Delaware. Her teachers include Jackie McLean, Jaki Byard, and Elio Villafranca. Besides Latin music, Karen also plays both classical harpsichord and jazz piano, and is a musicologist specializing in American music, particularly the history of early jazz. Local performances include appearances with Insaciable, Nueva Direccion, Orquesta Romance, Atiba's Dream, and the Christina Cultural Arts Center Faculty Jazz Ensemble. She currently teaches piano privately and a world music class for Delaware County Community College. In August 2002, she studied in Havana, Cuba with Yaroldy Abreu (percussion) and Emilio Vega (piano) through a program sponsored by the Asociación de Musicos Latinos Americanos. She currently studies with Gerald Chavis and Edsel Gomez.

Juan "Juni" Soto
Bass. Immersed in the music of Puerto Rico where he grew up, Juni Soto was raised in a musical family and began teaching himself to play guitar at age nine. Shortly after moving to the U.S., he began playing Christian music at church. The development of Christian salsa in the 1980s led to his interest to play more traditional salsa, and to his switch to the bass at age 18. Since then, Juni has performed primarily with the Wilmington-based salsa ensemble, Orquesta Insaciable, for the past 16 years. Through the work with this ensemble, he has opened for such major acts as Primi Cruz, Cana Brava, Cano Estremera, Frankie Negron, and El Gran Combo. He has also performed with Elio Villafranca and Pablo Battista. Juni was one of the founding members of Pastiche.

Francois Zayas
Drums. Francois Zayas was born in Cuba and graduated from Instituto Superior de Artes (ISA) in Havana. He taught classical percussion for a number of years at the same institute and played in the Orquesta Sinfónica Nacional de Cuba for 10 years. He has played, collaborated on, and recorded for jazz, classical, hip hop, and traditional Cuban projects. After touring internationally for 11 years with various Cuban bands, in 2006 he moved to the United States where he currently resides.

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