Current

Pat Pat Smith, the guitarist and leader of the group, has a B. A. in music composition and has studied with some great guitarists including Lenny Breau, Howard Roberts, Guy Van Duser, and Pat Martino. His years of playing in bands of all styles gives him an eclectic sound of his own.

Erik Erik Turkman is a graduate of the Eastman School of Music and has been playing bass for more than 25 years. He has performed with the Broadway Company of Grease (featuring Rosie O’Donnell), with the National Touring Company of Guys and Dolls, on board cruise ships for the Royal Caribbean and Holland America cruise lines, with Chita Rivera, the Benny Goodman Orchestra, and numerous others.

He appears on recordings with the Marc Sabatella Trio and Quartet and the Hugh Ragin Collective, which won the Cognac Hennessy Jazz Search Competition. He is also a writer and photographer. His articles about the bass have appeared in Bass Player and Double Bassist magazines. He currently performs throughout the Bay Area and teaches at Stanford University.

Bill Bill Walker, the pianist for the quartet, studied jazz at the University of Illinois and went on to get his Ph. D. in Computer Science. Influenced by the music of Bill Evans and Keith Jarrett, his playing can be quiet and introspective or bluesy and fun.

Keith Drummer Keith Wald began drumming at around age 10. Keith's teachers have included Dick Carlo, Rob Carson (national snare drum champion), Steve Smith (Journey, Steps Ahead), and well-known bay area players Scott Morris and Glen Cronkite.

At 15, Keith got valuable training in the Santa Clara Vanguard, a drum and bugle corps with whom he recorded an album at the Concord Pavilion. He played in bands all four years of high school in Cupertino, California, then gigged with buddies Lyle Workman (who went on to play for Beck) and Myron Dove (Santana). He also played with Randy Jackson (Jean-Luc Ponty), and Tom Coster (Santana).

During the early 80s, Keith recorded with Joaquin Lievano (Jean-Luc Ponty) and Walter Afanasieff (Mariah Carey). He also recorded with award-winning guitarist James Blackthorne. As a special challenge, he performed Frank Zappa's "The Black Page #1" as a duet with high school classmate Bryan Mantia, who later found fame with Primus and Guns 'N Roses.

Alumni

Sumit Sumit Das, first bassist for the Penguins, started his musical journey on violin. Sumit played classical music and went on to study jazz violin at Berklee College in Boston. He was also known for his popular Chicago-based band Soma.

Russ Russ St. John, first drummer for the Penguins, plays the drums with heart and an ear for what the rest of the group is doing. The only Bay Area native in the quartet, Russ grew up listening to big band jazz. At home in many musical styles, he has been a regular in local blues clubs since the 60's.