Keyboardist and composer Galen Clark was raised
in Massachusetts in a household where he was
exposed to classic music such as Bill Evans and the
Beatles from an early age. His influences have since
evolved from years of studying and playing jazz,
western classical, Afro-Cuban and Brazilian music,
hip-hop and rock. He received a BA in Music Comp-
osition from Lewis & Clark College under the
tutelage of composer Forrest Pierce. He has
traveled extensively in South America, most recently
in Brazil, where he studied with Jeff Gardner and
Marcelo Ghette. Galen formed Trio Subtonic with
long-time friend and collaborator, Jesse Brooke,
shortly after they returned from Brazil in the
summer of 2005. Galen has also studied with Randy
Porter and John Medeski.
JESSE BROOKE
Drummer and percussionist Jesse Brooke
incorporates his experiences with Brazilian,
Cuban, European classical, Indian classical, West
African, Indonesian, and jazz musics into a uniquely
personal theory of syncopation. After growing up in
the generic suburbs of New Jersey, he relocated and
has since lived in Portland for the past eight years,
and he considers the Pacific Northwest the natural
landscape for his current work. He graduated from
Lewis & Clark College with a BA in Music Per-
formance and has since taught percussion in the
Portland area, including youth percussion ensembles.
Among his teachers are Alan Jones, Carl Allen,
Jeff "Tain" Watts, Mark Goodenberger, Brett Paschal,
Bruno Moraes, Ricardo Costa, Jorge Alabe, Samir
Chatterjee, Subash Chandran, Michael Stirling and
Mark Lamson.
BILL ATHENS
Bassist and composer Bill Athens was born and
raised in Appleton, WI. Shortly after his twenty-
second birthday he moved to Portland, Oregon to
continue playing and composing creative music. Bill
has played and/or continues to play with many great
artists including Mary Kadderly, Darrell Grant, Dan
Balmer, Jerry Hahn, Randy Porter, Nancy King, The
Dave Mills/Carlton Jackson Big Band, and many
others. He also occupied the bass chair on the Queen
of the West river boat. He holds a BM from Portland
State University where he studied bass with Ken
Baldwin, Jazz studies with Darrel Grant and
composition with Bryan Johanson. Bill's other
projects include The Paxselin Quartet and The Bill
Athens Unit.