Biography

By the age of 12, Dena was singing on radio and television. In her late teens, she was a model for the fashion industry in Los Angeles. Her great love for music and entertaining has taken her to a career performing nationally and internationally. She has performed with many bands, trios and choirs and several top names and bands. She was lead female vocalist with the Glen Castleberry Band in Los Angeles, California. She sang on tour with Dean Charles, who was formerly with Alabama. In 2008, she was honored by being inducted into a Texas Music Hall of Fame and has received several awards for top female vocalist from MellowD Music Productions. She has released two CD's and is working on her third. Her warm soft, sultry voice and engaging personality charms her fans and keeps them coming back again and again. Her former radio talk show gives Dena an edge of personality plus at making fans feel comfortable. Dena Blue has a smooth voice and great stylistic range, enabling her to sing many styles of music. Her years in Reno/Vegas put a lot of emphasis in her many outstanding and wonderful costumes. Dena’s musical style and delivery is influenced greatly by Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Rosemary Clooney, Diana Krall, Oleta Adams and Ella Fitzgerald, Nat King Cole and daughter, Natalie.. As for Blue’s her influences have come from Eric Clapton, Ray Charles, Aretha Franklin, Tracy Nelson, Nora Jones, Toni Braxton and B.B. King. , Paul Chester and many more.

Paul Chester is Music Director and Lead Guitar for The BlueJazz Band. He has produced two albums with Dena Blue and the BlueJazz Band and is working on the third, an acoustical jazz composition. His expertise lends itself to a multitude of musical arrangements that showcase the amazing talent of Dena Blue and the BlueJazz Band. Paul Chester has been showcasing his talent across the stages of Houston with the Jazz Greats for over 15 years. He is a mentor, instructor and friend to many of the talented accomplished musicians in Houston. He is one of the original musicians in the band Stratus. Stratus is a jazz fusion band that formed in Houston, Texas in the early 1980s. The band's original members were Dave Nichols (musician) (bass), Brian Hull (drums), Ted Wenglinski (keyboards), and Paul Chester (guitar). This lineup is represented on the band's first CD, "Hyperbole", released in 1990 and also on the 1999 CD "Ice Nine" that contained recordings from the band's early years between 1983 and 1989.

Andrew Lienhard is a pianist that recently returned to his hometown in Houston, Texas after living eight years in NYC and three in Oakland, CA. Performance credits include Joe Henderson, Kirk Whalum, Jimmy Haslip, Hubert Laws, Joe Sample, Ronnie Laws (a member of his touring band for two years), Jacko Peake, Conrad Herwig, and Doc Powell. Andrew recorded on Ubiquity Records "Still Cookin'", a nationally released Funk/Acid Jazz CD (reissued on "Best of Cookin'"), which is still in-print more than a decade after its release. In 2009 he appeared on the following releases Eddie Ahkmetchine's "New Day", Cody Moffett's "Jambalaya Live", and the upcoming KUHF Engines of our Ingenuity "Soul of a City" CD (as lead composer and music producer).

Aric Nitzberg has been active in the Houston freelance music scene since the 1980's. He has toured extensively and recorded on several nationally-released CD's. Aric teaches at Houston Community College in both the Audio Recording and Fine Arts departments.