The best reason to hire True Funk Soldiers is the flat out funky grooves, use of vocal harmonies, repetitive melodic phrasing that will keep the crowd on their feet! The singers' extensive vamping, upbeat lyrics will energize the party. Our seasoned musicians brings major key tonality, groove based composition, prominent bass riffs that will amp up any event!
True Funk Soldiers is composed of a group of seasoned professional musicians. We perform old-school Funk, Soul, R&B and dance music. Current line-up below.
True Funk Soldiers is composed of a group of seasoned professional musicians. We perform old-school Funk, Soul, R&B and dance music. Current line-up below.
Keyboard & vocal - Helen Orzel
Born into a family of accomplished classical musicians, Helen Orzel formally studied and performed classical piano in Los Angeles, Germany, and Serbia. After coming back to the U.S., she decided to abandon all of it to play funk, jazz, rock, blues, and her own compositions. However, if you listen closely, you can still hear Rachmaninoff sneak his way into her playing. Rumor has it that Chopin and Monk sit on either side of her when she's playing and bicker at each other.
Guitar - Roy Lettiere
San Francisco born, Roy Lettiere, grew up in the Monterey Bay area. Taking an interest in music at an early age had him forming a band in high school and playing at the Monterey Brewing Company, the local blues bar. After finishing high school, he returned to San Francisco to pursue musical studies in Rock, Blues and Jazz. He soon gained the experience needed to continue a musical career with a 9 piece original funk band called Family Funk, playing in all the clubs around San Francisco such as The Elbo Room, Bimbos, and Slims.
Guitar - Chris Mulhauser
Chris Mulhauser was raised in Washington D.C. He grew up enjoying Chuck Brown, Kool and the Gang, and the Fat Boys, before relocating to the Bay Area in the '90s, and has successfully funked up stages from Lagos, Nigeria to Black Rock City.
Bass - Kenny James
Kenny James is a bass player, guitarist, drummer and producer. Kenny has been playing music since the age of 4, starting with piano then moving on to drums and bass. He grew up hearing all kinds of music from classical, gospel, jazz, funk, Latin, Middle Eastern and rock. He has played internationally from London to New York to Taiwan! Kenny has produced and lent his deep growling bass tones to client TV spots that include the MTV Movie Awards, Dockers, Levi's, Motorola and The Cartoon Network. Kenny's love for music keeps him constantly creating new tracks. His latest self-produced album received a positive write-up in the August issue of Bassplayer magazine. Click here to read it.
keyboard and vocals - CHRISTOPHER INNOCENTE
Christopher Innocente, keyboards and vocals, hails from the South Valley. He started his music career during the disco craze of the wild 70’s and had his first gig at age 14. He cut his teeth on the horn band sound of that decade, playing funk, R&B, soul and Jazz-rock. In addition, he continues to perform with Rock, Pop and Blues bands all over California. He has arranged music for adult and youth theater, the five voice harmonies of a Beach Boys nostalgia review, and for marching bands. As a composer, Christopher has recorded and produced eight albums, including songs that are listed on Soper Sound Music Library, series two and three. His latest ‘Seasons’ project can be found at Innocente.us, an out of the box Christian music project with four albums so far. He holds a Music degree from Azusa Pacific University and is sought after as a well-traveled professional, both on keys and vocals.