Versatile, Worldly Professionals

Ability to play numerous instruments. Fluidity across genres. Years of stage experience. Ginger Beat is built around a core of musicians with these qualities.  Five multi-instrumentalists combine to play many instruments: keys, plucked and strummed strings, bowed strings, horns, woodwinds, bass, and numerous percussion instruments. With songs influenced by salsa, rhythm and blues, groove, blues, rock and roll, and bluegrass, Ginger Beat instrumentalists need to have lots of experience and interest across all of these genres. Arjan's songs are composed with charts and scores, navigating complex chord changes and orchestrated melodies. Pairing high quality musicians with these compositions is what makes Ginger Beat a stunning listening experience.

Arjan

Vocals, Guitar, Octave Mandolin, Banjo, and Keys

Arjan is a composer, writer, multi-instrumentalist, and singer. Throughout a career of business entrepreneurship, Arjan performed in bands like The Occidental Community Choir (voice), Cheap Therapy (keys and blues harp), and Corpus Callosum (keys and mandolin). For years, he was the "Raffi" for his kids' elementary school, performing regularly at all-school assemblies.  . 

Alice Fitzwater

Violin, Viola

Alice Fitzwater has played violin professionally across genres in the USA and Europe throughout her adult life. In addition to her current work with Ginger Beat, she performs with the award winning band Foxes in the Henhouse and the Taylor Mountain String Band. 

Dalbir

Cajon, Conga, Bongo, Shekere, Rythm Instruments

Dalbir was a tap dancer from her childhood into her young adult years, creating rhythms with her feet. She started playing percussion in the 1970s when she purchased a conga built by Kenneth Nash of the notorious Michael White Band. Dalbir toured India on tablas with an all-women kirtan group from the US.  

Krystal Collins

Vocals

Krystal Collins has a voice that bridges the earth tones of soul with the heavenly tones of opera. Arjan heard her singing on a YouTube video with her late father-in-law, Reed Fromer, and knew she would be a perfect fit for the band. 

Wade Peterson

Conga, Cajon, Bongos, Shekere, Rythm Instruments

Wade Peterson is a noted drummer and teacher of West African drumming in the Bay Area. Wade is an accomplished performer, accompanist for dancers and recording artist. He holds a Bachelors in Music from UC Santa Cruz. 

Jason Zucker

Keyboards

Jason Zucker is an accomplished pianist and keyboard player. He performs with many musical ensembles, including Bring Joy, and runs a vibrant teaching practice. Jason graduated with a degree in musical performance from the New School in New York City.

Chris Bastian

Bass

Bassist Chris Bastian is a California native who has lived and worked as a musician in Oakland, Los Angeles, New York City, Quito, Ecuador, and Santiago de Chile. He has performed with a variety of ensembles in a wide range of musical traditions including jazz, opera, blues, flamenco, Jewish music, huayno, soul, and Afrobeat. He has performed at Radio City Music Hall, Herbst Theater, Studio 54, Yoshi’s, and Ars Nova and has had the honor to share the stage with Babá Ken Okulolo, Kenny Burrell, Kalil Wilson, Dee Dee Bridgewater, and Il Volo, among others. Chris also plays accordion and keyboards. 

Recent Bandmates

Ron Rico Duben

Congas, Cajon, Bongo, and lots more

Ron Rico Duben plays with many salsa acts including national bands, like Tito Puente, Jr. and Bay Area leading bands, like Edgardo Cambon and Candela.

Jaimz Mallett

Vocals, Bass, and Engineering

Jaimz Mallett has performed R&B, soul, and jazz across the USA, in Turkey, and in Australia.  He is a multi-instrumentalist who often performs with an acoustic guitar in his hands or seated at a piano. With Ginger Beat, Jaimz has been focusing on backing vocals, bass, and engineering on our recordings.

Ted Kuster

Bass, Banjo, and Vocals

Salsa bassist, folk singer, and bluegrass banjo picker. Ted carries a lifetime of performance experience across a variety of genres. He was raised in South and Central America, singing in dirt-floor churches and grooving on the Latin American folk repertoire.  You can often hear him at the Willowbrook Ale House and the Aqus Cafe in Petaluma and at Mantra Wines in Novato.

Amar Khalsa

Piano, Organ, Saxophones, Flutes, and Vocals

Amar has been a fixture on the Bay Area music scene for over 30 years, lending his voice and playing organ, piano, flute, and saxophones. On Sunday mornings, he often performs at the prestigious First Congregational Church in Berkeley. Amar has contributed his vocal and instrumental talents to classical, new age, and spiritual ensembles around the country. He played in Arjan and Dalbir's wedding ceremony in 1976!