Meet the JAMband
"Charity and the JAMband have invented a new genre: 'Mindful Rock'n'Roll!'"
Charity and the JAMband is a tribe of musician parents from the SF Bay Area.
We create a truly original, rockin' and mindful music-and-dance experience for families.
The music and live events of Charity and the JAMband are in service of peace, justice, tolerance, acceptance, kindness, compassion, inclusion, respect and love for all. Please come celebrate, protect, cultivate, reinforce and strengthen these values in community with us!
Charity Kahn
Band leader, songwriting, vocals, keyboards, synths, guitar, ukulele, flutes, percussion, engineering, production
Charity is the creator of JAM, under the umbrella of which she teaches parent/child music/movement/mindfulness classes, runs summer camps for school-aged children, performs family concerts, and makes award-winning music for families (and grown-ups, with her band "The Invisible Bee"). At the heart of all this is the songwriting and recording (9 albums to date and another few on the way).
Before JAM, she spent time as a math teacher, a software engineer, an author (Math and Music: Harmonious Connections) and a rock climber.
She is mother to her greatest teachers, Jasper (22) and Silas (19) and fur baby Lucas (9), and partner to Daryn Roven.
Charity says: "I love my work because I love singing and dancing and people and being creative and being challenged and facing reality and practicing kindness. My favorite JAMband song (of the moment) is Valentine, because it's about all kinds of love, and how love is real and necessary and the answer, and how we're all in this together."
Charity is grateful for her healthy children, plants, pianos, bees, family, and the opportunity we have been given to heal ourselves and the planet.
Daryn Roven
Engineering, production, electric and acoustic guitars, synths, mandolin, ukelele, cavaquinho
Daryn's job is to make music and other sounds sound even better than they sounded before. In addition to engineering and producing Charity's music, he has worked with musical luminaries such as Jim Campilongo, Bob Weir & Ratdog, Mavis Staples, Taj Mahal, John Lee Hooker, and the Black Eyed Peas to name a few, and continues to do so whenever possible. He is also the happy father of two happy children, Jonathan and Sophia.
Daryn says: "I love being in the JAMband because it keeps me playing my guitar, rather than just recording other people playing theirs; because the music is AMAZING; and because there is nothing else even nearly as cool as making music with these great musicians and watching five year olds get down and get funky. The children can feel the love that is in this music, and then their parents feel them feeling the love, and then there's just love everywhere. My favorite JAMband song, right now anyway, is Grateful, because my kids are walking around the house singing about all the stuff they're grateful for. And because of the really strange cavaquinho part I played on it."
Daryn is grateful for his children, maps, bok choy, small blue flowers, books, forests, and the ability to listen to really good music just about all the time.
Paul Lamb
Bass, french horn
In addition to rocking the bass guitar, Paul is an audio engineer in his other life, having worked with the likes of Tom Waits, David Grisman, Jefferson Starship, Sammy Hagar, The Tubes, Big Brother and the Holding Co, Canned Heat, Country Joe McDonald, John Sebastion, GVT Mule, Ronnie Montrose. He is the father of a super cool skate boarder, who is 20 years old and named Jonas.
Paul says: "The reasons I love being in the JAMband are: The People. As a band we're all funny and mellow. But just as much it's the people at the shows. There have been many times in the middle of a show that I've thought 'Hey, this is so cool. So lucky to be here -- one of all these happy people.' At times like that it wouldn't matter if I was playing or watching. Of course it's fun to rock out but sometimes it seems less like a show and more like a chance to all be together. I also like playing the music. Besides the message of peace, we don't play dumb music for smart children and their parents. We get to be funky. To reach that place where the children are crowded up front to take part of what Charity has to say and the parents are right there moving to the music. My favorite JAMband song is 'We like Funky'. Why? Because we all get to dig in and David and I get to hold it down for a while."
Laurie Pomeranz
Vocals, dance moves, love vibe
Laurie has been singing back-up and shaking her groove thang with the JAMband since the summer of 2005 when Charity discovered her amazing energy in a parent/child music class. She lives in San Francisco with her wonderful husband and 17-year-old son. Laurie is a Marriage and Family Therapist, and works as the Personal Counselor at an all-boys high school in the City.
Laurie says: "My favorite JAMband tunes to perform are the ones in which I get to really move! 'We Like Funky', and 'Amazing Rocket Ship' are my two all-time favorites. I also love 'Ice Cream' because it is so seriously rocking. Nothing more fun than getting our funky thumbs out and hips rocking, or running all over the lawn with the kids, on our way to the moon, stars, and sun! Singing and dancing with the JAMband and the incredible fans never fail to put me in a happy fluffy mood!"
David Rokeach
Drums, percussion
A long time Bay Area resident, drummer David Rokeach has been working primarily in the San Francisco and Los Angeles areas for more than 20 years. David toured nationally and internationally with Ray Charles from 1990-91. This included concert videos and many television appearances, including an appearance on the Tonight Show with Johnny Carson and the Doc Severinson Orchestra.
In recent years he has performed/recorded with Aretha Franklin, Patti LaBelle, Aaron Neville, Mavis Staples, Lou Rawls, Grammy winner Joe Henderson, Down Beat Poll winner Mark Murphy, Bluesman Charlie Musselwhite, The George Brooks-Zakir Hussain Group, Wilson Pickett, Linda Tillery, Steve Miller, Joe Satriani, Joyce Cooling, Maria Muldaur, Calvin Keys, Barry Finnerty, Merl Saunders, David Grisman, Melvin Seals, The Family Stone Experience, Louis Bellson, Wayne Wallace, The Nelson Riddle Orchestra,The San Francisco Symphony, The Atlanta Symphony, The Baltimore Symphony, The Dallas Symphony, Paula West, Brazilian Master Marcos Silva, Bluegrass Grammy winner Alison Brown, Ernestine Anderson, Oscar Brown Jr., award-winning trumpeter Ingrid Jensen, acclaimed composer and Grammy winner, Maria Schneider,Tony, Grammy, Oscar and Emmy Award winner, Rita Moreno, and many more. To learn move about David's work, visit www.davidrokeach.com
