Get To Know
Cool Thing Quartet
Member Bios
DAN ROHL
DIRECTOR, SOPRANO SAX, ALTO SAX
I began playing in concert and stage band in high school then took an 18 year hiatus until my kids began band and told me and my wife, Judy, about adult community band. It only took a year to get back in the saddle and the last 20+ years have been a whirlwind of different bands (concert, jazz, swing, pit orchestra, ensembles) for Judy and me. We both play all saxes and clarinets but the Tenor Sax was my first and favourite.
Treasured memories over the years include directing and playing with the Vancouver Traveling Band (VTB) in China in 2013, playing musicals for ACRSS, TUTS, Capilano University and RCMT, and playing with my wife, daughter and son-in-law in VTB and the Brass and Saxy Band.
JUDY ROHL
MANAGER, ALTO SAX
I started my love for music in Grade 5 band and played all through until graduation. I then took a break to have a family ans started back into band after my daughter came home from school and said “Hey Mommy, they have an adult band.”. Checked it out and haven’t stopped playing since. In the past 20+ years my music journey with my husband Dan has involved concert bands, marching bands, jazz bands, pit orchestras and ensembles. A highlight of my journey was playing at the Liuzhou Water Festival, in China, with my husband and the Vancouver Traveling Band. Some of my best memories are playing and mentoring kids in pit orchestras for 10+ high school musicals, where I am often referred to as “Pit Mom”.
My first and favourite instrument is still the clarinet but I love playing all clarinets and saxes, especially with my family.
AMANDA ANGUS
TENOR SAX
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I have been performing in the Lower Mainland with various musical community groups for 20+ years, both as a saxophonist and vocalist. My bands have included the Royal Westminster Regiment Band, Rue St. Georges Sax Ensemble, Bruce James Orchestra, Urbana and Theatre Under The Stars orchestra. As a vocalist I sang with the Coastal Sound Youth Choir, where I met my husband. Together we continued our musical journey in the Vancouver Traveling Band, Brass and Saxy Big Band, Top Line Vocal Collective and Theatre in the Country.
Some of my favourite memories are performing at the 2010 Special Olympics with the Coastal Sound Youth Choir and in 2010 with the Vancouver Traveling Band for the 65th anniversary of the liberation of Holland. My best memory is huge crowds at the Vancouver Pride Festival cheering for our Top Line Vocal Collective performance after Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s appearance.
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TOM MIDDELVEEN
BARITONE SAX
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Tom learned to play the tenor sax in junior high-school and continued to play in a marching band as an Air Cadet in high-school and also as an Officer Cadet at university. Tom played with the 14 Wing Greenwood Brass & Reed volunteer band for thirteen years while serving in the Air Force in Greenwood, Nova Scotia and also played in an associated sax quartet called The Four Winds Blue (as in Air Force blue). Tom retired from the Air Force in 2010 after a 28 year career as an Aerospace Engineer and moved with his wife Kerry from Nova Scotia to the family blueberry farm in Pitt Meadows.
Tom is now 'retiring' from the Army Reserve where he served for ten years as a Military Engineer at 39 CER in Chilliwack and will continue to serve in uniform now as a cadet instructor with the Air Cadets in Maple Ridge. Tom also serves as a Peace Officer, collecting DNA and serving summons and subpoenas for the Abbotsford Police Department.
In addition to playing baritone sax with the Golden Ears Jazz Band and It's A Cool Thing To Do Sax Quartet, 'blue-bari' Tom is also an active jogger and can often be seen on the trails and dykes around Pitt Meadows
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