The Skunk Creek Jazz Ensemble plays Traditional Dixieland Jazz music from the 20s, 30s and 40s. The ensemble is made up of members of the Sun City Stomperz and their friends who live in the West Valley through the summer months.

       Together, these musicians have performed thousands of times and have had more than 200 years of collective performance experience in the Phoenix area, around America and abroad.

      The Ensemble takes its name from Skunk Creek, a mostly-dry water channel which starts north of the Cave Creek area, runs south through Peoria and ends in the Agua Fria river channel. The name has nothing to do with the essence of the music.

• Trombone
  Ernie Landes (Leader)

  Ernie Landes took up the trombone in high school and began jamming with neighborhood musicians. While attending Stanford University, he heard the bands of Bob Scobey and Turk Murphy and spent many Friday afternoons playing for free beer in college hangouts. He helped form a band named "South Bay Seven" which was popular in the San Jose area in the sixties.
  In 1973 he was recuited by Frank Goulette to join the "Monterey Classic Jazz Band" of Santa Cruz, CA. With this band he attended most of the West Coast jazz festivals and enjoyed an eight-year run of Sunday afternoon gigs at the Dream Inn in Santa Cruz.
  Retiring to Washington State in 1995, Ernie joined the "Dukes of Dabob" which played for twelve years at the Valley Tavern near Dabob Bay. He has moved to Peoria, AZ, where he helped form the "Sun City Stomperz" in 2006.

• Banjo
  Harry Schlafman (Business Manager)

  Starting with piano at age nine. Harry moved on to play violin, banjo, cornet, string bass and soprano sax. He played banjo in a high school Dixieland Band, then co-founded the "Red Hot Stompers" at Cornell University. In Ohio, he performed with the "Docs of Dixieland," which appeared on national television. Harry spent about 25 years with the "Hermit Traditional Jazz Band," where he shared leadership with Ted Witt, an internationally famous clarinet player. Harry also appeared with Ralph Grugel's "Eagle Jazz Band." Moving to Northern California in the 1970s, Harry a joined a San Francisco jazz band, playing banjo and second cornet at jazz festivals mostly around the Western United States. That band also played on cruises and has taken many musical trip internationally.
  Here in the Phoenix area, Harry has played with the "Desert City Six" and is now with the "Sun City Stomperz."

• Piano
  Marg Burg

  Marg (Marguerite) started picking out tunes on the piano at age 4-5. After studying piano, she added voice and cello along with organ to her musical experience. Marg comes to Sun City West from the Philadelphia area. There she played with "The Wally King Orchestra," "The Swing Street Band," and "The Stardusters," as well as in the percussion section of the "Tri-County Concert Band. "
  A classically trained pianist and organist, she received her Certificate in Church Music from Westminster Conservatory in Princeton, NJ. She is thoroughly enjoying her involvement with the "Sun City Stomperz" in Dixieland Jazz and Ragtime Piano. Marg plays with the "All Stars Stage Band", the "Encores Dance Band" and several other groups in the West Valley area in addition to her work at the Congregational Church and other churches in the Valley.

• Drums
  Tom Macan

  Tom, a native of Cleveland, Ohio, grew up listening to Dixieland Jazz, thanks to an older brother who was an avid jazz record collector. A trip to the Palace Theater in Cleveland to hear the Benny Goodman band with Gene Krupa kindled Tom's desire to be a drummer. He studied with "Army" Armstrong, a noted vaudeville and pit band drummer. Further percussion study was interrupted in 1945 by a stint with the Army Air Corps, which included assignment at Hamilton Field, north of San Francisco. This provided the opportunity for frequent visits to the Dawn Club in San Francisco to hear Lu Watters and the Yerba Buena Jazz Band. After service, he attended Ohio State University and later joined the "old" General Motors in Detroit, where he stayed for 37 years. He played with big bands and small groups in the Detroit Area, even some rock 'n roll bands. He was also a percussionist with a regional symphony in Michigan for 13 years. He settled in Sun City West in 1996 and currently plays with the "Sun City Concert Band," the "Desert Brass," the "Music Makers Big Band," and - his real love - the "Sun City Stomperz."

• Tuba
  Chuck Stewart

  In fourth grade, I struggled my way through the class lessons that my school offered and learned enough trumpet to play in the Cub Scout marching band. But after I reached Jr. H.S., I found 40 other trumpet players all trying for the marching band. My director gave me one lesson on the tuba and I was on my way. During this period, I got hooked on Dixieland, especially when I learned that the early jazz bands used tubas. After playing along with Dixieland records by Bobby Hackett, Lu Watters and Turk Murphy, I played tuba all through my high school years.
  A couple of years passed after graduation before I picked up a tuba again. I played several gigs around the Cape Cod area, and ended up playing with a band which became "Your Father's Moustache" for 10 years. I played in Boston, New York and Chicago clubs, and toured the U.S, Canada and South America with "Your Father's Moustache" show band. and appeared on "The Ed Sullivan Show." I played with several bands, have made many recordings, and played on several cruises and at jazz festivals.
  I moved to Arizona in 2000, joined the "Desert City Six" and the "Arizona Winds". I met Dick Shooshan and joined his "Golden Eagle Jazz Band", "Buck Creek Jazz Band", and Scott Anthony's "Golden Gate Rhythm Machine."