Meet Team O.Jamm
Our educators are just as unique as our project.
Jordan Hamilton
Jordan Hamilton, cellist of Last Gasp Collective and the Southwest Michigan Symphony Orchestra, merges songwriting, loop pedals, sample machines, and vocals to create a sonic landscape of experimental hip-hop, folk, soul, and classical music. The Western Michigan University graduate aims to find new ways for the cello, a traditional instrument, to relate to a modern audience where it can be found playing the music of Bach, the Beatles, or Chance the Rapper. Filled with an eclectic range of songs, Jordan’s set is sure to capture the heart and mind while reflecting on new horizons.
Jacob Olbrot
Jacob Olbrot is the Executive Director of the Suzuki Academy of Kalamazoo as well as an instructor. He attended Western Michigan University's School of Music, and was brought up in the Kalamazoo Junior Symphony Orchestra and the Suzuki Academy of Kalamazoo before becoming part of its staff in the early 2000s.
Additionally, Jacob is the Director of Strings at Kalamazoo Kids in Tune, and he is a core member of the Traverse City Symphony Orchestra.
Jacob enjoys klezmer music, improvisation, and collecting records. He has a wife, Sheri, and two daughters, Mayim and Zoe, who keep him on his toes.
Nate Waller
Djembe Yaru, Kalamazoo Michigan's West Afrikan drum and dance group was founded in 2007 by Nathaniel Waller. Baba Waller has been playing and learning Djembe since the age of 10, being taught by master drummers in Ghana, Mali, Senegal, Guinea, Nigeria, The Gambia and Sierra Leone. After performing all over the world with Ujima Drum and Dance, he came back to Michigan and has been teaching his craft at Kalamazoo College in Kalamazoo, Michigan. Here, he is able to share his passion of the drum while being able to perform and create music of his own. Since this time, he has created music that is being played all over the world, including China, France and England. Passing the culture from generation to generation is very important to Baba Waller. This is why he teaches students, young and old, to groom the Djembe players and dancers of tomorrow.
Lexi Terrian
Lexi Terrian, a Kalamazoo local, began playing the violin when she was in elementary school. She studied privately with Mark Portolese at the Crescendo Academy of Music through the remainder of her secondary education. Soon after, she started her orchestral career in the Kalamazoo Junior Symphony Orchestra where she was a member of the KJSO String Quartet during her senior year. Lexi began her collegiate violin studies with established performer Renata Knific in the spring of 2018. She recently studied with virtuosic violinist David Lisker at the Western Michigan University School of Music. Lexi has also been teaching violin and viola with the Helen L. Fox Gospel Music Center since its genesis in 2016. Additionally, she is a lead instructor with Kalamazoo Kids in Tune, as well as having her own private studio. Lexi’s passion is teaching with different outreach programs in the greater Kalamazoo area. She graduated with her Bachelor’s of Music in Performance Violin in spring of 2021.
Ashtun Hamilton is the Project Manager and newest member of the Orchestra Jammbo’Laya family. In addition to working with Orchestra Jammbo’Laya, Ashtun also works in higher education with Social Work students at USC.
Ashtun went to the University of Maryland-College Park where she completed a degree in Criminal Justice and has a masters’s degree in Homeland Security. She has over 10+ years of experience working in Customer Service and is happy to be part of growing Orchestra Jammbo’Laya.
She is from MD and now lives in Grand Rapids, MI with her dog, Rhianna.
