As Is

Bellar is a native of North Carolina and stands by his slow, southern roots. He holds a degree in classical piano performance from the NC School of the Arts (NCSA) and a masters degree in jazz performance from Queens College in Flushing, NY, where he studied under the iron fists of the great Sir. Roland Hanna and Jimmy Heath. Michael has performed music on six continents. Along with creating music for his group, the AS-IS Ensemble, he is currently touring as pianist for Art Garfunkel and plays regularly with the rock group Jump Little Children, world music vocalist Phillip Hamilton, singer/producer Billy Mann and torch-song heroes, Rosebud. Michael is the founder, composer and pianist of the AS-IS Ensemble, which along with being the house band at the world-famous Blue Note jazz club in New York City has performed at such venues as Avery Fischer Hall at Lincoln Center, and many festival appearances including the Bell Atlantic Jazz Festival. In 1999, the ensemble was the focus of a special feature produced about them by the BBC Radio network in London, England. His recordings include: REACT!, the debut recording of the AS-IS Ensemble (Athena Jazz) and the group's follow-up "Presenting the Low Burn". He has recorded as a sideman on many projects including - Jump, Little Children (EZ Chief), Jennifer Brown (BMG), Brooks Williams (Signature Sounds), Tina Moore (RCA Capital) and Goats In Trees (Rudy Records). In 1995, Michael was chosen as a semi-finalist at the East Coast Jazz Festival¹s Young Artists Competition and awarded a special prize for composition at the 1996 Ragusa-Ibla International Piano Festival in Sicily, Italy, which led to the recording of REACT! In the winter of 2002, Michael toured as the pianist/vocalist for the Kennedy Center of Washington D.C. national tour of Harlem, a stage adaptation of a work by author, Walter Dean Myers. As a composer for other idioms, Michael has written many scores for the dance world including working with such distinguished companies as Chimera Physical Theater, Michael Yasenak¹s Human Dance Company, Sun Ho Kim, Nancy Lanier, Heather Maloy and the NC Dance Theater, Sean Sullivan and the American Dance Asylum. Michael has also had the pleasure to work in collaboration with Sean Curran, David Dorfman, David Parsons, and Mark Haim along with members of the Paul Taylor, Alvin Ailey and Jose Limon companies. In the realm of theater, Michael has written a score for a poetry-inspired; multi-media piece called Piazza Delle Preghiere Massacrate. In the spring of 2000, Michael wrote the score and performed live as musical director for The Gospel Truth Family Hour, collaborating with playwright Adam Adams, while in 1996, he performed as keyboardist for the off-Broadway sensation Viva Las Vegas. He is currently developing the score for an off-Broadway production based on the life of writer Charles Bukowski with writer/director Todd Jackson. ANDREW HALL acoustic bass and voice Andrew’s love of music started in Santa Cruz, California where he would sweep the floors at the local jazz club in exchange for admission to the shows. Soon after he headed to New York to study upright bass with Reggie Workman, Peter Washington and Latin music great, Andy Gonzalez at the New School of Music. Andrew has performed with some of New York’s finest jazz musicians including Kenny Drew Jr., Eddie Henderson, Wallace Roney, Valery Ponomarev and Carlos McKinney. As a bassist in the world of rock, Andrew has toured on the Lilith Fair with songwriter Lori Carson, where they opened for Tracy Chapman and Fiona Apple, as well as a member of the alt/country group Sparkle Horse who toured the world as opening act for Radiohead. Andrew has also recorded on sessions with Crash Test Dummies and Propellerhead. In 19979, Andrew co-founded the New York based Hawaiian group, the Moonlighters. The group blends Hawaiian sounds with early jazz and original songs and has recorded and toured extensively. Jamie Moore grew up in Wichita, Kansas and graduated from the Berklee College of Music in Boston in 1995. Afterwards his love of drumming and filmmaking took him to New York City. Jamie has performed extensively on the New York creative music scene along with working as a boom operator on some 20 independent films including productions with MTV, VH1 and Comedy Central (Upright Citizens Brigade and Strangers With Candy). While working in the film industry, Jamie co-founded the old-school funk group Yes Virginia and produced a compilation CD to benefit World Hunger Year entitled, Brooklyn Above Ground: BAG 1, which featured some of the best groups that Brooklyn has to offer. In 2001, Jamie’s filmmaking and music producing skills won him the Clearview Cinemas Policy Trailer Contest. So in the year 2002-03, when you go to see a movie at any Clearview Cinema, you would have seen Jamie’s film work before all the featured movies! Lately, Jamie has been shooting low budget music videos and dance performances and contributing to a really cool multi – media theater piece called The Blue Flower along with producing sessions with singer/songwriter Janice O’Rourke.