Our Music Teachers

Daniel Cole

Daniel Cole is a Kansas City based drummer with an extensive background in performance and teaching. Since receiving his bachelors from Missouri Western State University in Music Technology and Performance, he has toured and played with ensembles such as the major label artist XV and Quixotic, which is an internationally known innovative performance art project.

 His wedding band has been recognized as Kansas City’s number one wedding band multiple times by The Knot. He currently performs as part of the Kansas City band Run With It.

Bronwyn Milldyke Gifford

Dedicated to many different instruments, Bronwyn Milldyke Gifford started piano lessons at age 8 at the Kansas City School of Music and soon after started learning violin at age 10. In middle school, she switched to viola and was playing in the top group by high school. She continued studying piano privately as well throughout her schooling. She is currently pursuing a music therapy degree at the University of Missouri Kansas City Conservatory of Music and Dance. She played in the orchestra at UMKC as well as participated in both Conservatory Singers and University Singers.

Dayve Huckett

Dayve Huckett grew up in Kansas City playing guitar and developing his love for music. For many years he taught privately and played a wide variety of gigs. He started performing at school dances and coffee houses in the 1960s. The 70s brought clubs, hotel bars (during the great disco scare!), restaurants and recording studios. In 1980 he relocated to Vermont, which brought ski areas to the mix, including an eighteen and a half year run at TopNotch in Stowe, Vermont.

A passionate teacher, he has taught at Calliope Music, the Elley-Long Music Center, Middlebury College, and Middlebury Community Music Center. He has performed and recorded with a variety of collaborators including percussionist Dave Whittle, flutist Laurel Ann Mauer, bassist Art DeQuasie, bassoonist Rachel Elliot, french horn player Mia Fritze, flutist Kara Krikorian, cellist Bonnie Klimowski, violist Paul Reynolds, dobro player Adam Frehm, trombonist Bear Irwin, bassist Ron White, bassist/producer Mike Boise, percussionist Nicola Cannizzaro, violinist Emily Sunderman, multi-instrumentalist Peter Hamlin, and pianist/singer Sarah Trouslard.

Eddie Moore

Music and creativity run deep in pianist and bandleader Eddie Moore's veins. Raised in Houston Texas, he began his musical journey at Texas Southern University where he later earned a Bachelors in Arts and immersed himself in the Houston music scene.  As a lifelong musician traversing a number of bands and styles,  he relocated  to Kansas City to study under Bobby Watson  at the University of Missouri-Kansas City where he received a M.A in Jazz Studies.

Moore is also recipient of the 2016 Charlotte Street Generative Performance Award for his genre bending collaborations.  He was 2017’s Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art  “Artist in Residence”  in collaboration with Rashid Johnson’s exhibit “Antoine’s Organ.” In 2018  his work with The Outer Circle was nominated for an Indie Music Award for "007." His music has also been featured commercially for Sprint, Netflix’s “Queer Eye,” Morgan Cooper’s short film “Room Tone,” and Peacock’s “Bel-Air.”

Moore’s  expansive sensibilities have allowed him to share the stage and record with distinctive artist such as Tia Fuller, Pam, Watson, Logan Richardson, Maurice Brown, Boys II Men, Brian Blade and the Fellowship, John Baptiste, Erykah Badu, Mosdef, Bilal, Ledisi, Chantae Cann, Krystal Warren,  Andre Hayward, Tivon Pennicott, and Various Blonde. Moore is currently a lecturer at KU with over ten years of teaching experience in piano performance, composition, and improvisation.

Grace Odell

A pianist, musicologist, educator, and writer from South Carolina, Grace Odell has masters degrees from the University of Missouri Kansas City in both piano performance and musicology. Prior to moving to Kansas City, Grace received a bachelor's degree in piano performance from Furman University.

Grace has been teaching at BAM since 2018 and is active in Kansas City’s nonprofit scene, previously serving on the board of the Westport Center for

the Arts as well as the committee that launched the Puerto Rico Center for Collaborative Piano. In 2020, she created Resonate, an online subscription that teaches improvisation at the piano through meditation.

Imani Mason

Imani is a Mechanical Engineer, the owner of a traveling Loctician business, SweetRolls Traveling Loctician Services, and a professional musician (and yes, he plays your favorite instrument, THE BASS). 

Prior to joining BAM, Imani worked as a Mechanical Design Engineer at National Aerospace Solutions in Nashville, TN before he decided to build his Loctician business and pursue his passion for music.

As a professional musician, he has played all over, including Canada & Spain. 

In his free time he indulges himself in his passions of Magic: The Gathering and jamming on his 6-string bass with friends!

Imani will be overseeing the BAM's expansion of our lessons program at our partner school, AFIA, as well as teaching bass and guitar.

Jewell Scott

Jewell Sol is an extraordinary spiritual being with the skills to play piano, communicate, and problem solve effectively. He is a musician and entrepreneur with a diverse set of talents and interests. He began playing piano at the age of five in church, which led him towards being a church music director for eleven years starting at age ten. He participated in band in grade school and joined the jazz band in high school, with the latter group providing his first experience with touring. He received a full ride scholarship for music to Kansas City Kansas Community College.

Since 2020, his musical career has been directed internally, and he is developing his relationship with the piano and falling in love with playing music again. He also has several entrepreneurial endeavors such as a transportation service called Hopp’in as well as serving as the Kansas City Superman’s representation for public appearances. He also founded an additional nonprofit transportation service that helps deliver people, medicine, and food.

Jordan Faught

Jordan Faught is an active member of the Kansas City jazz scene. He hosts at the Mutual Musicians Foundation regularly and will soon become a member. He has also appeared multiple times with the Reyes Brothers at the Black Dolphin.

Jordan currently studies bass guitar at Kansas City Kansas Community College where he is the main bass player, playing for the top jazz ensemble as well as the award winning vocal jazz ensembles and the funk band. His band Luck 20 received an “outstanding ensemble award” from Downbeat magazine, and he also received a composition award from Downbeat. 

Josiah Assefa

Josiah Assefa is a Kansas City-based multi-instrumentalist, arranger, and composer. He is primarily a jazz woodwindist specializing on the tenor saxophone, but he also is proficient in guitar and piano. An upcoming artist in the scene, he has performed at venues such as Vine Street Brewery, Westport Coffeehouse, Pathlight Brewery, among others.

Josiah is currently studying jazz saxophone at Kansas City Kansas Community College and he teaches saxophone, clarinet, guitar, and ukulele with Base Academy of Music. Josiah also prides himself on his compositions and avidly writes/arranges in his free time.

Laura Blankenship

Laura Blankenship is a music therapist and multi-instrumentalist with fifteen years of classical piano experience, fifteen years of classical flute experience (including solo, small ensemble, and large band settings), as well as eight years of jazz ensemble piano experience in both small combos and big band. Her music therapy training also allows her to teach guitar, ukulele, and bass guitar.

Laura has a Bachelor of Music Therapy from Drury University, Springfield, MO with a classical piano emphasis. An active local singer-songwriter, she plays original music under the alias of Laura Boat. Laura grew up in Cardiff Wales, and besides making music, she enjoys swimming, camping, and thrift-shopping. 

Liam Sumnicht

Playing the drums since the age of ten, Liam studied private lessons, played in school bands, jazz band, percussion ensemble, orchestra, and finally, started a rock band in high school, and found found his passion. Heading to college while the landscape of the music industry was changing, and aware of the role that business and visual art plays in music, he majored in Entrepreneurship, and minored in Graphic Design at the University of Missouri - Kansas City.

Graduating in 2010, he joined and became a founding member of Not A Planet, and the band hit the road for an East Coast tour two weeks later. The band continued to tour for several years to the North East Coast, the South East Coast, and Austin, TX. The band played Music Week, Boulevardia, and Summer Jam; was awarded Best Rock EP by the Independent Music Awards, Best Rock Band by the Pitch Music Awards, and received other nominations from both; played with Stone Temple Pilots, The Dirty Heads, and toured with Blues Traveler; and released music videos sponsored by Phillips 66 and TEDxKC.

Today, Liam plays in Not A Planet, Kangaroo Knife Fight, and Jaenki.

Marcus Rattler

Marcus Rattler is performer, arranger, composer, and producer based in Kansas City with a passion for the steel pan. A performer of diverse abilities, he also specializes in drum set and percussion, and while pursuing his degree at Truman State University he was the winner of the Gold Medal Concerto Competition on marimba.

While at TSU, he studied with Dr. Michael Bump and participated in the jazz band, percussion ensembles, steel band, and wind symphony, as well as being a front line instructor. He has participated in the Silver Stars Steel Orchestra in Trinidad and Tobago, as well as the Philly Pan Stars Steel Orchestra. He is currently a member of the jazz/funk band Legerdemain, the blues band The Jonny Green Arrangement, and the metal band Aster. 

Brandy Albrecht

Brandy Albrecht started teaching violin to elementary aged students in 2003 for the Cameron Youth Chamber Orchestra in St Louis, teaching there until 2008.  She specialized in fundamentals including hand position/posture, scales (major and minor), and music literacy.  Since then, she has also taught string lessons to middle and high school students at various skill levels. 

After moving to Kansas City, she taught with the A-Flat Orchestra under the direction of Daryl Chamberlain from 2016-2019, also acting as consultant to Mr. Chamberlain. She has her BS in biotechnology and she is currently an Associate Scientist in the biopharmaceutical industry. In her free time, she loves reading mystery and fantasy books and listening to true crime podcasts.  She is a mother to two wonderful kids and a dog mom to two sweet pups.

Nina Cherry

Nina Cherry is a Kansas City-based musician and writer. A versatile percussionist and vocalist, Nina enjoys playing an array of genres, from jazz to soul and beyond. A contributor for Kansas City Magazine and The Pitch, Nina is passionate about amplifying KC’s vibrant arts scene from past to present day.

Nina holds a bachelor’s in Music Theory from the University of Missouri-Kansas City Conservatory and teaches voice, percussion and beginner piano with Base Academy of Music. In her spare time, she enjoys cooking, reading and spending time with her cats.

Savaun Williams-Bounds

Savaun Williams-Bounds was born and raised in Cedar Rapids, IA. He started singing and playing instruments as a child in church. His family recognized his interest in music and fostered it. His interest eventually led to his participation in show choir and chamber choir at Taft Middle School and Jefferson High School.

Savaun continued to hone his craft in college by taking classical voice lessons, singing in various campus programming events, and directing the LBC Gospel Choir at Mizzou. All of these experiences have helped grow him into the vocalist he is now!

He resides in Kansas City MO, where he's had various opportunities to sing live and studio background vocals. He has also been commissioned to contribute vocals for a nationally aired TV commercial, and has been featured as a solo artist! He is grateful for every person and every experience that has led him here.

Spencer Banister

Spencer Banister is currently a masters student at the University of Missouri Kansas City Conservatory of Music and Dance. He has a bachelor's degree in music education from Oklahoma Christian University, where he received the Outstanding Music Major and the Outstanding Education Student awards. In 2018 he was the lead trombone in the Jazz Band of America and he was a guest artist at the International Open Air Jazz Festival in Vienna, Austria in 2021.

An active performer in Kansas City’s and Oklahoma City’s music scenes, Spencer received honorable mention in the Yamaha Young Performing Artists Competition in 2022. 

Taylor Corn

Taylor Corn is a multi-talented musician with a bachelor’s degree in Sustainability and Spanish from Drake University. As well as teaching piano with BAM he also works for the Department of Energy. He is an independent artist, engineer, and producer who is currently finishing his first album. He is planning a tour concurrent with the album release. In addition to being self-taught, he took guitar lessons at BAM when he was younger, and has now come full circle by teaching young students like himself.

In his free time he enjoys being active in nature, playing chess, and hanging out with his two cats, Cheeto and Silvy. You can listen to his music by clicking here.