Phoenix Pipe Band

Longest running pipe band in Arizona - since 1958

2020 Phoenix Pipe Band Executive Board

President – Andy Minto

Vice President – Paul Nies

Treasurer – Elizabeth Cox

Secretary – Rod Bain

Phoenix Pipe Band Musical Leadership

Grade 3 Pipe Major – Jeff Anderson

Jeff Anderson began his gratifying Scottish arts career in the Dunedin, Florida school system, joining the Grade 2 City of Dunedin Pipe Band his junior year at Dunedin High School. He won the Southern United States Pipe Band Association (SUSPBA) Champion Supreme title for multiple consecutive years and was promoted to the solo open class in 1996.

During college, Jeff organized and led the University City Pipe Band in Gainesville, FL and returned to the City of Dunedin Pipe Band after graduation.  He served as chairman of the SUSPBA Music Advisory Board from 2003 to 2012. He is a qualified piping adjudicator on the EUSPBA and WUSPBA judges’ panels and has judged solo piping and pipe bands from California to Florida. Jeff resides in Scottsdale, Arizona and is the pipe major of the Grade 3 Phoenix Pipe Band. He has served on the grading committee for the WUSPBA Music Board since 2013, has taught piping in the Lifelong Learning program at Yavapai College, and routinely teaches several successful, prize-winning students across Arizona.

Grade 3 Drum Sergeant – Kris Gordon

Grade 3 Pipe Sergeant – Will Thayer

Will Thayer started on the bagpipes when he was 17. He first started playing with pipe bands in 2004 when he joined the Spirit of Scotland pipe band. A few years after the band merged with the Mesa Caledonia Pipe Band, Will started performing with the Renaissance Rock and Roll band called Tartanic, and still plays with them today. Will joined the Phoenix Pipe Band in 2015 and loves playing with the group. He currently competes in Grade 1 solo piping in addition to competing with the band. Will’s dream is to be playing with his children in the circle one day.

Grade 5 Pipe Major – Neil Bacon

Neil started bagpiping in 1995, in his home state of Wisconsin and started piping with Badger Pipes & Drums in 1997 – turning into Madison Pipes and Drums, where he and the band had many years of successful competitions and performances.
Neil has competed with Milwaukee Scottish and was the Pipe Sergeant for the Police and Fire Fighter band Bravest and Finest Memorial Pipe Band in Madison. Shortly after moving to AZ in 2017 and an encounter with Will Thayer, Neil started piping with Phoenix Pipe Band.

Grade 5 Pipe Sergeant – Geof Shively

Phoenix Pipe Band Chairs

Quarter Master – Len Wood

Travel Coordinator – Gloria Cardenas

Social Media – Katelyn Gale and Dallas Gale

WUSPBA Desert Branch Member-at-Large – Marianne Sullivan