"My golly... the flutist was amazing. To be able to just hop up there and fit in so beautifully and to do such a great job was awesome to behold." (Keith McCormick, music teacher)
"What a unique implementation of a flute solo! That is a flute trying to sound like a Fender Stratocaster. I've never heard one played like that." (Dave Stafford, KKUP radio)
"Her exquisite flute playing can give you goose bumps. The refreshing thing about Mari is that despite her amazing talent and skill, she never takes herself too seriously. And perhaps that’s exactly why it’s so hard to take your ears or your eyes off her when she's on stage." (Daphna Rahmil, musician/singer/songwriter)
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Mari Aranoff is a flutist, singer, songwriter, and keyboard player. She is an eclectic musician (rock, jazz, chamber music, country, symphonic, children's music, new age...) who has played pop tunes on classical stages and Mozart in bars.
Before moving the San Francisco Bay Area, Mari (pronounced as in “calamariâ€) had an active musical life in her native Los Angeles, playing in many musical groups. Orchestras: Symphony of the Canyons, Valley Symphony (and soloed with both); West Valley Symphony, New Valley Symphony, Brentwood Symphony, etc.). Chamber music: Brentwoodwinds, Simply Duet, the Passing Winds, the L.A. Flute Network, and many other combinations. She was a member of the Dave Silverman Quartet, a popular local jazz band, which won first place in the combo division of the Hollywood Bowl Battle of the Bands. The following year, the HBBofB winner was the pop/classical fusion band The Great Gatsby, and Mari and the Gatsby bassist won special Outstanding Instrumentalist awards. Other bands include Silver Lining (covers & standards), Mr. Al & the Coconuts (children’s music), the Connectors (new wave), and the Royal Blueberry Orchestra and Children’s Choir. Mari has a B.A. in music/flute performance from Cal State Northridge, where she played in everything from the opera orchestra to the New Music Ensemble, P.D.Q. Bach orchestra, and the tuba ensemble. While there, she also played in the award-winning flute quartet, The Grand Quartet of Northridge, sang in choirs, and accompanied classmates on the piano. After college, she co-founded the successful Kingsound Studios with engineer Eddie King and managed the studio for six years.
In 1998, Mari left Los Angeles and is now happily living and playing in the Bay Area. Her most notable musical experiences here have been with That Jazz Band, the Kitchen Winds woodwind quintet, classic rock flute & guitar duo Fife & Strum, the Original Songs by Original Women showcases, comedy song act RAD & MAD; and as a session player for fellow Bay Area musicians -- especially dreamindean, Daphna Rahmil, Mike Simpson, Raffy Espiritu, Christian artist Michael John, and the Redwood Symphony (also credited as Mari Duncan). In addition, Mari's improvised multi-flute soundtrack for a scene in "The Birds" earned her third place in a West Coast Songwriters Association film scoring competition.
Currently, Mari is singing and playing flute 'n keyboard on originals and classics in the acoustic duo Gazinkus with multi-talented singer, songwriter, and guitarist Dean McComb (for more about Gazinkus, click on their photo under Friends) and doing freelance work.
Sounds like a lot for someone who has always had a day job, but Mari finds music to be a way to stay relatively sane in a mixed-up world and hopes to always be able share a bit of that relative sanity!
(This profile was edited with Thomas Myspace Editor V4.4 -- www.strikefile.com/myspace)
