UMass Marimba Band

Formed in 2005, The UMass Marimba band is a student jazz band consisting of marimba, xylophone, vibraphone, bass, drums and other percussion, and often, guest piano, guitar, or vocals. They a mix of popular, jazz, and Latin music in the form of original compositions, and arrangements ranging from Bela Fleck and the Flecktones,  to Steely Dan, to John Coltrane.

Here is their 2010 rendition of "Aja" by Steely Dan:
Aja

Mass Fiction

Mass Fiction is Max Fishkin, a producing multi-instrumentalist and music major at Rutgers University. He grew up playing the trombone in 4th grade and started picking up traditional rock instruments around the 8th grade. Some of his influences include but not limited to are: Radiohead, the Beatles, Gorillaz and Marco Benevento.

Millenium Falcon

Peter Pope Boyce

 A Berkshires native, Peter Pope Boyce has been writing and producing music since he was young. "Ivy Lungs" was written and produced in 2008 by Peter Pope Boyce and Cleo Gordon at Studio 59 at Buck's Rock Performing and Creative Arts Camp. "The Marathon" is one of Boyce's more recent projects

Ivy Lungs
The Marathon

Nick Russo

Nick Russo is an Amherst-based producer, musician, radio DJ, and the current production manager of WMUA 91.1 FM. While Russo is an experienced jazz drummer and percussionist, his main interests also lie in electronic and experimental composition, media research and reform, government policy regarding media, and community media and low-power FM radio.

Here is a piece entitled SmSN:
SmSN

David Pollack

David Pollack is a popular band leader, guitarist, and vocalist originally from New York City. In high school he formed his first band, Play, which performed all over New York for a couple years. In 2006 they released an EP that featured the popular single, "Rainbow Schemes". The band disbanded in 2008. David went to college at The University of Vermont where he studied Jazz Voice. He was a member of the jazz vocal ensemble and A Cappella groups on campus. Off campus he was a member of the band The Walk. David came back to New York in the summer of 2010 to work on a solo album called Out The Other Side that was released in September of 2010. After a short stretch of gigs he helped form the Brooklyn based band Bridges that is still in its fetal stages. David now resides in New York and is ready to go where life leads him.

Here are two recordings of his. One is from a recent live performance of "Hospital" with his current band, "Bridges", and the other is a new song, "Time Machine", from his upcoming solo album, "Out The Other Side":

Hospital - 2010-11-27
Time Machine

Ben Falkoff

Ben Falkoff is a UMass jazz guitar major, Aural Skills TA, session musician, and private guitar and drum teacher, who is currently playing in the UMass vocal jazz group, a UMass jazz combo, a large UMass jazz ensemble, and the popular Amherst-based funk band, Kids on a Hill. Falkoff has been studying music since an early age, and has been playing and recording with local artists for the past few years. Though he formally studies guitar, Falkoff is also a skilled drummer and pianist. Here is a live piano improvisation recorded at the UMass Fine Arts Center:

Piano Improvisation 1

Piano Improvisation 2

Alec Hutson

 Alec Hutson is a singer/songwriter from Carlisle, MA, and goes to school at UMass Amherst. Growing up playing many instruments, his recorded tracks tend to be him on every part, and with influences as eclectic as Bobby McFerrin and Andrew Bird, Alec's music has a lot of variety. He is also a member of the A Cappella group UMASS Doo Wop Shop and is the saxophonist in the funk band Kids on a Hill, both based in UMASS Amherst. 

Here is his latest solo recording, "Rain Shadow Desert":

Rain Shadow Desert