Justin Varnes (drums) was born in Jacksonville and studied at the University of North Florida and the New School. In New York, Justin toured with Phoebe Snow, with whom he performed on the Roseanne Barr Show, Madison Square Garden, and National Public Radio’s “World Cafe”. Justin has performed with several jazz greats in New York, including: Wessell Anderson, Peter Bernstein, Aaron Goldberg (Joshua Redman), Wycliffe Gordon, Marcus Printup, Bob Reynolds, and Ben Wolfe (Harry Connick, Jr.).
Currently residing in Atlanta, GA, Justin performs regularly with Joe Gransden, Kevin Bales, Gary Motley, and Audrey Shakir as well as continued work with Bob Reynolds, Wycliffe Gordon, and Wessell Anderson. Justin was tapped for work as part of the Earl Klugh Trio and is a top call sideman for touring artists through the Southeast. He has performed with Mose Allison, Kenny Barron, Victor Goines, Vincent Herring, Kevin Hays, Lew Soloff, David Sanchez, and Ira Sullivan.
Chris Russell (drums) has been one of the top drummers in the Hilton Head/Savannah music scene for 24 years. A native of Binghamton N.Y., Chris began playing the drums at 8 years of age. He took lessons and performed in many musical situations that were available to him. In 1982 he joined the U.S. Navy Band program. During his enlistment he was stationed in Guam and Norfolk . After the Navy he traveled the country working with many groups. In 1991 he attended Drummers Collective in New York City.
There he was able to fine-tune his skills with some of the best players in the world. Throughout his 30-year career Chris has been blessed to have made music around the globe with several great musicians. Some notable names are Bob James, Ken Peplowski , Alan Harris, John Michael Montgomery, Steve Cropper and Paul Williams. For the past 10 years Chris has been a regular at the Jazz Corner, one of the top 100 jazz clubs of the world, located in Hilton Head, SC.