Wayne Shorter was an American jazz saxophonist, composer and bandleader. Shorter came to mainstream prominence in 1959 upon joining Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers, for whom he eventually became the primary composer. In 1964 he joined Miles Davis' Second Great Quintet, and then co-founded the jazz fusion band Weather Report in 1970. He recorded more than 20 albums as a bandleader.
Astralwerks is an American record label primarily focused on electronic music that is now owned by Universal Music Group. Its material is distributed via Capitol Music Group in the United States. The label was founded in 1993 and, in its early years, featured prominent British acts like The Future Sound of London, Fatboy Slim and The Chemical Brothers. In recent years, its roster has expanded to include acts like Halsey, Marshmello, Porter Robinson, Illenium, Zhu and numerous others. In 2018, Astralwerks' headquarters were moved from its original home of New York City to Los Angeles.
Verve Records is an active American record label owned by Universal Music Group (UMG). Founded in 1956 by Norman Granz, the label is home to the world's largest jazz catalogue, which includes recordings by artists such as Ella Fitzgerald, Cal Tjader, Nina Simone, Stan Getz, Bill Evans, Billie Holiday, Oscar Peterson, Jon Batiste, and Diana Krall among others as well as a diverse mix of other recordings that fall outside of jazz including albums from disparate artists like the Velvet Underground, Kurt Vile, Arooj Aftab, Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention and many more. It absorbed the catalogues of Granz's earlier label, Clef Records, founded in 1946; Norgran Records, founded in 1953; and material which was previously licensed to Mercury Records.
Manfred Eicher is a German record producer and the founder of ECM Records.
Kevin Hays is an American jazz pianist and composer. He began playing in New York while still at high school and led his first record date in 1990. He has recorded more than twenty albums as leader or co-leader, including three each for SteepleChase and Blue Note Records. He led a long-standing trio with bassist Doug Weiss and drummer Bill Stewart, and has also sung with his New Day Trio of bassist Rob Jost and drummer Greg Joseph.
Vijay Iyer is an American composer, pianist, bandleader, producer and writer based in New York City. The New York Times has called him a "social conscience, multimedia collaborator, system builder, rhapsodist, historical thinker and multicultural gateway". Iyer received a 2013 MacArthur Fellowship, a Doris Duke Performing Artist Award, a United States Artists Fellowship, a Grammy nomination, and the Alpert Award in the Arts. He was voted Jazz Artist of the Year in the DownBeat magazine international critics' polls in 2012, 2015, 2016, and 2018. In 2014, he was jointly appointed with tenure to Harvard University's departments of Music and African American Studies as the Franklin D. and Florence Rosenblatt Professor of the Arts.
Anders Osborne is an American singer-songwriter. He tours solo and with a band, and often plays in North Mississippi Osborne (N.M.O), a group formed by Osborne and North Mississippi Allstars.
Ambrose Akinmusire is an American avant-garde jazz composer and trumpeter.
Liberty Ellman is a jazz guitarist born in London and raised in the United States, beginning in New York City. In the early 1980s, Ellman's family moved to California. Before leaving New York, he attended City and Country School in Greenwich Village.
The Ed Palermo Big Band is a New York City-based ensemble that has been active since the late 1970s, playing the compositions and arrangements of their leader, New Jersey born saxophonist Ed Palermo. The band is best known for Palermo's arrangements of the music of Frank Zappa, but they also perform and record compositions by Todd Rundgren, The Beatles, Miles Davis, Wayne Shorter, The Rolling Stones, Blodwyn Pig, King Crimson, Jethro Tull and many, many other composers from a wide range of genres.
Snarky Puppy is an American jazz fusion band led by bassist Michael League. Founded in 2004, Snarky Puppy combines a variety of jazz idioms, rock, world music, and funk and has won five Grammy Awards. Although the band has worked with vocalists, League described Snarky Puppy as "a pop band that improvises a lot, without vocals".
Troy Beetles, better known by his stage name Datsik, is a Canadian DJ and music producer. His first release was in the spring of 2009. He has since played at venues all over the world, including festivals such as Coachella, Ultra Music Festival, EDC Las Vegas, Stereosonic, Boonstock, Shambhala Music Festival, and Electric Zoo.
Ellen Andrea Wang is a Norwegian jazz musician and composer. She is the cousin of singer-songwriter Marthe Wang. Raised in Søndre Land, Oppland, she released her debut album, Diving, in 2014. She formed the band Pixel in 2010. Wang has toured with Manu Katché and Marilyn Mazur and has performed with Sting. Since the summer of 2019, she has been touring extensively with her critically acclaimed Closeness project, a trio with London-based guitarist Rob Luft & Swedish master drummer Jon Fält. They are signed to Brooklyn-based label Ropeadope Records and have performed at jazz festivals across Europe.
Cécile McLorin Salvant is a French-American jazz vocalist. Salvant is one of the most highly regarded jazz vocalists of her generation, often winning DownBeat annual critics polls. She has released seven albums since 2010, six of which have been nominated for Grammy Awards. She is a 3-time winner of the Best Jazz Vocal Album Grammy Award for her 2015 album For One to Love, her 2017 album Dreams and Daggers, and her 2018 album The Window, each released on the Mack Avenue label. Salvant's most recent album is Mélusine, released in 2023 by Nonesuch Records. Salvant primarily sings in English or French, her first language, and has also recorded songs in Occitan and Haitian Kreyòl.
Monstercat is a Canadian independent electronic music record label based in Vancouver, British Columbia.
Kris Davis is a Canadian jazz pianist and composer.
Tomeka Reid is an American composer, improviser, cellist, curator, and teacher.
Bent Knee is an American art rock band formed in Boston, Massachusetts, in 2009. The band performs in multiple genres and draws from multiple influences, including pop, industrial rock, progressive rock and avant-garde. The band is known for unpredictable dynamic contrast and the wide vocal range of its singer, Courtney Swain.
Relative Pitch Records is an American independent record label specializing in free jazz and avant-garde jazz, free improvisation, and experimental music. Run by Kevin Reilly, Relative Pitch has been ranked among the top jazz record labels in The New York City Jazz Record and DownBeat year-end lists, and praised by publications and organizations including The Guardian, NPR Music, The Brooklyn Rail, and in Bandcamp Daily's label profile, "Relative Pitch is Built on Enthusiasm for Experimental Music".
Stephen Michael Feigenbaum, known professionally as Johan Lenox, is an American singer, composer and producer. His musical style combines elements of trap music, hip hop, pop and classical music. He began gaining attention for his production for high-profile artists like Travis Scott and Kanye West, among others. Since debuting in 2019, Lenox has released three studio albums.
