Our Members
Members of the Saxyderms have come to Boston from all over the country and from a diverse array of backgrounds.
Laura Bailey
Instruments: Tenor sax
Laura Bailey
Laura is the elementary instrumental music teacher for the Riverside and Highlands schools in Danvers, Massachusetts. She studied saxophone at The University of Massachusetts - Lowell, where she received both her bachelor's and master's degrees in music education. During her time at UMass she performed with the University Marching Band, Concert Band, Wind Ensemble, Saxophone Quartet, and the Jazz-Rock Big Band. Since graduating, Laura has performed in a number of ensembles including the Atlantic Wind Symphony, the North Shore Philharmonic, the Concord Band, the Middlesex Concert Band, the Harvard University Wind Ensemble, and the Metropolitan Wind Symphony.
Nick Dragoni
Instruments: Alto Sax
Nick Dragoni
Nick studied sound recording technology at the University of Massachusetts, Lowell. He works at Acentech as a technical assistant, managing the company’s instrumentation lab and supports their sound lab as well. Nick is also a freelance mastering engineer which means he makes recordings sound awesome. He has played in a number of ensembles at UMass-Lowell where he first met Laura Bailey (cue: “Reunited and It Feels So Good”). A survey of social media platforms also indicates that Nick may have once been a stunt double for a young Jonathan Frakes.
Steven Hatcher
Instruments: Alto Sax
Steven Hatcher
Steven was born and raised in the vibrant city of Austin, Texas. He then moved up to Dallas for five years where he obtained a bachelor's and master's degree in electrical engineering from Southern Methodist University. During his time in high school and college, he participated in all possible ensembles where a saxophone was welcome - from marching band to jazz bands large and small, with some concert band and saxophone ensembles sprinkled in. Steven currently works at MathWorks as a software engineer, enjoying the mix of engineering, math, and software that working on a product like MATLAB provides. He currently resides in Belmont, Massachusetts, with his better half and wife, Katie, and a few too many cats.
Jason Holt
Instruments: Alto Sax
Jason Holt
Jason first picked up a saxophone in elementary school 16 years ago, after parting ways with playing piano. Jason has performed classically in symphonic and jazz bands throughout high school, including two Pennsylvania district band festivals and sitting as first alto in his high school jazz big band. He continued playing saxophone at Tufts, joining multiple trips to Europe with the Tufts Wind Ensemble and playing in overunderground, a Philly/Boston-area rock group. Jason graduated with a double major in Economics and Psychology, and now works at McKinsey & Company as a Research Analyst. When he's not playing saxophone, Jason also performs in Zikukim, a Boston-area Israeli Dance troupe.Jason plays a Yamaha YAS-62 alto on a Meyer 5 mouthpiece and Vandoren Java reeds.
Amara Lucci-McShain
Instruments: Soprano Sax, Alto Sax
Amara Lucci-McShain
Amara started her musical career playing the trumpet in the fourth grade. Apparently her practicing only kept the neighbors up, so she switched to saxophone in the sixth grade. She chose the saxophone because it has the most keys, and more is better, right? In her youth Amara played in the Massachusetts Youth Wind Ensemble at the New England Conservatory, the Patrick S. Gilmore Society Honors Community Band, and the Massachusetts All-State Band. She had a brief stint writing music with a singer-songwriter and doing the coffee house thing. Of course she couldn't live without playing sax, so she dusted off the old horn and got to work searching for groups to play with. She played soprano and alto with the Sultans of Sax for six years, and is currently principal saxophone in the Metropolitan Wind Symphony. In the daylight hours Amara wears many professional hats, in the travel and culinary industries. In her free time, Amara loves to travel, cook, arrange music, and be with her family. She has grand dreams of one day playing with a bell choir or whistling choir.
Marc Mayes
Instruments: Tenor Sax
Marc Mayes
He can play bach on saxophone better than anyone on earth
Nicole Mlyncazk
Instruments: Conductor's baton
Nicole Mlyncazk
Born in Virginia and raised outside of Buffalo, New York by a family of musicians, Nicole was destined to be a band director and educator like her parents, regardless of how much she dreamt of becoming a lawyer (which would have made her parents very happy). A classically trained clarinetist and saxophone doubler, Nicole explored her semi-southern roots and moved to Louisiana where she went to school at Louisiana State University, majoring in clarinet performance and music education. Instead of going to law school, she embraced the inevitable, returning to LSU after teaching elementary music for a year to earn a Master of Music in music education with a concentration in wind conducting, making her parents a different kind of happy. After teaching band for almost a decade, she and her dog chased a boy (her husband, John) 1,750 miles up north to Boston where she currently works at Berklee College of Music as a career advisor, supporting and educating students and alumni in career and professional skill development. Nicole plays clarinet in the Metropolitan Wind Symphony and conducts as often as possible, working with groups young and not as young.
Evan Weixel
Instruments: Tenor Sax