The Story So Far
Bassist. Producer.
Music director.
Multi instrumentalist.
Songwriter. Composer.
Born in Queens, raised on Long Island in a working musician family, Chris has been making music literally his whole life. He spent his teen years playing in various original and cover bands on the Long Island circuit while also studying with Paul Simon bassist Bakithi Kumalo. Moving back to within city limits in his early 20s, he's spent the past 20 years building a career spanning a multitude of genres and situations. From his work with ska legends The Toasters, Beat Brigade, and Rudie Crew, to long associations in the folk/americana world with Scott Wolfson And Other Heroes, Mya Byrne, and many others, as well as working bands/musicians, playing thousands of club date and function gigs with Michael T, Jeff Tuohy, John Schmitt, Matt Simons, After The Echo, F Bomb, Bloodsugar Karaoke, and others. He has also been making a name for himself in the musical theater world, helping develop the upcoming musical Nasha America with longtime music partner Dmitry Koltunov and Broadway lyricist/book writer David Goldsmith.
Growing up in a recording studio, he spent his 20s putting together DIY spaces wherever he could to get the job done before opening Studio Del Diablo in Williamsburg in 2015. It has been his home base since then, a place for him to work on his own music as well as produce and engineer for others, having hosted sessions with jazz artists Molly Tigre and Greg Robinson, power pop artists Bird Streets and Paul Bertolino, experimental cellist Valerie Kuehne with progressive metal drummer Alex Cohen, GPS voice Karen Jacobsen, occasional commercial jobs, among many others.
Chris is the longtime music director for the charity concert series Leave A Lasting Mark, which has performed regularly at The Bitter End (every month before the pandemic, a few times a year since then), and raising over $100,000 for various charities since starting in the fall of 2010. LALM has attracted a who's who of NYC performers, such as Constantine Maroulas, Rachel Platten, Tony Luca, A Great Big World, Freedom Bremner (Screaming Headless Torsos), Olamide Faison (Sesame Street), Aki Bermis (Lake Street Dive), and musicians who regularly back household names such as Sting, David Bowie, Daryl Hall, Michael Bolton, Richard Marx, Dweezil Zappa, Graham Nash, and a multitude of Broadway actors and pit musicians.
Chris is currently working on his own music and co writes, with less gigs than previous years. When he's not making music, he is the widowed father to his 7 year old daughter, who loves singing, drawing, and skateboarding.
Some Bands I've Been In
Ska & Ska-jacent
The Toasters - I've been a fan since high school, so it was a dream come true when I got the call to fill in for Tim Karns on bass, playing the parts written by Matt Malles. Even more of a dream when I got to play the Moon Ska 40th Anniversary show with the classic lineup:
Rob "Bucket" Hingley - vocals and guitar
Dave Barry - keyboards
Larry "Ace" Snell - drums
Rick "Chunk" Faulkner - trombone
Greg Robinson - trombone
"Rocksteady" Freddy Reiter - sax
Coolie Ranx - vocals
Beat Brigade - one of the original NYC ska bands, skanking since 1985! I joined as a full time member around the same time as joining The Toasters (with Dave Barry being the common link). I'm mainly the bassist, but move over to guitar when original bassist Frank Usamanont is available to play. I played trombone on our cover of "Step Up To Me" by Bim Skala Bim for Stubborn Records, and bass on our cover of "Just Got Lucky" by JoBoxers for The Specialized Project. Our new album (which I play bass on and cowrote "Walkaway") is currently being finished.
Carmelo Dibartolo - vocals and guitar
Dave Barry - keyboards
Frank Usamanont - bass
Sonny Ratcliff - drums
Ramsey Jones - drums
Jon Lijoi - trumpet
Brad Mulholland - sax
Anton Major - trombone
Rudie Crew - a collective of legendary ska and reggae musicians, headed up by Dan Dulin (Skinnerbox, Murphy's Law) and El Husey (Skinnerbox, Rancid), they asked me to play with them after they opened for The Toasters and loved my playing. I play bass, guitar, and Rhodes on their new album "So Rude".
Dan Dulin - trumpet
El Husey - sax
Juggla - toasting
Ciro Medina - guitar
Robert Mansfield - keyboards
Alex Garcia - drums
Ramsey Norman - drums
Chris Derosa - drums
Nehal Vadhan - percussion
Unnamed Jazz Trio - jokingly referred to as "Toasterskapheles", it's a trio consisting of myself on bass, Greg Robinson (Mephiskapheles, Toasters, Inspecter 7) on trombone, and Wayne Dunton (Mephiskapheles, NY Ska Jazz Ensemble) on drums. We have been jamming and recording jazz standards at Studio Del Diablo.
Night Of The Living Funk - at this point a related band to Beat Brigade, as many members are shared. Horn funk band consisting of NYC jazz and ska musicians, been in this band for at least a decade now!
Jon Lijoi - trumpet
Chris Lijoi - alto sax
Brad Mulholland - tenor sax
Lo Wood - bari sax
Jesus Viramontes - trombone
Matt Dickey - guitar
Dave Barry - keyboards
Sonny Ratcliff - drums
Non Ska
Pavelle - my punk band formed in 2013, consisting of longtime friends Scott Tofte (After The Echo), Pat Brennan (who I met while touring with hip hop/metal artist Bazaar Royale), Julian Jacobson, and TK. We wrote all the songs together, recorded everything at Studio Del Diablo, and released "My Beautiful Unknown" in 2016 - which is currently being remixed for release soon.
TK - vocals
Julian Jacobson - guitar, vocals
Pat Brennan - lead guitar
Scott Tofte - drums, vocals
After The Echo - synth pop group headed by Scott Tofte. I cowrote "I like The Way You Do" and "Kiss Me Goodbye" on the album "Only Stars", as well as playing synths, piano, and bass.
Sandra Small & The Smallworld Band - the first regular NYC band I joined at 23 years old. A neo-soul band featuring some heavy hitters. Played legendary venues such as Cutting Room, Highland Ballroom, Webster Hall (main stage), and headlined Rock Against Homelessness festival at Central Park Bandshell.
Mike Dino Campbell (D'angelo/Queen Latifa) on guitar
Ant Porfil (Prince Royce/Toby Love) on drums
Jamal Peoples (Angie Stone/Lauryn Hill/Roy Ayers) on keys
Cecil Hodge (Keith Sweat/Montell Jordan) on keys
Jon Sandler & The Fancy Band - first touring band, first major album release during the second half of my 20s. Featured on Artie Lange Show, MTV Buzzworthy (Stars Align video), and Everybody's Live With John Mulaney (Late Night Champ featured as replacement theme song for season finale).
Jon Sandler (Great Good Fine OK) on guitar and vocals
Dom Fallacaro (&Juliet) on keys and music direction
Sam Merrick (Sharon Jones/Charles Bradley) on drums
Broken Record Player - started as a way to help longtime friend Dmitry Koltunov (Nasha America) flesh out his original songs. First major music directing gig. Developed the musicals Fireflies (which had many staged readings) and currently developing Nasha America (with book writer and lyricist David Goldsmith). Among the many musicians who have been in the band, some standouts include:
Doug Yowell (Joe Jackson/Duncan Sheik) on drums
Oscar Bautista (Many Broadway shows) on guitar
Aki Ishigura (San Fermin) on guitar
Amanda Lo (Pink/Vitamin String Quartet) on violin
Joe Brent (Regina Spektor/9 Horses) on violin and mandolin
Scott Wolfson And Other Heroes - produced 3 full length albums and a cover EP, which all had heavy rotation on NPR and college radio. Toured as full time drummer, playing festivals such as Philadelphia Folk Fest, Falcon Ridge Folk Fest, and formal showcases with NERFA (Northeast Regional Folk Alliance).
Scott Wolfson - vocals and guitar
Kirk Side - bass
Skyler Bode - keyboards, accordion, vocals
Matt Laurita - guitar
Mya Byrne - guitar, mandolin, vocals
Mike Bell - guitar, mandolin