Science and music play important roles in 1985 PaliHi graduate Chip Moyer’s life. Moyer, 34, and two of his Jazz Avenue bandmates chose scientific careers, but their artistic talents found an outlet in music. Guitarist Moyer, who grew up in the Palisades, joined Boeing Satellite Systems as an electrical engineer in 1998. Vibraphone player and pianist Monte Alexander is a retired project manager at a computer science corporation, and drummer Larry Stubbs is an engineer at Raytheon.

The fourth band member, bassist Garland Campbell, who also plays saxophone, runs the audio/visual department at the Long Beach Hilton and has played with another band, the Campbell Brothers, all over the world and locally including an August 2000 gig at the Democratic National Convention.

For Moyer, both his scientific and musical interests provide him enjoyment.

“I like them both,” said Moyer, who has a Ph.D. in electrical engineering from Drexel University in Philadelphia. “I enjoy the camaraderie of the guys in the band, and I enjoy the challenge of playing jazz, which I find to be tricky.’ [With my career], I also like the challenging problems. I’m always very interested in new technology, and engineering keeps you abreast of new technology.”
Moyer has been playing jazz since his Palisades High School years when he began listening to old Miles Davis records that his parents, Geoffrey and Mary Lynn Moyer, kept in their Marquez Knolls home. He took guitar lessons at the former Palisades Music and at the old Swarthmore record store, Slipery Disk, which is now Mort’s, and learned rock, folk and eventually jazz.

After earning his bachelor’s in engineering physics at the University of Michigan, Moyer returned to Los Angeles and played in jam sessions/open microphone nights in South Central clubs. Since then, Moyer has also played with several bands, including a two-year stint with the Philadelphia band, the 6th Street Quaternion. His newest band, Jazz Avenue, plays “straight ahead jazz” or “hard bop,” which encompasses many jazz standards from the 1950s and 1960s. Some of their repertoire includes “Misty,” “My Funny Valentine,” and songs by Miles Davis, Hank Mobley, and ‘John Coltrane.

The group has a self-titled CD that they sell at performances.