Guitar
Art Viloria
Art began his classical trainings at the USC Preparatory School of Music with the violin at age 6, and then with the piano at age 8. He was a featured soloist with Youth Symphony West under the direction of Arthur Mauntner and Robert Armour. He was also Concertmaster for the Southern CA Honors Orchestra under the direction of Michael Zearott. Never forgetting his musical roots, Art transferred his classical music experiences to the guitar and other instruments which led him to playing in bands in the Los Angeles area. After taking a number of years off to establish a career in the Social Services field, along with a move to the Pacific Northwest in 1987, Art continued his passion for music and has performed at the Waterfront Blues Festival, Indian Summer Fest in Milwaukee, WI and in New York City for The American Indian College Fund. Art sang and played guitar and bass with Native American Music Award winner Gary Small of The Gary Small Band and in a mercenary reggae band. Vowing to never to remain musically idle again, Art studied the intricacies of Flamenco music with Greg Wolf and Mark Ferguson at the Flamenco Arts Academy in Portland. During that time he created the duo Colores del Alma and has been playing throughout the Portland metropolitan area ever since. The CD, Colores del Alma came out in 2005 with the followup, Brujos de Belmont in 2007. During that summer Art scored the musical compositions for Teatro Milagro’s play, Frida, un retablo.
Bass
Bernardo Gomez
Bernardo Gomez started playing acoustic bass in the 6th grade and hasn’t stopped since. At the University of Arizona he studied classical music while on a scholarship, before branching out into more esoteric projects. Some of his current endeavors include The Shanghai Woolies where he plays 20’s and 30’s Jazz, and Pura Vida where he connects with his Latin heritage by playing Salsa, Son and Cumbias and Djangophiles where he explores Gypsy Jazz.
Percussion
Catón Lyles
Catón Lyles is an accomplished Pacific Northwest artist of many decades and a favorite on the club and concert scene. While specializing in traditional West African and Afro-Cuban styles of hand drumming, he was for nearly 20 years the accompanying and lead djembe drummer for the internationally acclaimed Northwest Afrikan-American Ballet.
In 1986 he received a Gold Record for co-writing “You Put Me In A Trance” for “NuShooz” on Atlantic Records.
Catón has worked as a sideman with many stylistically different artists. From Jazz to Gospel, New Age to R&B, Rock to Big Band, Salsa to Performance Art. A partial list includes… Dennis Springer, William Elmwood, H.B. Barnham, Chris Parker, Obo Addy, Shirley Scott, Jim Pepper, Randy Cannon, Andre Kitaev, “The Supremes” featuring Mary Wilson, Sally Harmon, Janice Scroggins & Mario DePriest, Billy Rancher, Phillip Boulding, Mel Brown, Lee Garrett, “Slowtrain”, “Hitting Birth”, “The Kicks Band”, “Hungry Mob”, “The Panic Project”, “Reparations” “Caña Son” and the “Gary Small Band” (2002 Native American Music Award winner for Songwriter of the year and 2004 NAMA Nominee for best Native American rock recording.)
An included member of the Oregon Music Hall of Fame for his work with the bands “Shock” and “Billy Rancher and the Unreal Gods”.