The Powerhouse Quintet:

Our Story

Our musical adventure started 45 years ago when we (Bryant Allard-director of M.U.S.E, Steve Feierabend, and Bim Strasberg), while still in high school discovered jazz and decided to form our own band. Having all grown up together in Del Mar, CA, a small beach community just North of San Diego, our friendship actually goes back even farther (grade school). We became close friends and in 1978, after graduation, the three of us moved to Boston to continue our musical studies; Steve and Bryant attended the Berklee College of music while Bim worked gigs around the Boston area. Over the years, we all continued to play professionally but went in our own directions settling in different parts of the country. Only on the rare occasion when our travels coincided did we have the opportunity to perform together. 

In August of 2000, however, we were invited to play as the Del Mar All-Stars in a jazz concert series back in our hometown. While Steve was still living in San Diego at the time, Bim traveled from New York and Bryant from Portland, Oregon, for the reunion. The experience was something of a revelation despite our different paths, we found that there was an uncanny empathy in our musical sensibilities, and this ignited a desire to continue performing together. With the help of a close friend, San Diego guitarist Peter Sprague, we returned to San Diego to record our first CD “Reunion” in 2003 as “The Powerhouse Quintet” at Spragueland Studios. Our name is taken from Powerhouse Park, where we performed some of our first concerts together 45 years ago. 

Twenty years after out first CD, we have come back together to reunite at Spragueland studios to record our newest CD “Shared Stories”. We want to thank Peter Sprague for all of his support and master engineering, drummer Tim McMahon who has played on both Cd’s, Ivar Antonsen (pianist on our first CD), and John Opferkuch (Pianist on our recent release). These are all incredible musicians who played masterfully, and best of all, dear friends. 

Currently, our recording can be watched on our YouTube Channel and heard on many of the streaming services enclosing Spotify and iTunes.

YouTube link the Powerhouse Jazz Quintet: https://www.youtube.com/@PowerhouseJazzQuintet-xb6wt

If you are interested in contacting us, contact Bryant Allard: bryant@museband.com