Sam Steffke - Keyboardist, arranger, composer

Winner of Keyboard Instrumentalist of the Year by the Wisconsin Area Music Industry Awards (WAMI) (2000 & 2004), Sam Steffke is a graduate, Magna Cum Laude, of Boston’s Berklee College of Music. While living in Boston, Sam worked both Jazz and casual gigs with many area musicians, including a steady Jazz gig with trombonist and Berklee faculty member Rick Stepton, a veteran of the Buddy Rich Band.

A native of Michigan's Upper Peninsula, Sam has lived in Milwaukee since 1985. Since moving to Milwaukee, Sam has worked with a veritable who's who of the local music scene. His local jazz performing credits include gigs with guitarist Manty Ellis, (7 years at the Hyatt Regency Hotel), vocalist Penny Goodwin (in addition to many club and festival dates over the years, Sam has served as musical director of Ms. Goodwin's Generations in Jazz program since it began in 1989), blues singer Mary White, guitarist Dick Elliot, clarinetist Chuck Hedges, and the late vocalist Jessie Hauck.

Sam has also worked extensively with many local rock, funk, and blues groups, including Greg Koch and the Tone Controls, Rainbow's End, Chameleon, Eddie Butts (he also spent 2 1/2 years on the road with Butts in the late 70s), and Snakebite, a powerhouse R&B band for which he wrote virtually all the horn arrangements. Most recently he spent the last six years holding down the keyboard chair in Streetlife, the house band of the Milwaukee Bucks. In addition to playing at all the Bucks home games, Streetlife performed at Summerfest, Rainbow Summer, Jazz In The Park, the Red Mill East, the Kettle Morraine Jazz Festival, the Ripon Jazz Festival, Brett Favre's Steak House, and many other festivals and top venues around Wisconsin.

During his time with Streetlife, Sam recorded his first CD as a leader, entitled This Is My Real Job. The CD was released in 2000 to local acclaim and received airplay on radio stations WYMS and WJZI. It contains six standards and five Steffke originals and features sterling support from some of Milwaukee's top musicians. A second CD is in the planning stages.