William Parker is an American free jazz double bassist. Beginning in the 1980s, Parker played with Cecil Taylor for over a decade, and he has led the Little Huey Creative Music Orchestra since 1981. The Village Voice named him "the most consistently brilliant free jazz bassist of all time" and DownBeat has called him "one of the most adventurous and prolific bandleaders in jazz".
Mat Maneri is an American composer, violin, and viola player. He is the son of the saxophonist Joe Maneri and Sonja Maneri.
Daniel Carter is an American free jazz musician who plays saxophone, trumpet, and flute.
Susie Ibarra is a contemporary composer and percussionist who has worked and recorded with jazz, classical, world, and indigenous musicians. One of SPIN's "100 Greatest Drummers of Alternative Music," she is known for her work as a performer in avant-garde, jazz, world, and new music. As a composer, Ibarra incorporates diverse styles and the influences of Philippine Kulintang, jazz, classical, poetry, musical theater, opera, and electronic music. Ibarra remains active as a composer, performer, educator, and documentary filmmaker in the U.S., Philippines, and internationally. She is interested and involved in works that blend folkloric and indigenous tradition with avant-garde. In 2004, Ibarra began field recording indigenous Philippine music, and in 2009 she co-founded Song of the Bird King, an organization focusing on the preservation of Indigenous music and ecology.
AUM Fidelity is an independent record label in New York City primarily devoted to avant-garde jazz artists such as William Parker, Matthew Shipp, and David S. Ware. It has also released recordings by improvisational rock band Shrimp Boat and exclusively distributes the CaseQuarter and Riti labels. It was founded in 1997 by former Homestead Records label manager Steven Joerg.
Roy Sinclair Campbell Jr. was an American trumpeter frequently linked to free jazz, although he also performed rhythm and blues and funk during his career.
Ellery Eskelin is an American tenor saxophonist raised in Baltimore, Maryland and residing in New York City. His parents, Rodd Keith and Bobbie Lee, were both professional musicians. Rodd Keith died in 1974 in Los Angeles, California, and became a cult figure after his death in the little-known field of "song-poem" music. Organist Bobbie Lee performed in local nightclubs in Baltimore in the early 1960s and provided Eskelin an introduction to standards from the Great American Songbook as well as inspiring an early interest in jazz music.
Vinny Golia is an American composer and multi-instrumentalist specializing in woodwind instruments. He performs in the genres of contemporary music, jazz, free jazz, and free improvisation.
David Spencer Ware was an American jazz saxophonist, composer, and bandleader.
Theodor Franz Jörgensmann is a German jazz clarinetist.
Matt Lavelle is a jazz trumpet, flugelhorn, alto clarinet, and bass clarinet player.
Gerald Cleaver is a jazz drummer from Detroit, Michigan.
Cooper-Moore is an American jazz pianist, composer and instrument builder/designer based in New York City.
Tomeka Reid is an American composer, improviser, cellist, curator, and teacher.
Darius Jones is an American jazz alto saxophonist and composer.
Man'ish Boy is the debut album by American jazz saxophonist Darius Jones, which was recorded in 2009 and released on the AUM Fidelity label. The cover art is a three-piece commission by Randal Wilcox entitled Portrait of a Man'ish Boy.
Big Gurl is an album by American jazz saxophonist Darius Jones, which was recorded in 2011 and released on the AUM Fidelity label. Big Gurl is a new character in the Man'ish Boy universe created by Jones and graphic artist Randal Wilcox.
Grass Roots is the eponymous debut album by the free jazz collective quartet consisting of Sean Conly on bass, Alex Harding on baritone sax, Darius Jones on alto sax and Chad Taylor on drums. It was recorded in 2011 and released on the AUM Fidelity label.
Jaimie Breezy Branch was an American jazz trumpeter and composer.
Chad Taylor is an American drummer, percussionist, and composer. Taylor leads both the Chad Taylor Trio with Brian Settles and Neil Podgurski and Circle Down with Angelica Sanchez and Chris Lightcap. He is a founding member of the Chicago Underground along with Jeff Parker and Rob Mazurek.
