Erika Alstrom with Dale Alstrom's Jazz Society

Erika is an award-winning performer who grew up in Marin County surrounded by music. She studied music theory and piano at Yamaha Music School at age 4, and sang with the Winifred Baker Children’s Chorus, where she performed at Davies Hall in San Francisco. At 12 she started singing with her father’s big band, and at 13 she started performing in children’s musical theater. She continued through high school, and then went on to study theatre under James Dunn at College of Marin.

In 1991 she moved onto a larger stage, and starred as Dorothy in the Mountain Play’s “Wizard of Oz”. She was then a lead singer in Grooveline, a 70’s soul & funk cover band. In Aspen, CO, she sang with the Bette Blue Band, performed in the regionally celebrated improvisational group ART-C, and worked as a radio DJ and voice-over artist on KSPN. Back in the Bay Area, she kept on performing as an actress in a variety of venues. She won a Bay Area Theater Critic’s Circle Award for her performance as Ado Annie in the Mountain Play’s 2005 production of “Oklahoma!”. As a vocalist she continued to perform with various groups including the Walt Tolleson Musical Organization, where she started working regularly. Gigs over the years include San Francisco’s Black and White Ball, Sacramento Jazz Festival, Fairfax Festival, The Marin County Fair and numerous private bookings. She recently recorded a CD accompianied by Dale Alstrom’s Jazz Society called “World on a String”. She currently lives in Marin with her husband and daughter.

Dale Alstrom graduated from San Francisco State University with a degree in music composition and has had his arrangements and compositions performed by numerous symphony orchestras, vocal ensembles and swing, jazz and rock bands. He has played with numerous big bands, including Freddie Martin, Alvino Rey, Ray Price and his Cherokee Cowboys, Tex Beneke, Louis Bellson and Walt Tolleson as well as spending a number of years playing and singing with various lounge groups in the Reno/Las Vegas circuit and Hawaii. He has also played for many name acts such as Bob Hope, Jack Benny and Steve Allen. Known by many as “Fairfax Sax”, he was a long time resident of Fairfax and has been very active in the local music scene. He now resides in San Quentin Village on the Marin County Shore of San Francisco Bay. Dale and the other members of the Jazz Society have been playing together for over thirty years.

Erika Alstrom with Dale Alstrom’s Jazz Society performs classic swing and jazz standards and original numbers by composers such as:
Harold Arlen
Hoagy Carmichael
Nat Cole
George Gershwin
Dizzy Gillespie
Miles Davis
Clifford Brown
Charlie Parker
Gerry Mulligan
Sonny Rollins
Benny Goodman
Artie Shaw
Duke Ellington
Count Basie
Horace Silver
Dale Alstrom