Jaka: Bio

Dan Pauli (mbira) - founder

Dan Pauli

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...Dan began studying marimba in Portland, Oregon in 1984 with Dr. Dumisani Maraire from Zimbabwe .While learning to play the marimba, he began building marimbas. Dan was a  co-founder of  Boka Marimba, which is continues play to this day.  For over 25 years Dan has studied with the great Zimbabwean musicians including Ephat Mujuru, Stella Chiweshe, Musekiwa Chingodza and others.

........After five years with Boka Marimba, Dan began playing with Dr. Maraire in his band Minanzi III. This group toured the country playing nightclubs and colleges up to the time when Dr. Maraire returned to Zimbabwe to live. Dan appears with Dr. Maraire on the Kronos Quartet recording "Pieces of Africa." In the time following Dr Maraire's return to Zimbabwe, Dan played with Seattle marimba bands, Anzanga and Chavuvhu, a pickup group featuring former members of Minanzi III and  Kutamba.

........In 1992 Dan moved to Santa Fw, New Mexico and began teaching Shona style marimba music. Soon a student band was formed called Mhondoro which toured around New Mexico spreading African marimba music in this area for the first time.

........Four years later, Dan founded the band Jaka, using the name Dr. Maraire used to refer to his hosho playing. Dan co-wrote and co-arranged the first self-titled CD with his childhood friend Peter Swing, followed by the second album titled "Magic" written and arranged by him. Jaka was Dan's first attempt to blend Zimbabwean music with contemporary western music.

...... In 2001 after a short re-location to Boulder, Colorado, Dan left Jaka to return to Santa Fe to be with his beautiful new son, Aedan. At that time Dan began teaching again in Santa Fe and performing mbira with Joe LaViolette.Their collaboration lead to the formation of the bands Mukwa and Common Thread.  Dan still performs mbira solo, as well as mbira, marimba, and percussion and vocals with his present formation of Jaka.

Marco Topo - bass

Marco Topo is a musician living and working in Santa Fe, New Mexico. He has been playing bass for over thirty years!

Ansel Carpenter - marimba

Ansel Carpenter is an honors student at Academy of Technology and the Classics in Santa Fe, New Mexico. He has studied, played and loved Zimbabwean and classical marimba since he was 8 years old, performing around New Mexico and Colorado in the ATC Marimba Band, Jaka and Trillium Marimba Ensemble. He likes to write, film, swim and read. He's volunteering in Latin America in the summer of 2010, and hopes to connect with Latin-style marimba players there.

Lee Steck - Drums

Lee has been playing drums and percussion for 45 years. He began studying with Skip Falls in Berkeley in the late ‘60s and later attended The Dick Grove School of Music in Los Angeles, where he studied with Dave Garibaldi, Jerry Steinholtz, and Richie Lepore, among others.  Lee has performed professionally since the late ‘70s throughout California and New Mexico in a wide variety of musical settings, from straight ahead Jazz, to Avant Guard and Latin, Salsa and Nuevo Flamenco, Blues and Afro-pop. He has played at the Santa Barbara Jazz Festival, the Taos Solar Festival, the Crestone Music Festival, the Outpost Performance Center, as well numerous clubs and casual dates. Past performances include Chuscales, Vinnie Golia, Jon Cross, Randy Tico, Mary Bruscinni, and Sherman Rubin, to name just a few. Lee is currently enjoying learning African rhythms and playing with Dan Pauli in Jaka, while he continues to sit in with several jazz combos around northern New Mexico

JD Bay Morris - Guitar