Doug Roche  (playing "Spartacus Love Theme")

Doug Roche has over 30 years of experience as a freelance pianist. Born in Wilmington, Delaware in 1953, he developed an early interest in music. At the age of 15, he formed his own jazz trio. After High School he served in the Navy Show Band for 4 years, then on to study music at North Texas State University.

Doug currently resides in the Denver area, where he performs with many of Denver’s finest musicians. He is a member of the Denver Jazz Quartet and PoeJazz (a blend of Jazz and Poetry). PoeJazz is in it’s tenth year and hopes to record a DVD this year. Doug also teaches jazz piano and theory privately at his “Studio By The Lake”.

From 1986 -1988, he played the exclusive Moulin Rouge room at the Denver Fairmont Hotel backing such national acts as Kenny Rankin, The Mills Brothers, The Modernaires, Lanie Kazan, and Johnny Otis. Other credits include Carol Lawrence and Red Skelton. Doug lived in the San Francisco Bay area from 1988 to 1990, performing with the Full Faith & Credit Big Band. In 1990 he returned to the Denver area and was the house pianist at the internationally recognized Denver jazz club, El Chapultepec. There he performed with a cavalcade of jazz icons, including Joe Farrell, Nick Brignola, Teddy Edwards, Buddy De Franco, Terry Gibbs, Red Holloway, Eddie Harris, Richie Cole, Bobby Shew, Lew Tabakin, and Pete Condoli. Roche performed at the Telluride Jazz Festival in 1993 with vocalist Roseanna Vitro (which was broadcast on NPR), and in 1996 with Giacamo Gates. In 1993 he honed his blues skills with Denver’s own James Van Buren, on James’s CD, “Live at Littleton Town Hall”. In the spring of 1995, Roche was on stage in the Denver Center Theatre production, “It Ain’t Nothin’ But The Blues” as pianist and later as assistant musical director when the show ran at the Cleveland Playhouse that fall, in conjunction with the opening of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. In October of 2003, Doug performed with the Denver Jazz Quartet at the 25th anniversary of the Queenstown Jazz Festival in New Zealand.

Doug has been playing for Living Water Unity since the Fall of 2000.

  Clarence Johnsen 

As a long-time State employee, Clarence gets his creative kicks playing music with several bands. Not quite a musical prodigy, he cut his teeth on piano as a child, moved to drums as a teenager and started playing guitar in high school. Through the years, he played strictly for the fun of it. In 2002 he started playing bass with the nascent Living Water Unity band, joining Doug and thereby making a "band." In 2004, he joined the Cara Cantarella Band, again as the second member; she then had a "band." Her band has grown to five members and plays at a variety of venues in the Denver metro area. In 2006, he joined a blues band, Catfish & the Crawlers, to help him fill his idle time.

When asked what motivates him to get up early on Sunday morning week in and week out, he says, "The 'juice' I get is from the ability to create, express and to work together with very talented musicians in making something happen that's greater than the sum of its individual parts. When you play together long enough, you sometimes just hit a groove -- like you're almost able to read each other's musical minds -- and that's when the magic happens. Those unpredictable moments of magic are terrific, they make all the work worthwhile. This seems to hold true not only with the Non-Prophets, but also with the other people I'm privileged to play music with."

We are delighted to have his wonderful energy at our service on Sunday morning.

  Anne Brisnehan 

"Passionate", "colorful", and "soulful" are words to describe the vocal stylings of Anne Brisnehan.

“Singing has been my passion ever since I can remember. Not a day in my life goes by without music being a main ingredient.” A natural performer, Anne’s repertoire consists of a diverse number of musical styles from jazz and blues, to pop, folk, and country.

Anne has trained with exceptional vocal coaches for over 15 years, including internationally recognized instructor Lynn Skinner, three-time Grammy nominee, Todd Buffa, and jazz recording artist, Mark Murphy. She has performed and been a featured soloist in choirs and chorales throughout her adult life.

Throughout the 1990’s, Anne performed with various jazz ensembles at numerous venues in the Denver/Boulder area including nightclubs, coffee houses, and private social events. Surrounding herself with some of the finest in local talent has given her invaluable experience and creative opportunity.

Anne has been the soloist with Living Water Unity Church since 2002. “I am so fortunate to be able to work with such a talented group of musicians. Not only that, I get to meet and collaborate with excellent performers each week and am part of a wonderfully supportive congregation. Living Water Unity has been a great blessing in my life.”

Anne currently lives in Broomfield with her husband, John, and two sons, Johnny and Jake.

Rick Franz 

Rick, born in 1955 and raised in New York City, has been a musician since the age of eight. He’s played music in too many professional and non-professional situations to count, had his own jazz and original rock groups as a guitarist and bassist. He’s been featured on many artists' recordings over his thirty-year career and has released two albums of his own. He holds a Bachelor of Music degree from Berklee College Of Music in Boston, Class of '82.

Rick has taught guitar, bass, recording, and composition. From 1993-95 he also taught massage in classes at Massage Therapy Institute of Colorado in Denver. He has written the multimedia musical Bounced Off Water to hit the stage in Denver in the near future.  He has played with the Non-Prophets since November, 2002.

More information and his CD are available through his website www.BouncedOffWater.com.

Kevin Smith 

Kevin has been a professional musician for 35+ years.  A well-known and cherished member of the Denver music community, his talents shine in all genres -- Rock, Jazz, Blues, Funk, Swing, Latin, alternative, Hip Hop, Classical, etc.

His musical debut was at the age of five, performing at Denver's renowned Taylor's Supper Club (owned by his father). He has played with, backed and recorded with such greats as Plas Johnson, Robyn Ford, Bill Cosby, Tom Harrell, Johnny Smith, Billy Tolles, Frank Sinatra, Jr., Javon Jackson and Charlie Pride. Kevin also had the honor of playing for President Jimmy Carter in Washington D.C. at his Inaugural Ball.

A third generation musician, Kevin enjoys mentoring young, upcoming musicians and artists, helping them avoid the pitfalls of a very competitive industry. He has also worked with students of the Lamont School of Music. Kevin's approach to teaching is to let the student have fun in a holistic learning experience balancing technique, reading and all fundamentals.  His goal is to help his students realize their full potential and their goals by the most direct means.

Kevin has recently recorded a CD with John Ambercrombie and is working in the Denver/Boulder area as a freelance musician.  He has also recently performed in the Denver Center for the Performing Arts musical, My Way -- a tribute to Frank Sinatra. He joined the Non-Prophets in 2005.