Easy Street Band Bios

The Easy Street Band is composed by 9 members they all have been very important for the development of the band and each one of them brings their special talents to the band in order to make it what it is today. Many of the members began in 1966 and have stayed in the band since those times. In this article we will provide some very general bios of some of the members in order for the reader to have a better picture of what the members of the and are like and how they began as part of this band. First of all we will talk about Larry Searless, the trumpet of The Easy Street Band. Larry grew up in Lake Sammamish in Washington State. In 1970, he graduated from Issaquah High School. His first band was called "Associated Sounds" which was made of 5 members who played together for 23 years. This band later evolved into the Easy Street Band. In 1972, larry graduated with an AA degree in Dental Technology from Seattle Central College, he first began working for some dentists in Issaquah, and went later to serve in the board for the Washington State Dental Lab Association for about 4 years. He opened the Northwest Dental Forum, an educational facility that had been of of his dreams. His hobbies included ultralights, motocross, windsurfing, boating, fishing, hang-gliding and snow and water skiing. Then in 2000, he became an aerobatic flight pilot. Then, we have Epaminondas Trimis (Nonda)The Easy Street Band percussionist, he graduated from California State University with a Bachelor of Music in Percussion Performance. In the past, as he was developing as a musician, he studied with other renown musicians such as Jerry Steinholtz (Dianna Ross, the Carpenters), Ed Shaughnessy (The Tonight Show), Steve Mitchell(Vince Guaraldi), Steve Schaeffer (Dallas, Dynasty LA Studio), and Gary Nash (Jackie and Roy). He has been part of big jazz bands like Critical Mass, Daniel Barry, Jazz Police, Mojo, Pete Leinonen, Swing Session, and the Jim Cutler big band. Nonda has also been part of more than 60 different CDs with artists such as Michael Powers, Snooky Young, Kathy Lee Gifford, Marc Seals, The Jazz Police, Gary Stroutsos, Carl Saunders and Harry Blackstone Jr. just to mention a few. He is also a percussion instrument maker and has sold his instruments to institutions like Julliard and the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra and pop artists like Kenny G, Yanni, Madonna, and Phil Collins. Finally, we have Jeff Gilles. He has been playing ever since he got his first guitar, a Silvertone for his 11th birthday. He began playing in blues and rock and roll bands, and it wasn't until he left the college that he started playing jazz. Jeff graduated from the University of Iowa, where he got a degree in film.