Showcasing the finest female jazz artists in the region for 25 years.

Musicians

Musical Director

Deb Schaaf

Photo and bio coming soon!

Saxophones

Alex Worland (Alto)
Alex Worland is an active saxophone and woodwind player who regularly plays all over the Puget Sound area. After graduating from Central Washington University with a music composition degree and playing in the top jazz and classical ensembles in the music department there, she spent one year of graduate school at the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music before returning to Central Washington University for a degree in computer science. Alex plays with a variety of groups throughout the Sound including the Seattle-based Jazz Police jazz band and the Tacoma Musical Playhouse. Also an accomplished software engineer, Alex enjoys mixing her musical and computer interests in the form of electronic compositions. Alex is a recent addition to SWOJO and is excited to see where the band is headed now that it has begun playing again after a hiatus during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Lori Shephard (Alto)
Residing in Seattle since 2012, Lori is a freelance musician and private music instructor specializing in woodwinds. She holds a Masters degree in clarinet performance from the University of Utah. Having interests in jazz, chamber music, salsa, and musical theater, she has been invited to perform around the world, including invitations to perform in Shanghai at the World Expo 2010, in New York as a member of Trio du Bois reed trio with the Imani Winds Chamber Music Festival, and as the founding president and bass clarinetist of the Utah Wind Symphony at Midwest Conference in Chicago. In Seattle, she regularly appears as a member of SWOJO, Pacific Sound Woodwind Quintet, Salsa Rosa, Smith-Staelens Big Band, Jim Culter Jazz Orchestra, the Seattle Ensign Symphony and Chorus, the Blackwood & Silver Trio, and Mood Swings Jazz Ensemble. A versatile doubler, she can often be found in the musical pit orchestras of the region, including productions at Seattle Musical Theater, The Village Kidstage, and Showtunes! productions at Benaroya Hall. In addition to performing, Lori loves being a private instructor and has taught privately for over 20 years. She is currently on staff at MusicWorks Northwest in Bellevue teaching clarinet, sax, and oboe.

Cynthia Mullis (Tenor)
Inspired by her experience in the Big Apple, Cynthia Mullis plays saxophone with East Coast flair and West Coast sensibility. After moving to New York City in 1993 to study with the legendary saxophonist Jimmy Heath, she immersed herself in the NYC jazz scene, paying dues and performing with world-class musicians. From 1994-2000 she was a member of the all-women big band Diva in NYC. With Diva, she toured extensively across the United States and Europe, backing such artists as Diane Schuur, Joe Williams and Dave Brubeck, and performing at the Blue Note, Birdland, the Kennedy Center, and jazz festivals in Berlin, Montreal, and Switzerland. Cynthia can be heard on two of Diva’s CDs, Leave It to Diva and I Believe in You. Since moving to Seattle in 2000, Cynthia has continued to perform with a notable list of musicians, as well as record two CDs as a leader, Inside Job and Analog Honking Device. Cynthia was also featured on SWOJO’s recording Meeting of the Waters, and performed with SWOJO at the Lima, Peru Jazz Festival in 2007. Cynthia holds a Master of Arts in Jazz Performance from Queens College in NYC and a Bachelor of Music Performance degree from the University of Northern Colorado. Her website is cynthiamullis.com.

Jenny Ziefel (Tenor)
Jenny Ziefel has been a professional clarinetist and saxophonist in the Pacific Northwest for over 11 years. She earned her Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the University of Washington in 2002, and her Master of Arts degree from the University of Northern Colorado in 1996. Jenny is a jazz scholar and has written a book on the clarinet in jazz in the 1950’s and 1960’s. She teaches a large private studio of saxophone, clarinet, and bass clarinet students, and has taught in the public schools as a clinician, woodwinds teacher, and as a solo and ensemble adjudicator. In addition, Jenny has been a performing member of the Bellevue Philharmonic Orchestra for several years and plays frequently in dance bands and pit orchestras in the Puget Sound area. Jenny’s love of music in all its forms has spanned her entire lifetime and has ranged from a fascination with jazz to performing classical music on antique and period instruments to avant-garde performances of works by local composers. (Photo by Jim Levitt)

Ann Babb-Nordling (Baritone)
Ann Babb-Nordling has been a member of Seattle’s hardest working swing band, The Portage Bay Big Band, with her husband Todd Nordling since 1996, and has also played in many other big band groups in the Seattle area. Ann has a BA in Communications from the University of Washington and has been fortunate enough to have had studied music and saxophone under the tutelage of Cynthia Mullis, Jan Jessen, Don Lanphere, and most recently, Jim DeJoie. Ann is a Managing Broker of the Tri Star Team at RE/MAX Northwest Realtors and is one of the original and continuing sponsors of the Ballard Jazz Festival.  She is the busy mother of Stephanie Babb and Lucy Nordling. (photo by Jim Levitt)

Trumpets

Amanda Marquis
Hailing from Lincoln, ME, Amanda has been an active freelance musician for 30 years. After winning many awards at the high school level, she attended University of Maine at Augusta as a Jazz and Contemporary Music Performance major, where she was selected as part of an elite group that performed and taught in summer Jazz programs in several cities in Poland. She also was a featured performer for shows on Maine Public Radio and National Public Radio. Amanda joined the Navy music program in 1996, and performed extensively throughout the South, Mid Atlantic, Northwest, Southwest, and Midwest areas, as well as tours through South America, the Caribbean, Canada, and Mexico. She performed in a diverse array of ensembles, including rock bands, wind ensembles, brass quintets, big bands, and New Orleans style brass bands. Civilian groups she has performed with include the Maine Jazz Composers Big Band, Kings of Swing, Frank Foster’s Big Bad Big Band, Monday Night Big Band, and the Adrian Duke Project. Amanda and her husband Rob have settled in the Seattle area after retiring as Navy Musicians. When not performing, Amanda enjoys spending time with her husband and pets, and studying instrument repair.

Robin Stangland
A member of SWOJO since 2011, trumpet player Robin Stangland also performs as a freelance musician on French horn with the Starry Night Orchestra, Skagit Chorale, Northwest Chorale, Sno-King Chorale, and is a member of the Cascade Symphony.  Robin played French horn with the Portland Opera Orchestra for 7 years, and also has performed with Philharmonia Northwest and Rainier Chamber Winds.  She studied horn performance at Indiana University and completed her Bachelor’s Degree in Music Education at Willamette University in Salem, Oregon. Robin has taught band and general music in the Salem Public Schools, Hillsboro (Oregon) School District, and the Everett School District.  In 1993 Robin started a band program for homeschoolers, (Puget Sound Homeschool Bands) which has given hundreds of homeschooled students the opportunity to participate in music, and has also launched several professional careers in music. Robin has coached French horns for the Cascade Youth Symphony and also brass and percussion at the Mount Baker Youth Symphony Summer Sounds Camp. She is involved in music ministry at her church, and maintains a busy schedule teaching private trumpet and French horn lessons. Robin is a past SWOJO  Executive Director (2018 – 2019). (photo by Rebecca Calvo)

Debbie Meyer Snook
Debbie Meyer Snook joined the SWOJO trumpet section in 2008. A graduate of Scott Brown’s Roosevelt High School Jazz program, she attended the University of Washington where she studied with Roy Cummings and Timothy Salzman. She earned Bachelor degrees in both Music and Music Education from the University of Washington. Debbie received her Master of Arts in Education degree from Antioch University Seattle, where she specialized in Mariachi Education. She taught instrumental, choral and general music at Chief Sealth International High School in West Seattle from 1999-2011. She now is a full-time mom in addition to teaching piano lessons in her private studio. Debbie also enjoys playing cornet in PugetBrass, a Seattle-based British-style brass band.

Erin Keeton-Howard
bio coming soon

Trombones

Robyn Weber
Originally from Kauai, Hawaii, Robyn Weber moved to the Seattle area by way of Houston in 2011. An active trombonist for over 20 years, Robyn is a former member of the Bob Enos Soundwave Orchestra (Alameda, CA), Bay Bones (SF Bay Area, CA), Seattle Central Jazz Orchestra, Bayou City Bones (Houston, TX), The Woodlands (TX) Concert Band, Monroe (WA) Concert Band and many others. While not playing the trombone, Robyn can be found hanging out with her young daughter and Sphynx cat. Robyn also enjoys playing her 1912 Holton double bell euphonium and searching for new additions to her collection of rare and unusual trombones. Robyn is SWOJO’s current Executive Director (and previously served in this role from 2019-2022).

Sasha Schumacher
bio and photo coming soon

Carolyn Caster
Carolyn Caster is an active trombonist in the Seattle big band scene and has performed with the ConEd Art Ensemble, Brian Kirk’s Jazz Orchestra, the Jazz Police, Jay Thomas’ Friendly Fire, Kings of Swing, Route 66, Portage Bay Big Band, Issaquah Jazz Orchestra, and others. She studied music and computer science at the University of Idaho, and has studied trombone with Jeff Hay and Dave Keim. Carolyn is an original member of SWOJO and served as its Executive Director from 2004 through 2010.

Nicole Finkle, bass trombone
bio and photo coming soon

Rhythm Section

Lillian Wu (Piano)
Lillian is the daughter of stereotypical Taiwanese parents, and was, er, prompted to start playing piano at the tender age of four. As a teen, she was unsuccessful in rebelling from her piano teacher’s encouragement to try out jazz, and soon succumbed to its allure and mystery. While at UCLA, she played in big bands and small groups, including one under the guidance of legendary guitarist Kenny Burrell. She has been living in the Seattle area since 2000, and has been the Musical Director and pianist for the Kings of Swing big band for well over a decade, as well as a freelance musician. When she’s not playing music, she works as a Family Physician at a community health center serving residents of south King County. (Photo by Jim Levitt)

Lyla Dalnekoff (guitar)
bio and photo coming soon

Anna Doak (Bass)
bio and photo coming soon

Taryn Zickefoose (Drums)
bio and photo coming soon