Karim Yengsep

Dr. Karim Yengsep is a Qazaq-American bassist and educator who came to the U.S. in 2000, earning music degrees from Western Oregon University and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (MM, DMA). After teaching and rising to Associate Professor in Kazakhstan, he returned to the U.S., settling in Southern California, where he founded SoCal Jazz Academy in 2019 and later expanded it by acquiring a Lake Forest piano school that became Music Around, now with two locations. Karim has performed widely at venues including Catalina Jazz Club, Lighthouse Cafe, Jazzville, and Mozambique, and has led the OC Fish Grill Friday Night Jazz series for over three years. He has worked with artists such as Chip McNeill, Edmund Velasco, Tom Cunningham, Ron Kobayashi, and Mark Massey.

Founder / Bass

Mark Massey

Jazz pianist-composer Mark Massey, born in Lynwood, California, showed early musical talent and went on to earn both his BA and MA in Music from Cal State Long Beach, where he received the Carmen Dragon Fellowship and was recognized by the National Association of Jazz Educators as “A Young Giant.” He has performed across the U.S., Europe, Russia, the Far East, and India, working with artists such as Larry Carlton, Paul Horn, Poncho Sanchez, Hubert Laws, Louie Bellson, L. Subramaniam, and the late Freddie Hubbard and Maynard Ferguson. Mark has been featured in The Four Pianos In Concert series and performs widely throughout Southern California as both a sideman and leader of The Mark Massey Trio.

Piano

Tenor and Soprano Saxes

Edmund Velasco

Edmund Velasco, a native Southern Californian, is one of the region’s leading saxophonists. He has performed with The Estrada Brothers Latin Jazz Ensemble, the Chris Williams Quintet, and artists such as Mel Tormé, Eddie Daniels, and Ernie Andrews, with appearances at the Playboy Jazz Festival and major Southern California venues. Named Top Tenor Sax Artist in Orange County in 1998 and 1999, he also leads his own quintet and has released several well-reviewed recordings. Edmund serves as the President of the Orange County Musicians' Association (Local 7, AFM) and is active in music education and community outreach programs supporting young musicians.

Trumpet

Tom Cunningham

Tom has had the good fortune to study with Bobby Shew and play in concert with Allen Vizzutti, Rich Matteson, Don Menza, Ramsey Lewis and numerous Southern California music legends. A former Army Field Artillery Officer, Tom likes any type of music…as long as it is played LOUD!!

Dean Koba

Drums

Dean Koba, a Honolulu native, has performed with jazz greats such as Benny Bailey, Bud Shank, Jeff and John Clayton, Bill Cunliffe, Walter Norris, Bob Sheppard, and Tamir Hendelman, touring across the U.S. and Europe. He appears on numerous recordings, including projects with Big Bad Voodoo Daddy, Christoph Luty, the Acoustic Jazz Quartet, Brent Jenson, and the Greg Reitan Trio. Dean holds music degrees from Northwestern University and USC and studied privately with Jeff Hamilton, Joe LaBarbera, and Greg Field. Now based in Cerritos, he freelances throughout Los Angeles, has worked with Disneyland for over twenty years, and teaches percussion at Long Beach City College and jazz drumset at El Camino College.

Guitar

Ken Song

Ken Song received Master of Music degree with honors from USC in Guitar Performance. He has studied jazz guitar with Joe Diorio and Larry Koonse and classical guitar with William Kanengiser. He has been featured in Jazz Times and Just Jazz Guitar magazines. In 2005, Ken was a featured performer at the Santa Barbara Jazz Festival. He has worked with top Korean artists such as B.T.S, Lee Seung Whan, Boa, Lena Park and Lee Moon Sae, also with Melissa Manchester, Carl Verheyen, Scott Henderson, the Dick Grove Orchestra, Ricky Lawson, Gregg Bissonette, Alex Acuna. In 2006, Ken recorded his first solo album “Goin’ Wes”, which was played on jazz radio stations all over the country.