See below for biographies of the Just Jazz Quintet's personnel:     1.    Ron Holleman - Trumpet/flugelhorn   2.    Matthew Arau - Saxophones   3.    Chuck Landgraf - Drums   4.    Ken Wacker - Bass   5.    Bob Montgomery - Piano

	Ron Holleman is leader of the JJQ -- "only because no one else would do it," he states emphatically. Ron plays flugelhorn, trumpet, cornet, pocket trumpet, and plastic egg in the JJQ.   Before moving to Colorado in August of 1999, Ron spent more years than he cares to admit as a music educator. After a year each in Arkansas and Iowa, he became director of bands at Oak Park/River Forest High School in Oak Park, Illinois. When he retired from OP/RF he was music department chair, director of orchestras and jazz ensembles, and taught music history and theory. After completing his Doctor of Musical Arts degree at the University of Iowa in 1982, Ron continued to teach and also found time to conduct the Fox Valley Youth Symphony for 7 years, and to found the Ethos Chamber Orchestra and serve as its music director/conductor for 14 years. Ethos was a unique ensemble that regularly programmed classical, jazz, and "third stream" (a blend of classical and jazz) music. He could also be caught playing jazz with the Barrett Deems Big Band, the Metropolitan Jazz Orchestra, the After Five Orchestra, and other small jazz groups in the Chicago area.   After he retired from teaching, Ron moved to Colorado and started sitting in with the local jazz musicians. In 2000, he and drummer Chuck Landgraf formed the JJQ as an ad hoc group to demonstrate the different jazz styles covered in a jazz history course he was teaching. Now the group performs all over northern Colorado.   In addition to the JJQ, Ron is music director/conductor of the Ethos West Chamber Orchestra (founded in 2004), freelances with other groups in the area, and teaches trumpet to private students of all ages.   Back to top
	Matthew Arau has been playing world-class jazz since he was a teenager. He plays saxophones (tenor, alto, soprano) in the JJQ.   Matthew grew up in California and was first exposed to jazz at the International Dixieland Jazz Jubilee in Sacramento. When he was 16, his group Midnight Junction Jazz, which he had formed to play at the Jubilee, was asked to perform on the Mickey Mouse Club TV show. He was the first chair alto saxophonist in the California All-State Jazz Band and the Monterey Jazz Festival High School All-Star Jazz Band, which toured Japan with the likes of Don Menza and Bill Berry and performed at the Monterey Jazz Festival with Dizzy Gillespie.   After graduating high school (he was valedictorian), Matthew attended Lawrence University where he studied jazz with Ken Schaphorst and saxophone with Steven Jordheim. His original composition, Silent Call can be heard on the Lawrence University CD "Inceptions". While in college Matthew was the first alto saxophonist in the Wisconsin All-State Collegiate Jazz Band, and he also competed in the World Classical Saxophone Competition in Geneva, Switzerland. During that period he performed with Dave Brubeck, Marlena Shaw, the New York Voices, and others. He graduated magna cum laude from Lawrence University in 1997 with a Bachelor of Music degree, plus a B.A. in government.   From 1997 to 2005, Matthew taught music as the band director at Walt Clark Middle School in Loveland, Colorado. His groups received superior ratings across the state, and the Walt Clark Honor Band was selected to perform at the Colorado Music Educators Association Convention in January 2003. In 2005, Matthew became director of bands at Loveland High School. He has received his masters degree in music education and has had professional articles published in the Saxophone Journal and Bandworld magazine. In addition to playing with the JJQ and directing bands at Loveland High School, he also performs with the Northern Colorado Winds saxophone quartet and saxophone choir, and teaches private saxophone lessons.   Back to top
	Chuck Landgraf is the JJQ's drummer, both a steady and reliable heartbeat and a soloist with verve and authority.   Chuck was born and raised in Hastings, Nebraska, and first got hooked on jazz listening to his dad's big band record collection. He went to Wichita State University, where he played in a couple of jazz bands and graduated with a B.A. in marketing. Since 1987, he's lived in Colorado, where he's a financial planner by day.   Since moving here, Chuck has played with a number of Colorado jazz musicians, including Hugh Ragin, Marc Sabatella, Mark Sloniker, and Walt Jenkins. "They were kind enough to really show me how to play" he says modestly. He currently plays with Mark Sloniker and also teaches percussion through the Faith Academy of Fine Arts in Fort Collins and plays classical percussion/music in the Faith Evangelical Free Church orchestra. In 2000 he joined with Ron Holleman to form the JJQ and has been the band's only drummer ever since.   Chuck is a self-effacing guy (at least when he's not seated behind his drums). He plays jazz for the love of it, and he's very, very good. "Chuck's playing kicks butt" says one fellow musician. Who could ask for a better tribute?   Back to top
	Ken Wacker is the JJQ's dependable bass player -- always there, always good. When the JJQ plays gigs in the local area, an enthusiastic group of Ken's fans are likely to be in the audience.   Ken came from a musical family in Lincoln, Nebraska, learned to play trumpet at the age of 5, and played jazz and swing in dance bands throughout high school and college. A multi-instrumentalist ("I play everything except the violin" he says), he got his bachelors degree in music education at Nebraska Wesleyan University, and a masters in music education, plus 80 more hours, at the University of Nebraska. After 8 years as high school and junior college director of bands in Norfolk, Nebraska, he moved to Greeley, Colorado, where he was Coordinator of Music and music instructor for the Greeley Schools from 1968 until 1993. Since then he has been their Technical Facilitator and worked with Ken's Closet, a service to help families with household and clothing needs, begun in 1999 as a memorial for Ken's son.   Throughout his long career, Ken has played with jazz and swing bands, large and small. Starting out with local groups in the Lincoln area, he performed with well-known players such as Pee Wee Hunt, the Modernaires, and Del Whitcomb. Recordings include demo tapes for Ralph Marterie, two albums with Kream of the Krop ("Harvest" and "Second Harvest"), one with the Just Swing Quartet ("Just Swing & a Bottle of Bubbly"), and guest performances with Ed Schaunessey of the Tonight Show and Clark Terry.   Besides the JJQ, Ken currently plays with four other local groups: Kream of the Krop, Board of Directors, the Glen Schull Big Band, and the Just Swing Quartet. You can e-mail him at .   Back to top
	Bob Montgomery is one of at least three jazz musicians with the same name. The first was his father "Big Bob," who played the "bull fiddle" in jazz combos for years around Bob's hometown of Junction City, Kansas, and really wanted his son to play jazz piano. Bob played his first jazz gig with his dad at the age of 14. Then there's that trumpeter from Denver who is so well-known around Colorado that Bob's jazz friends have to say "no, the other one from Fort Collins who plays piano." Bob came to Colorado in 1977 to work for Hewlett-Packard doing R&D on computers and operating systems. He still works there part time and spends the rest of his time juggling the seven or eight bands he plays with at the moment. Besides playing piano with the JJQ, he leads the Montgomery Jazz Group on organ and piano, and runs the Tuesday Night Sri Thai jazz combo. He plays upright bass in honky-tonk country group Trucker's Daughter, and both bass and piano, as well as some cajun and zydeco accordion, in Cowtown Boogie. He has been working with singer/songwriter Rosann Winn in both the folk and jazz genres to expand her solo act to duo and band performances. And he enjoys playing in backup bands for vocalists Mary Buirgy and Tina Marx. Then he's on call to play middle-eastern drums for wife Nancy's Bohemian Caravan belly dance troupe and her belly dance classes. His earliest jazz influences were Ramsey Lewis in his piano trio and Jimmy Smith on the Hammond organ. Then came Chick Corea, Herbie Hancock, and some Floyd Cramer, because it was never just jazz in Bob's past. At the same time he started playing with his dad and the old jazz cats, he was doing his best to sound like the organ players for Steppenwolf, Santana, and the James Gang with his school buddies in a string of garage rock and roll bands. Back to top
	Note:   For more pictures of all the band members, see the Photos page.