Rick Brandon trumpet and vocals
Rick “Raucous Rico” Brandon is The New Hip Replacements’s lead vocalist and trumpet player, so when he’s not fronting the band with creative, crisp, and stylized vocals, he’s blending sweet, funky harmonies with NHR’s sax and trombone for a wall of sound horn section. Rico’s fun-loving and charismatic stage presence builds quick audience rapport. He brings a long history of R&B/soul band work that includes guesting with the chart-topping Delfonics (“La, La Means I Love You”) and fronting a 10-piece show band that opened for headliners such as Eric Carmen and (ready?…) Cheech and Chong. You’ll dig his contagious energy.
Ron Wynn, lead guitar
“Riffer” Ron Wynn plays guitar like the former trial lawyer used to argue in court: with gusto, grit, conviction, and a story to tell. Having litigated cases for major Silicon Valley companies–as well as for U2, the Estate Of Jerry Garcia, and others in the music world–Ron moved from the courtroom to the bandstand. A co-founder of the New Hip Replacements, a Crossroads Music School grad, and a veteran of North Bay blues and rock bands, Riffer Ron’s guitar adds fiery leads, monster rhythms, and funkified fills to NHR’s party-down mix of shake-your-booty blues, flirtatious funk, sing-along soul, and groove-a-licious R&B.
Dan Magay, saxophone
Steeped in jazz, classical, bossa nova, and various fusions as well as mainstream rock, funk, and R&B, “Space Cowboy” Dan Magay adds sassy, sexy, and scintillating saxophone lines to the New Hip Replacements’ dance fests. After graduating from Boston’s famed Berklee College of Music, Dan formed The Hub, a jazz ensemble that filled NYC jazz clubs for years, and toured Europe, Japan, and the U.S. Returning to the Bay Area in 2005, Dan has since performed at multiple renowned music venues–including Yoshi’s, the Monterey Jazz Festival, and Pearl’s SF–in multiple A-list band contexts, including the Space Cowboy’s own Dan Magay Trio. Dan is the newest New Hipster, and we are glad to have him.
Steve Thompson, trombone and vocals
Steve “T-Bonz” Thompson is a lifelong singer/songwriter and multi-instrumentalist (vocalist, jazz trombonist, guitarist & blues harp player). Steve is perhaps best known as the frontman for the 1980s mod-punk revival band, The Jetz, and remains active as a musician and recording artist in a variety of contexts. Steve has toured in bands and performed at many live music clubs, jazz festivals and universities throughout North America and Europe. He lives in the Bay area with his wife and family and is a proud member of The New Hip Replacements.
Bruce Zweig, keyboard
As a stalwart keyboardist of San Francisco’s most famous blues bar—The Saloon in North Beach—Bruce Zweig has tickled the ivories for many a renowned blues band: Johnny Nitro And The Doorslammers, Blues Power, and The Jukes, among them. No one trick pony, the Bruce plays jazz gigs all over the City, and even Italian arias at San Francisco’s famed Cafe Trieste. After creating a massively popular computer program (that gamified learning how to type) during the early days of Apple Computer, Bruce dove full-time into his music, and now adds riveting piano and organ to the New Hip Replacements soulful sonic stew.
Joni Maxx, vocals
Joni “Maxx” Shaff has distinguished herself as one of the Bay Area’s most in-demand R&B, soul and jazz vocalists for the past 20 years, performing in top-tier venues such as The Plush Room, The Fillmore, and The Great American Music Hall, among others. Along the way she’s performed alongside such greats as Bobby McFerrin, Mary Wilson and Maria Muldaur and was a long-time featured vocalist with Dick Bright’s SRO, one of the Bay Area’s top party bands. Maxx is incredibly versatile, belting out Motown classics, funky soul grooves, sassy dance tunes, and jazz standards. Fun and improvisational, she brings out the party spirit to the Maxx.
Ed Zingaro, bass guitar
Ed “Dr. Z” Zingaro anchors the New Hip Replacements on bass. A career plastic surgeon and life-long musician, Dr. Z has played in bands on piano, B-3 organ, drums, and vocals, as well as bass. Rock, jazz, blues, R&B, funk, and soul. After garage band gigging and battle-of-the-band victories, Ed toured with a college rock band, then joined the NYC jazz scene with other ER docs during his med school residency in the Big Apple. San Francisco beckoned, where Dr. Z co-founded The Ravens, an R&B, rock, and soul band that gigged all over the Bay Area for 14 years. Now, the good doctor keeps the New Hip Replacements solidly in the pocket with his smoothest of smooth bass lines.
Josh Quittner, rhythm guitar
Josh “No Nickname Please” Quittner lays down the rhythmic canvas on which the New Hip Replacements paint their vibrant sonic colors. A life-long journalist at TIME Magazine, Fortune, Business 2.0, Newsday, the Albuquerque Journal and others, Josh co-founded Decrypt Media Inc., where he currently edits and makes a nuisance of himself. With the New Hip Replacements, Josh rocks as he writes: with clarity, consistency, and soul. Having grounded the rhythm sections of multiple bands at Mill Valley’s Crossroads Music School, Josh co-founded the New Hip Replacements, and has kept the band solidly in the pocket since its inception.
Nick Cordellos, drums
Nick “Nick of Time” Cordellos is aptly nicknamed since this Sonoma native (and unofficial mayor of the Sonoma Speakeasy) came along just in time when the band was looking for a first-rate skins player. And man, were we lucky: Nick has a heartfelt love of music and people, and an amazing track record of awards and recognition. He received the Future of Jazz Award at age 14, and some years later, the Memphis Blues Contest’s Grand Prize. After a stint gigging five nights a week in Detroit, he returned to the Bay Area and has played with such legends as Bonnie Raitt and Robert Cray.
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