1981, DeRenzo meets jazz pianist Tom Zink on a Saddleback Big Band gig at Mission Viejo Mall. This leads to forming a band with bass player Bill Bieschke and Canadian jazz guitarist Brian Hughes who Bill meets at GIT in Hollywood. The band known as The Brian Hughes Group performs at LA jazz clubs including Two Dollar Bills and others in the Southern California area including The Wind and Sea in Dana Point. Summer of 1982, DeRenzo, Tom Zink and Bill Bieschke travel to Edmonton, Alberta, to perform at Walden's and other clubs in Edmonton and in Banff, Alberta.