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| Terry Blalock - saxophone and flute Mr. Blalock is a former band director and administrator of the Wake County public schools. Prior to his administrative career, he was band director on the high school and university levels in Virginia, North Carolina, and Georgia. He is a professional Musician in Raleigh, as well as frequent guest conductor, clinician and judge throughout the Southeast. He is an arranger and musical director of the Moonlighters. He has played professionally for 35 years including positions with Jimmy Dorsey and the Dean Hudson Orchestras. He has played backup for Johnny Mathis, Julie London, Sonny and Cher, the Four Seasons, Henry Mancini, the Temptations, Four Tops and even "The King" himself, Elvis Presley. He has performed with the North Carolina Theater Orchestra, the Atlanta Pops Orchestra, the Richmond and North Carolina Symphonies. He is a graduate of East Carolina, Virginia Commonwealth University, and North Carolina Central University. |
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| Owen Cordle - saxophone and flute Mr.Cordle grew up in Raleigh. He started his musical studies in the fourth grade at Mt. Vernon Goodwin School, beginning on clarinet. He subsequently played in the marching band, the concert band and the jazz band at Cary High School (where he began playing tenor saxophone) and North Carolina State University (where he added flute to his instruments). In high school, he began playing dances with Leon Jordan's Continentals Orchestra. He was a member of the 30th Infantry Division (later 440th Army) Band, part of the North Carolina National Guard. Among local groups, he has performed in big bands led by Dick Beach, Billy Farmer, Alan Dobson, Paul Bowman (the Casablanca Orchestra), Jim Ketch (the Dejans), Charlie Burt, and Ted Howe. Among nationally known performers, he has backed Bob Hope, Tony Bennett, Ethel Merman, Red Skelton, the Manhattans, the Temptations, the Four Tops, Anson Williams, and Debbie Boone. Mr.Cordle writes about jazz for The News & Observer and reviews albums for JazzTimes. He has also written for Down Beat magazine. |
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| Mark Gloden - saxophone, clarinet and piano Mr. Gloden began playing in the fourth grade and was selected as the drum major of his senior high school band for two years. He attended the Armed Forces School of Music in Norfolk, Virginia and served as Navy musician at the Naval Training Center in San Diego, California. After being honorably discharged from the service, Mark received his Bachelors Degree in Music Education from Penn State University and a Master of Music Degree from Ithaca College, graduating magna cum laude. He taught instrumental music at the elementary level, middle and high school levels in Miami, Florida for six years, including three years as band director at the North Center for the Arts, a magnet school for artistically talented students. After leaving the field of public school music education and Miami, Mark entered the world of music retail. For five years he was the co-owner of a piano store, and specialized in the technical side of the business - tuning, repairing and restoring pianos. He then went into business for himself as a piano tuner and performer under the name "Piano Tuning Plus". He also teaches popular piano to adults and is also writing on a course of study called "Play Like a Pro," a piano method featuring chords used by professional players. In his "free time" Mark directs the Raleigh Concert Band and Blues in the Night Jazz Orchestra, and performs regularly with the Moonlighters, Baby Blues, and Just the Two of Us. |
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| Tommy Smith - trombone Mr. Smith is a retired band director and music educator in Oxford, NC. He is a superb trombonist and has played with Pete Fountain in New Orleans, Louie Belson at the Brevard Music Festival, and many other music notables. Locally, his talents are in great demand, and he is associated with the Casablanca Orchestra. He joined the MOONLIGHTERS about two years ago as lead trombonist and occasional vocalist on Dixieland specials. |
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| Bob Gregory - clarinet, trombone and guitar Bob Gregory has been playing music of one kind or another for most of his life. With a degree in music education, he has played the clarinet, trombone, guitar, electric and acoustic bass in Dixieland, folk music, rock and roll, and bluegrass groups, in addition to big jazz bands, concert bands, orchestras, German bands, and musicals. In Raleigh, in addition to playing with the Moonlighters, he has played with the Little German Band, the Blues In The Night Jazz Orchestra, Bubba and the Boys Dixieland Band, and has often been in the pit orchestra or on stage at most of the local theaters. So far, he still hasn't found any kind of music that isn't fun to play. |
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| Dave Kelley - piano, keyboard Mr. Kelley was taught to play the piano at the age of eight by his father Paul Kelley, who played with the Paul Whiteman Orchestra. He has been playing professionally for 25 years and has served as organist in the Astrodome during the summer of 1986. His talents are also in great demand, and he has played for several years with the Leon Jordan Continentals. He joined the MOONLIGHTERS in 1997. |
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| Dr. John Entzi - trumpet Dr. John Entzi is Director of Concert Bands and Jazz Ensembles at North Carolina State University. Dr. Entzi received a B.M.E. degree in 1974 from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, the M.A. in 1978 from Appalachian State University, Boone, NC and the D.M.A. in 1998 in trumpet performance from the University of South Carolina at Columbia, South Carolina. Dr. Entzi has toured and performed extensively throughout the Southeast, where he performed with Holiday on Ice, Disney on Parade, The Ringling Brothers & Barnum and Bailey Circus, The Henry Busse Orchestra, The Tommy Dorsey Orchestra, The Jimmy Dorsey Orchestra, Guy Lombardo, Vaughn Monroe, the Glenn Miller Orchestra, Atlantic Jass Orchestra, When Swing Was King, Nelson Riddle Orchestra, and in the U.S. Air Jazz Orchestra. He also performed with such notables as Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons, Nancy Wilson, and Gladys Knight and the Pips. He also performed with the Saint Joseph Symphony, the Kansas City Symphony, the Western Piedmont Symphony, the Greensboro Symphony, and the South Carolina Philharmonic. He is a charter member of the Charlotte Repertory Orchestra. Dr. Entzi is an active member of the National Band Association, the International Association of Jazz Educators, the American School Band Directors Association, Music Educators National Confrence, International Trumpet Guild, and the College Band Directors National Confrence. Dr. Entzi is also a member of Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia and the Kappa Kappa Psi Band Fraternity. Patsy McRae Bowers - vocals Patsy's background in music is varied and full of experience. She studied music at Baylor University, as well as many years of private voice instruction. She has sung and traveled with ReGeneration ( now known as The Liberty Singers at Epcot Center), the Spurrlows, a convention show group: for years performed at Disney World and Disneyland as a singer dancer in five different shows, and selected for their marketing show tours to Japan and Alaska; sang in seasonal shows for Six Flags, and Radio Music Hall. She sang with Roy Clark (when he was entertainer of the year for two years in a row) for two years on stages across the U.S. and T.V. shows such as, the Tonight Show, In Concert, and the Merve Griffin Show. As the Patsy McRae Show, she performed in show rooms in Atlantic City and throughout the U.S. and on U.S.O. tours to eight countries, including Germany, Italy, Greece, Spain, Turkey, Greenland, Iceland, Bahrain, and U.S. Air Force states tour. She has performed on stage with numerous celebrities such as Bob Hope, Jerry Lewis, Ed McMahon, and Kenny Rogers. Patsy now lives in Raleigh, and has a teaching program to preschoolers at area schools called Music and Artistic Growth. |
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| Sam L. Sox Jr. - bassist Initially schooled as violinist, Sam picked up acoustic bass and tuba upon entering Lenoir Rhyne College in Hickory NC. He played bass in the Kampus Kats Dance Band, and tuba in the LR Marching Band. He earned AB Degree in Public School Music with major in voice. Upon graduating, he entered the US Army and was assigned to the 328th Transportation Corp Band, Fort Hamilton, Brooklyn NY as tuba player / Supply Sergeant. After serving 3 years, he returned to Greensboro NC and played as tuba side man for Ringling Brothers Barnum Bailey Circus, Holiday On Ice Show, and Royal Lipizan Stallions Show for 10 years. He was bassist in the Greensboro Symphony Orchestra. Sam also played Acoustic Bass with the Burt Massengale Band, Howard Waynick Trio, Dick Wells Band and sundry other combos in Greensboro /High Point/ Winston Salem areas. He moved to Raleigh NC and was a regular with Leon Jordan's Continentals, Joe Harper's Band, The Jazz Advocates and is presently playing bass with "The Moonlighter Big Band" and Combos. In addition to playing in jazz groups, he has performed as cantor/soloist/church choir director in various Lutheran Churches in which he has had membership. He now resides in Myrtle Beach, SC where he and his wife Sarah have retired. |
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| Charlie Chiklis - drummer Leader of the MOONLIGHTERS is Dr. Charles Chiklis, President of C.K. Chiklis and Associates (Chemical Consultants) and Adjunct Professor at North Carolina State University, Department of Materials Science and Engineering. Charlie drummed his way through college initially playing and singing with his own combo as house band in local night clubs in Lowell, Massachusetts. His combo backed shows each weekend featuring singers, dancers and comedians. Later, and while still in college, he played and sometimes sang with the best big dance bands in Massachusetts playing the New England circuit of ballrooms. The big bands included Billy Note and the George Kay Orchestras. He was also the drummer at the start up of the Chris Powers Orchestra out of Boston, Massachusetts composed largely of Schillinger School musicians. During his sophomore year in college, he organized and conducted the first United States Air Force R.O.T.C. Marching Band at Lowell Technological Institute. In his junior year, he organized and conducted a U.S.A.F. R.O.T.C. Marching Band and Cadet Choir during summer camp at Fort Ethan Allen Air Force Base in Winooski, Vermont. Charlie was also a member of the Lexington, Massachusetts Bicentennial Concert Band under the direction of Donald J. Gillespie. He initiated the start of the 17 piece Moonlighters Swing Band in Lexington, Massachusetts under the leadership of Mike Fossier, an extraordinary clarinetist. Charlie has backed several notables during his musical career including Jerry Vale, Slim Gaylord, Roy Eldridge, The Hi Lo's, June Christy and Sally Keith. Charlie moved to Cary, North Carolina in 1989 and joined the Raleigh Concert Band and also Leon Jordan's Continentals with whom he played with for almost five years. During this time he also played with the North State Ramblers and the Billy Joe Austin Band. He also started the Moonlighters Big Band in November of 1996. back to the top |
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