Club d'Elf has been helping audiences lose track of time since its first show twenty one years ago at Boston's Lizard Lounge, and since then has taken its bold synthesis of Moroccan traditional music and electronic, dubbed-out funk to audiences as far away as Japan and South America. Circling about bassist/composer Mike Rivard and drummer Dean Johnston, each Club d'Elf performance features a different line-up, drawn from a constellation of some of the most creative improvisers from the jazz, DJ, rock & world music scenes of Boston and NYC. The band's music has been called "the music of dreams" by the Boston Globe, and draws from a startlingly wide spectrum of styles, including jazz, Moroccan Gnawa, hip hop, psychedelia, electronica, avant garde and dub.

Club d'Elf has been featured on PRI's The World, Voice Of America, and Afropop Worldwide, with Time Out New York describing the music as “The roaring avant-funk of electric-era Miles (and) the legato drift of the Grateful Dead…heady music that doesn’t neglect the tail”. The Boston Herald proclaimed “Crushed between the borders of Morocco, jam band land and the kingdom of avant-garde jazz lies Club d’Elf…James Brown-meets-Sun-Ra.”

Derived from ancient sources, trance forms the central core of the Club d'Elf aesthetic, unifying the various genres the band has absorbed. Guitars, turntables, Fender Rhodes, laptops, horns, tablas and all manner of exotic instruments flow in and out of the mix, along with Rivard's commanding playing of the Moroccan sintir, a camel-skin-covered bass lute. A mind-boggling array of special guests have been featured with D'Elf, including Mark Sandman (Morphine), Hassan Hakmoun, Marc Ribot, Reeves Gabrels (Bowie/The Cure), Adam Deitch, DJ Logic, Ryan Montbleau, Marco Benevento and Skerik - but none more than John Medeski.

Medeski has been an unofficial member since the band's inception, and is featured on many of the bands albums including 2017's Live at Club Helsinki. In 2018 he joined the band for its first appearance at Jazz Fest in New Orleans, and this past October he performed with the band live in the studio on an array of vintage keyboards, as d'Elf began sessions for its latest album.

Reeves Gabrels (The Cure / David Bowie) - guitar

When thinking of all the guitarists David Bowie has played with over the years, Mick Ronson is usually the one that immediately comes to mind. However, it was Reeves Gabrels who played with the Thin White Duke the longest. Born on June 4, 1956 in Staten Island, New York, Gabrels received his first guitar as a gift from his father at an early age, and soon after, began replicating what he heard on Jimi Hendrix and Eric Clapton records. After a short lived stab at receiving a degree in art failed to pan out, Gabrels enrolled at the Berklee School of Music in Boston, which also failed to last long. But Garbrels remained up north, and played with a variety of bands, including one outfit called the Dark. It was through has association with the band that he met journalist/publicist Sara Terry (who he would later marry), and would eventually accept a job serving as publicist for David Bowie's overblown ‘Glass Spider Tour' in 1987. As a result, it was during the tour that Bowie met Gabrels, and a friendship ensued. Upon hearing a tape of Gabrels' playing, Bowie helped land the guitarist spots playing with Deaf School, Nick Lowe, and Sandie Shaw, before deciding to work with the guitarist himself, as part of the experimental rock outfit, Tin Machine. With the addition of a solid rhythm section consisting of bassist Tony Sales and drummer Hunt Sales (best known for their late ‘70s work with Iggy Pop), the quartet issued their debut, Tin Machine, in 1989. The album ruffled the feathers of many longtime Bowie fans (since it was rawer and more ‘in your face' than anything the singer had done in ages), and the situation only worsened with the arrival of the group's next (and final) studio effort, 1991's Tin Machine II. Despite the project being dead and buried, Bowie and Gabrels continued their working partnership, as the guitarist appeared on such ‘90s era Bowie releases as 1993's Black Tie White Noise, 1995's Outside, 1997's Earthling, and 1999's Hours (additionally, Gabrels appeared on a remake of "Look Back in Anger," included on Rykodisc's early ‘90s reissue of Bowie's 1979 effort, Lodger), and subsequent supporting tours. The decade also saw Gabrels strike out on his own with star studded solo releases, including 1995's The Sacred Squall of Now (which included guest spots from Bowie, Frank Black, Jeffrey Gaines, and Gary Oldman) and 1999's Ulysses (Della Notte) (which once again featured Bowie and Black, as well as Robert Smith and Dave Grohl). By the dawn of the 21st century however, Gabrels had decided to split from Bowie and set out on his own for good. In addition to his work with Bowie and his solo work, Gabrels' guitar has been spotted on recordings by a variety of other groups, including the Cure, the Mission UK, Public Enemy, Natalie Imbruglia, the Rolling Stones, Jeffrey Gaines, Ozzy Osbourne, and Sister Machine Gun, among others. Gabrels continues to remain busy -- with further solo albums (live late loud), tours, and even issuing his own signature guitar, the ‘RG 13,' via the Fernandes company.

Mat Maneri (Cecil Taylor / Matt Shipp / William Parker) - viola

Mat Maneri, born on October 4th, 1969 in Brooklyn, New York is an American composer, improviser and jazz violin and viola player, specifically derivatives such as the five-string viola, the electric six-string violin, and the baritone violin. He is the son of the saxophonist Joe Maneri.

Maneri has recorded with Cecil Taylor, Matthew Shipp, Joe Morris, Joe Maneri, Gerald Cleaver, Tim Berne, Borah Bergman, Mark Dresser, William Parker, Michael Formanek, John Lockwood, as well as with his own trio, quartet, and quintet. He has also played on various band releases: Club d'Elf, Decoupage, Brewed by Noon, Paul Motian's Electric Bebop Band, Buffalo Collision. Maneri has worked with Ed Schuller, John Medeski, Roy Campbell, Paul Motian, Tomasz Stanko, Robin Williamson, Drew Gress, Tony Malaby, Ben Monder, Barre Phillips, Joëlle Léandre, Marilyn Crispell, Craig Taborn, Ethan Iverson, David King, Evan Parker and many others.

Maneri started studying violin at the age of five and received a full scholarship as the principal violinist at Walnut Hill High School. He also studied at the New England Conservatory of Music, he then went on to pursue a professional career in jazz music.

He is an experienced educator who has taught at the New England Conservatory and the New School among others. He has taught privately for over 15 years and has frequently presented specialized workshops on improvisation, performance technique, ear training and theory both in Europe and North America.

Eric Kalb (Sharon Jones / Charlie Hunter) - drums

Southpaw Eric Kalb is a versatile drummer who enjoys playing music with a strong groove. A devotee of Rhythm and Blues drumming, his improvisational aesthetic is colored by sudden bursts of Rock aggression. Based in Brooklyn, New York, Eric is a multi-faceted studio and touring drummer whose “energetic and exhilarating style” (Jazz Times) keeps him in constant demand.

Over the course of his thirty year career Kalb has taken to both studio and stage with a dazzling array of influential and innovative artists. He’s laid it down hard for the supernatural force of Miss Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings, the seven-string guitar wizardry of Charlie Hunter, quintessential Chicago Soul group The Impressions, fully celebrated jazz guitarist John Scofield and Hammond B3 organ legend Dr. Lonnie Smith; to name but a few. Hunter calls Kalb’s drumming “A funky Clyde Stubblefield/ Jabo Starks kinda way of relating (to Jazz) …really cool and refreshing“. Notable film recording sessions include soundtracks for the major motion pictures “American Gangster” and “Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story“.

Kalb’s obsession with hitting things began in his tenth year growing up with his family on Long Island, when he picked up some drum sticks and discovered what those around him had long suspected – that God made him funky.  Fueled by his love for Led Zeppelin, The Stones and The Beatles, Eric focused his energies into qualifying for a coveted position at The Cultural Arts Center in Syosset, NY.  It was here, under the tutelage of the late David Burns Sr. that he was introduced to Jazz and it’s history as told through Duke Ellington, Dizzy Gillespie and James Moody.  These experiences formed the very bedrock of his style and informed the trajectory of his passion.

After high school Eric took a whirlwind trip through Berklee College of Music in Boston MA. Here he immersed himself in Latin music with the late Ed Uribe, learned through the soaring jazz drumming of John Ramsey and played with musicians from all over the world.  Soon Eric was ready to leave the constraints of formal education and forge his own way ahead.

Kalb formed Funk/Rock sensation Deep Banana Blackout shortly thereafter.  The band scorched its way through the national Jam Band scene, toured with The Allman Brothers Band and co-billed with James Brown and Maceo Parker. They still reform yearly to the enraptured chants of a dedicated crowd of followers in the North East.

In May of 2012 Kalb was the drummer for a massive recreation of Marvin Gaye’s What’s Going On at The Kennedy Center in Washington DC. This concert featured John Legend, Sharon Jones and The Dap Kings and The National Symphony Orchestra conducted by Steven Reineke.

Paul Schultheis - keyboards

Paul Schultheis is a Boston-based keyboardist recognized for his work in innovative music ensembles, including Club d'Elf and The Graduals. His approach to music is rooted in versatility, blending jazz, electronic, and global influences. Schultheis has performed on both traditional and electronic keyboards, contributing richly layered textures and improvisational depth to various projects. He collaborates with prominent musicians in Boston's vibrant music scene, helping to push creative boundaries while exploring unique soundscapes​.

Mike Rivard - bass & sintir

Perhaps the only musician to have performed with big band legend Cab Calloway, Frank Zappa discovery Wildman Fisher, gnawa master Hassan Hakmoun and two members of the Velvet Underground, (though sadly, not all at the same time), bassist /composer Mike Rivard defies easy categorization and finds himself at home in a bewildering array of settings: From the low-rock of Morphine to the mountains of Morocco with local Berber musicians, with side trips into the Broadway pits of The Lion King and Wicked to sitting in with Medeski Martin & Wood.

Growing up in the wide expanses of Minnesota he assimilated the local sounds of Prince, Husker Du, and free- jazz coming out of the Dinkytown/University of Minnesota milieu, before heading to Boston’s Berklee College of Music in 1981. While enrolled as both a composition and bass performance major, saxophonist Russ Gershon recruited him for his band Either/Orchestra, with which Rivard recorded four CDs and got his first taste of national touring. Through the E/O he also met and befriended two people who would remain prominent in his musical life for years to come: John Medeski and Mark Sandman.

After Berklee, Rivard received a scholarship to study with jazz great Dave Holland at the Banff School of Fine Arts in Alberta, Canada. Upon his return to Boston he joined Sandman’s band Hypnosonics and quickly became the go-to guy for producers such as Jon Brion and Mike Denneen in the late 80s/early 90s local indie scene based around Q Division and Fort Apache Studio. He began a busy session schedule that included major label releases for The Story, Jen Trynin, Morphine, Patty Larkin, Guster, and Aimee Mann, amongst others. More national and international touring followed with Jonatha Brooke, Paula Cole and world/jazz group Natraj.