Herbert Jeffrey Hancock is an American jazz pianist, keyboardist, bandleader, and composer. Hancock started his career with trumpeter Donald Byrd's group. He shortly thereafter joined the Miles Davis Quintet, where he helped to redefine the role of a jazz rhythm section and was one of the primary architects of the post-bop sound. In the 1970s, Hancock experimented with jazz fusion, funk, and electro styles, using a wide array of synthesizers and electronics. It was during this period that he released perhaps his best-known and most influential album, Head Hunters.
Dave Douglas is an American jazz trumpeter, composer, and educator. His career includes more than fifty recordings as a leader and more than 500 published compositions. His ensembles include the Dave Douglas Quintet; Sound Prints, a quintet co-led with saxophonist Joe Lovano; Uplift, a sextet with bassist Bill Laswell; Present Joys with pianist Uri Caine and Andrew Cyrille; High Risk, an electronic ensemble with Shigeto, Jonathan Aaron, and Ian Chang; and Engage, a sextet with Jeff Parker, Tomeka Reid, Anna Webber, Nick Dunston, and Kate Gentile.
Roy Owen Haynes is an American jazz drummer. He is among the most recorded drummers in jazz. In a career lasting over 80 years, he has played swing, bebop, jazz fusion, avant-garde jazz and is considered a pioneer of jazz drumming. "Snap Crackle" was a nickname given to him in the 1950s.
Leftover Salmon is an American jam band from Boulder, Colorado, formed in 1989. The band's music is a blend of bluegrass, rock, country, and Cajun/Zydeco. Over their thirty years as a band Salmon have released seven studio albums and three live albums. The band celebrated their continuing thirty-year career with the release of the biographical book, Leftover Salmon: Thirty Years of Festival! and a vinyl box-set re-release of all of their studio albums.
Waylon Albright "Shooter" Jennings is an American musician and record producer. He is the son of country singers Waylon Jennings and Jessi Colter. In a career spanning three decades, Shooter Jennings has explored a variety of genres as part of his eclectic sound.
Wakarusa Music and Camping Festival was a four-day music festival held annually in early June from 2004 to 2015 at Mulberry Mountain near Ozark, Arkansas. Named for the Wakarusa River, the festival was first held at Clinton State Park immediately outside of Lawrence, Kansas. It moved to its new location, just outside Fort Smith and Fayetteville, Arkansas in 2009. The festival is known for an eclectic mix of music and has featured artists like Grammy award winners the Black Keys, The Flaming Lips, Wilco, and Bela Fleck and the Flecktones. Activities other than music included disc golf, yoga, hiking, and swimming in the Mulberry River.
Kip Hanrahan is an American jazz music impresario, record producer and percussionist.
Julian Lage is an American guitarist and composer.
Nicole Mitchell is an American jazz flautist and composer who teaches jazz at the University of Virginia. She is a former chairwoman of the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (AACM).
Ben Perowsky is an American drummer, percussionist, composer, and music producer. He is the drummer on stage in the 8 TONY award winning Broadway musical Hadestown. Perowsky leads the Ben Perowsky Trio, Moodswing Orchestra and Upstream Trio with Chris Speed and John Medeski. He is a founding member of the electric jazz group Lost Tribe. A prolific sideman, Perowsky has performed with Roy Ayers, John Scofield, The Lounge Lizards, Joan As Police Woman, Elysian Fields, Darryl Jenifer, Uri Caine, Dave Douglas, Mike Stern, Bob Berg, Walter Becker, Steven Bernstein., and John Zorn.
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".
Josh Deutsch is an American musician and composer. Primarily known as a trumpet player, he is a founding member of the Queens Jazz Overground, leads the band Pannonia and the Josh Deutsch Quintet, and performs regularly in a duo with guitarist Nico Soffiato. Deutsch is also an educator, who has taught privately and at various institutions including the Queens College CPSM and the University of Oregon, as well as mentoring at the Young Composers and Improvisors Workshop. He has toured extensively throughout North America, Europe and Asia during his career.
David Ira Bass is an American jazz pianist, composer, arranger, and lyricist who has released five albums: Gone (2010), NYC Sessions (2015), No Boundaries (2019),The Trio Vol. 1. (2021), and The Trio Vol. 2 (2022). Due to a wrist injury in the mid-1980s, Bass left music to become an attorney. In January 2015, he retired from his position as a Deputy Attorney General for the California State Attorney General's office to devote himself to music.
Justin Kauflin is an American jazz pianist, composer, educator and record producer.
Daniel Greco Costa is a British-Italian-Portuguese jazz pianist and composer known for his original work and for his collaborations with artists such as Randy Brecker, John Patitucci, Mike Stern, Hermeto Pascoal, Dave Liebman, Ivan Lins, Seamus Blake, Dave Douglas, Romero Lubambo, Leila Pinheiro, Marcos Suzano, Jaques Morelenbaum and Roberto Menescal. His music has been featured by publications such as DownBeat and Rolling Stone.
Alex Mercado is a Mexican composer, arranger, and jazz pianist, best known for his particular interpretative style and instrumental technique, incorporating contemporary jazz with pop atmospheres. He has been described by Music Life Magazine as "one of the best Mexican jazz players", and two of his albums have been reviewed by Down Beat.
Annie Booth (US) is an American jazz pianist and educator. Since the age of 16, she studied with jazz organist Pat Bianchi, pianist Jeff Jenkins and Art Lande. She studied at the Colorado Conservatory for the Jazz Arts and went on to earn a Bachelor of Music in Jazz Studies, and a Masters of Jazz Performance and Pedagogy from the Thompson Jazz Studies Program at the University of Colorado Boulder.
Dezron Lamont Douglas is an American jazz double bassist, composer and producer. He has produced for Louis Hayes and Brandee Younger.
Michael Blake is a Canadian-born American saxophonist, composer and arranger. Blake is based in New York City where he has led a robust career leading his own bands. As a sideman Michael has performed with Charlie Hunter, The Lounge Lizards, Steven Bernstein/Henry Butler and the Hot 9, Ben Allison and Ray LaMontagne. The New York Times jazz critic Ben Ratliff wrote,"Mr. Blake, on tenor especially, is an endlessly engaging improviser, and an inquisitive one".
Brian Charette is a jazz pianist, Hammond organist, and electronic music producer. He took 1st place in the 2014 "Downbeat Magazine Critic's Poll Rising Star: Organ" category and "Fan's Decision Jazz Award for Best Organist 2015" in Hot House Magazine. Charette has recorded and performed with music artists such as George Coleman, Oz Noy, Jaimoe, Michael McDonald and Cyndi Lauper.
