Bio By request

STEVE ONO is a guitarist with extensive Jazz, Folk, Rock, Blues and World music influences and experience. He is also a talented Singer/Songwriter, arranger and producer. His self produced CD, "Voice of a Friend", and his collaboration with Harmonica Master Eddie Gordon, “Smokin’”, are available at CDBaby.com.

Steve is currently offering Classes in a variety of guitar techniques for all levels, even kids as young as 6, at the California Arts Academy at 4750 N Blackstone. The website is www.calartsacademy.com. The phone number is 559-222-6539 to get info or look for the flyer in the Tower.

Steve also teaches private lessons at Gottschalk’s Music Center in Old Town Clovis on Fridays and Saturdays.

Steve Ono has also been composing and playing rhythm guitar lately with local rock violin virtuoso Patrick Contreras, including recent record setting shows at Artes Americas and the Warnor’s Theatre. Steve has also been playing with country artist Randy Deaver and his band Crossfire.
Steve Ono is also serving on the board of directors of the Fresno Folklore Society.

More bio stuff follows

Steve began singing at 10 years old in "The Candlelighters," a children's choir in Fresno California. While learning to sing he started playing the bongos which led to drums and guitar at age 14. His early repertoire consisted of Folk, Folk-Rock and Rock tunes of the 60's & 70's, as well as early originals.
His first solo public performance was at the 1971 McLane High School Talent Show. The first paid performance was in 1972 in a coffeehouse in Steenwijk, the Netherlands.
Steve attended Fresno City and State Colleges and played in the progressive rock band Folly’s Pool.
Steve went solo in 1976 and met Frank Hicks, a swing era guitarist. His exposure to Frank and his vast chord knowledge sparked a flurry of study on Steve's part. This study resulted in his 1980 graduation from the Guitar Institute of Technology in Hollywood.
After playing all over Southern California and doing some session work, Steve moved back to Fresno in 1985. He has since worked with a variety of great musicians including Kool and the Gang member Larry Gittens, the late Paul Shagoian, Mike Dana, Gene Doi and his partner of more than a decade, Harmonica Master Eddie Gordon.
Steve returned to LA in November 1991 with Eddie Gordon and played with Lee Oskar of "War" at the legendary "The Baked Potato." Steve and Eddie have also played : Victoria, BC; St. Louis, MO; the Yellow Pine Harmonica Festival in Idaho and the Fresno Trade Club Business Conference in 1994 featuring former US Presidents Ford and Bush.
In 2004 Steve and Eddie appeared on the KVPT/Comcast live broadcast of the “Blues in the Tower” show produced by CSU Summer Arts.

Teaching guitar in the Tower District at Archer’s Music and in Old Town Clovis at Clovis Music Center became a good business and by 1994 Steve had become one of the busiest guitar teachers in the Fresno/Clovis area. His former students have gone on to graduate from major schools like the San Francisco Conservatory of Music and to be top players in the current local scene.

Songwriting took on new importance in November 1993, with the release of "The Maximus Sessions," a compilation CD of Fresno area songwriters and artists. Steve's song: "Serious Man," was mentioned as a standout by critic Don Mayhew of the Fresno Bee. It also received airplay on KKDJ-FM.
In 1995-96, Steve appeared three times on the CSUF Television Production, "Works in Progress", with Thomas Witt-Ellis for broadcast on Fresno's Valley Public Television (KVPT-18).
His first all original CD, "Voice of a Friend," was released in December 1996. In 2005 KJWL FM added “This Touch of Home’ to their playlist.
In 1998 Steve co-produced a self-titled CD for the Flamenco-Jazz trio Cerro Negro, which received much airplay on KEZL 96.7 Smooth Jazz Radio.
He has also produced projects for Alain Lee, Pieter Moerdijk and Greg Lawson.

Steve and various musical friends have been performing for private and public events at such venues as: William Saroyan Theatre, the Bonner auditorium at the Fresno Art Center, The Fresno Metropolitan Museum, Ducey’s “Jazz on the Lake”, Wild Water Adventures, The Visalia Fox Theatre, The Tower District Cigar Festival, the Ahwahnee Hotel in Yosemite, the Tenaya Lodge in Fish Camp and many local hotels.

Steve’s client list includes: Boling and Associates, Airport Rotary Club, CSUF, FCC, BSK and Associates, DPS Telecom, Grunfos Pumps, The Fresno Library Council, Pearson Realty, and the Central California Rehabilitation Association.
Steve has also performed for the benefit of The Marjaree Mason Center, Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA), the Interfaith Youth Alliance and the Roosevelt School of the Arts.