The Black Mesa Brass Quintet performing at Fuller Lodge. Courtesy photo

The Black Mesa Brass Quintet will perform as part of the Brown Bag Performance series at noon Wednesday, March 6 at Fuller Lodge.

Since 1973, Brown Bag Performances have entertained Los Alamos music lovers with a wide variety of music. Concerts are usually at noon on the first Wednesday of the month.

Brown Bag Performances are sponsored by the Los Alamos Arts Council (LAAC) and funded in part by the County of Los Alamos.

The Black Mesa Brass Quintet was formed in 1990 and still has three of the original five members. Their repertoire is an eclectic mix of classical, modern, pop and jazz tunes.

They play a variety of venues including concerts, educational performances at schools, weddings and other special occasions. Jan McDonald, John Hargreaves, Jerry Morzinski, Larry Bronisz and Bruce Letellier make up the quintet. Their collective musical experience is on the order of 240 years.

Jan McDonald received his BA and MA degrees in music education and pursued graduate studies at Indiana State University and Boston University.

He is the musical director of the Los Alamos Big Band, founder of the Black Mesa Jazz Quintet, and directed the Los Alamos High School band for almost 30 years.

John Hargreaves has played horn for about 50 years. He studied music at the University of Colorado graduating with a Bachelor of Arts in performance and later taught there as an Instructor of Music. These days he works as a mechanical engineer at Los Alamos National Laboratory. 

Jerry Morzinski performs regularly on tuba and trombone with the Los Alamos Big Band, Santa Fe Great Big Jazz Band, Los Alamos Symphony Orchestra, Concordia Santa Fe and Santa Fe Community Orchestra. He is choir director at Immaculate Heart of Mary Catholic Church.

Larry Bronisz started his musical studies in the Los Alamos schools on cello. He picked up the trombone in 4th grade and started taking lessons from Jan McDonald in 6th grade. Forty two years later, he is still playing with McDonald in the BMBQ and LA Big Band.

Bruce Letellier has played the trumpet as an amateur and semiprofessional musician for almost 40 years. Bruce performs regularly with numerous ensembles including the Los Alamos Big Band, Los Alamos Community Winds, Light Opera, and the Santa Fe Community Orchestra.