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Blue Jay Jazz Foundation
The Carl Verheyen Band
Thursday, August 27th
Tavern Bay Beach Club, Lake Arrowhead, CA.
Gate time 5pm.
Opening show: 6pm – Main Show: 7pm – 8:30pm.
The Carl Verheyen Band was founded in 1987 with their first release titled No Border being released under the name Carl Verheyen Group on CMG Records. Decades of album releases followed, producing music on tour and in the studio earning this amazing musical group world-wide acclaim and numerous awards along the way.
Classic Rock Magazine in the UK called Verheyen “One of the Top 100 Guitarists of all time” and Guitar Magazine in the US called him one of the top 10 guitarists in the World.
Carl Verheyen
Carl Verheyen is best known as a longtime member of Supertramp and leader of the Carl Verheyen Band. Ranked among the world’s top guitarists, he has recorded 16 albums, played on hundreds of records, major film and TV soundtracks, and toured globally. A sought‑after session musician and influential teacher, he is acclaimed for his virtuosity across rock, jazz, blues, and country styles.
He was ranked One of the World’s Top 10 Guitarists by Guitar Magazine and won the LA Music Awards category of Best Guitarist at their 6th annual awards ceremony. He has recorded with such artists as The Bee Gees, Chad Wackerman, Dolly Parton, Victor Feldman, Richard Elliot, and Stanley Clarke and has played guitar on film soundtracks including The Crow, The Usual Suspects, Ratatouille, and Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol, and TV shows Cheers, Seinfeld, and Scrubs.
He has been an adjunct instructor of studio jazz guitar for the USC Thornton School of Music and makes frequent instructional performances at the Musicians Institute (MI) in Hollywood, California, Guitar Institute of Technology and has authored instructional books including Improvising Without Scales, as well as Studio City, a collection of articles written for the magazine Guitar for the Practicing Musician.
Career: Supertramp and Beyond
In 1985, Verheyen was hired as a session guitarist on a recording project at Wildcat Studios in Los Angeles. He exchanged phone numbers with the recording engineer who passed along his contact information to Supertramp’s management after learning that the band was currently auditioning guitarists. Verheyen auditioned for the band the next day and was hired as a sideman and toured with the band on their 1985–1986 world tour, Brother Where You Bound.
In 1996, Rick Davies re-formed Supertramp adding Verheyen as a formal band member along with three other new members bringing the band up to an eight-man line-up. The result of this reunion was Some Things Never Change, a new studio album released in March 1997 that echoed the earlier Supertramp sound and reached number 74 in the UK. In the summer of 1997, Supertramp returned to the road, resulting in the live It Was the Best of Times (1999).
After a three-year hiatus, Verheyen performed on the band’s 2002 new studio album entitled Slow Motion, as well as performing on the 2002 world tour entitled, One More for the Road Tour.
He performed in 35 concerts with the band in late 2010 and 2011 in Europe. The tour was titled 70–10 (1970 to 2010) to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the group’s first release.
Opening Act: 6 Beats Apart
Drawing from a huge library of classic fusion music from the 70’s, 80’s, and 90’s 6 Beats Apart brings the music of such great groups as the Brecker Brothers, Steps Ahead, Mike Stern, Michele Camilo, Maceo Parker, to the forefront, constantly rediscovering and playing a lot of this great music.
Opening the first concert night will be 6 Beats Apart. Members Ed Wynne, Andy Waddell, Mark Gasbarro, Bruce Lett and MB Gordy are some of the top studio musicians in L.A.
Their credits include numerous top-selling albums, feature films, television shows, and live performances with jazz greats such as Freddie Hubbard, Red Garland, Eddie Harris, and Nancy Wilson to name a few.
Guitarist Andy Waddell has released several albums under his own name, most of which has earned him multiple spots in CMJ Magazine’s top charts, one of them being among the top 5 new artists.
Mark Gasbarro, Keyboardist, has, along with being music director and conductor for hundreds of concert performances in venues including Carnegie Hall, Place Des Arts and many others.
Bruce Lett, strings and electric bass, the jazz bass instructor at CSULB, Bruce has performed with such notable musicians as Ernie Watts, Freddie Hubbard, Red Garland, Alphonse Mounzon, Bille Cobham, Eddie Harris, Nancy Wilson, Mose Allison, Bobbie Caldwell, Melissa Manchester, Jack Sheldon, The Bill Holman Big Band, and is currently touring with jazz vocalist Diane Schuur.
Moyes Lucas, Drums, has been drumming for over 30 years, and in that time has performed with Dan Siegel, Jeff Lorber, Jeffrey Osborne, The Crusaders, Dion Warwick, Dianna Ross, George Michael,, Alanis Mosissette, Kenny Loggins, Joe Sample, Wayne Henderson, Randy Crawford, Brenda Russell, Larry Carlton, Bruce Hornsby, Marc Seales, Steve Perry, and has recorded many demo’s, jingles, records and videos.
One of the top session players in Los Angeles, Grammy winning percussionist MB Gordy, has recorded on releases by artist such as Neil Diamond, Aaron Neville, Faith Hill, and Josh Groban, as well as hundreds of film and TV scores. MB has toured internationally with Rita Coolidge, Three Dog Night, The Doobie Brothers, and many more. Having earned his Master’s Degree from Cal Arts in Los Angeles, he has worked over the last three decades as performer, composer, professor, and recording musician.
Blue Jay Jazz Foundation’s 2026 Future Generation Jazz Scholars
The Blue Jay Jazz Foundation is pleased to announce that it will be presenting seven Future Generation 2026 Jazz Scholarships this season.
Graduating seniors Jaden Martinez, Jacob Heil, and Brenden Watson, each received certificates recognizing their outstanding achievements as jazz musicians on May 19 and will be awarded $1,500 each on Thursday evening, August 27, 2026, at the Blue Jay Jazz Festival held at Tavern Bay, as part of the opening celebration.
Recognition will also be given on August 27 to the Gloria Loring Vocal Scholarship recipient Maya Anossov and to instrumental scholarship recipients Vincente Ruvalcaba, Kaydin Lowery, and Colin Hobson to assist in their continued studies of jazz at Rim High School.
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We know times are challenging, and we are grateful to each of you for sticking by us. Our education programs provide annual jazz education scholarships, awards, instrument lending and live performance opportunities for students and other young people in the San Bernardino Mountain communities. We also believe that festivals in general, and the Blue Jay Jazz Festival specifically, are an incredible gathering of community around amazing music – it brings joy to our lives, and solace to our souls.
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