Let's Meet The BandThe Sinful Saints

The Sinful Saints Dixieland Band pulls a large number of talented musicians together. The Saints have a lot of depth and the traditional chairs of trumpet, clarinet, trombone, banjo, tuba, piano and drums can be filled by several of the players that make up the band.



The Saints Through The Years

Here's a brief tribute to the Sinful Saints Dixieland Band over the last decade or so. Special thanks to all of the musicians who have made up the group over the years with a tip of the Dixie straw hat to a couple of our members who are no longer with us. Gerry Molidor was the Saints' first banjo player, his bright sound and brighter disposition making those early bands so much more fun. Kurt Boucek, trumpet player extraordinaire left us unexpectedly earlier in 2012. Rest in peace, Gerry and Kurt. We've all got "Just A Little While To Stay Here"!

Trombone

Tom McDermott plays the trombone for most of the Saints' performances as he's also the leader and founder of the group. Mike Epifano and Bob Skallerup also anchor our trombone chair with their amazing tailgate skills.

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Tom McDermott Mike Epifano Bob Skallerup

Trumpet

The Trumpet chair is filled by Dave Mitchell, Kevin Huff, Frank Katzback, Judy Bridges or Kurt Schulenburg all fine musicians that bring a little fire to the group!

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Dave Mitchell Kevin Huff Frank Katzback
Kurt Schulenburg Judy Bridges

Saxophone/Clarinet

The Clarinet part of the Sinful Saints Band is usually covered by a Soprano Saxophonist who will often double on Tenor Sax as well as clarinet. We have Kurt Schulenburg, Dick Robertson, Gary Parker, Kevin Flanagan, Ted Holtz, and Mike Knauf ably filling this role!

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Kurt Schulenburg Dick Robertson Gary Parker
Kevin Flanagan Ted Holtz Mike Knauf

Banjo

We have quite a few banjos associated with the Sinful Saints. Al Johnson, Jack Meilahn, Jim Dossa and Jack Kuncl are the "go to" guys that make up the string section in the band.

Al Johnson Jack Meilahn Jack Kuncl Jim Dossa

Tuba

The bottom of the band is very important and we have several capable players that can really drive the Saints: Tom Stasiak, Brian Borcherding, Kurt Smith and Steve Marcus.

Tom Stasiak Brian Borcherding Kurt Smith Steve Marcus

Drums

We have several drummers with the band: Mike Lerner, Bill Voda, Sam Geati, Brian Sugrue, Ken Holtz and Chuck Schwartz.

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Mike Lerner Bill Voda Sam Geati
Brian Sugrue Ken Holtz Chuck Schwartz

Piano

We don't get to use our keyboard players on parade, but they can be a welcome addition to any of our performances when we don't have to drive on down the road! Our piano players are Gordy Triefenbach and Vance Nelson (who also plays accordion on our polka jobs!).

Vance Nelson Gordy Triefenbach

The Sinful Saints is able to field several bands to play on our fleet of firetrucks, particularly on the big parade holidays like the Fourth of July. The Saints draws from a wide variety of talented musicians who play in the Chicago area and we'd like to tip our straw hats to the following fine musicians who have joined us over the years. We look forward to playing with them again!

Trombones Bryan Tipps Ryan Miller Dana Legg
Trumpets Greg Studabaker Gregg Tipps Andy Schlinder Dave Morehead Don Rhodes
Saxophones/Clarinets Andy Blanco Phil Pilcher Jimmy Bestman
Tubas Rich Armandi Adam Sneider Mark Bressler Jim Drake John Harshey Bill Jeffery
Drums Bryan Weber Ken Voelker Mitch Martin Bob Blazier Rick Leach
Banjos Mike Woitowicz Ernie Michaels Tom Landeros Rob Cutis