Jim Oakden

Santa Cruz-based musician who started playing piano and clarinet at an early age and stumbled into early music from the classical music scene, from whence he discovered the world of traditional and ethnic music. Having diverse tastes (or a short attention span), he performs on an absurd number of instruments, from accordion to zurna (to name a few). A dancer himself, he specializes in playing for dancers in a bunch of bands and genres–Roguery, Persons of Quality, the Whoots, and Verna Druzina to name a few– playing for ECD, contra, morris, Irish, Galician, Breton/French, Greek, and Bulgarian. He has been on staff at myriad dance camps throughout the country, and also organizes and programs dance events.