Lou Donaldson

Roy Ayers

Ayers began his career as a post-bop jazz artist, releasingseveral albums with Atlantic Records, before his tenure atPolydor Records beginning in the 1970s, during which hehelped pioneer jazz-funk.

Currently, there is a documentary in progress called the RoyAyers Project featuring Ayers and many Hip Hop producerswho have sampled his music and other people who have beeninfluenced by him and his music.

Jimmy Cobb

The legendary jazz drummer, was presented with the NationalEndowment for the Arts (NEA) Jazz Masters award in 2008. Asuperb, mostly self-taught musician, Jimmy is the elderstatesman of all the incredible Miles Davis bands. Jimmy’sinspirational work with Miles, John Coltrane, CannonballAdderly and Co. spanned 1957 until 1963, and included themasterpiece "Kind of Blue", the most popular jazz recording inhistory.

Jazz critics agree that “Sweet Poppa Lou” Donaldson is one of the greatest altosaxophonists of all time. He began his career as a bandleader with Blue NoteRecords, he had found his sound, though it would continue to sweeten over theyears -- earning him his famed nickname --“Sweet Poppa Lou.” He made a seriesof classic records for Blue Note in the 50’s, and takes pride in having showcasedmany musicians who made their first records as sidemen for him: Horace Silver,Clifford Brown, Grant Green, Blue Mitchell, Donald Byrd. Today, Lou continuesto play at his very best, entertaining audiences worldwide with spiritedperformances that are always soulful, thoroughly swinging, and steeped in theblues. Lou’s hits on Blue Note Records are still high demand favorites and, today,he is the label’s oldest musician from that notable era of jazz.

Javon Jackson

Javon Jackson came into international prominence as a member of Art Blakeyand the Jazz Messengers. As a member of Blakey’s Jazz Messengers, Javontoured and made many recordings with the legendary drummer. In addition toBlakey, Jackson has toured and recorded with Elvin Jones, Freddie Hubbard,Betty Carter, Cedar Walton, Ron Carter, Donald Byrd, Dr. Lonnie Smith, RichardDavis, Bobby Hutcherson, Curtis Fuller and Stanley Turrentine. As a recordingartist, Jackson has appeared on over 125 recordings. Additionally, he hasdeveloped aformidable career as a leader, recording and touring throughout the world.Javon’s current musical group, The Javon Jackson Band, incorporates many stylesincluding jazz, funk, r & b and rock.

Luther François

Luther Renaldo François was born, St. Lucia. At the Jamaica School of Music hestudied with Melba Liston, among others. In 1980 he did a State department tourwith Melba Liston’s group and was musical director for St Lucia’s 1981 Carifestapresentation while working with the island’s department of culture. In 1991 hestarted the October Jazz festival which eventually gave way to the tourismindustry’s St. Lucia Jazz Festival.

Helen SungWinner of the Kennedy Center’s Mary Lou Williams Piano Competition, pianist &composer Helen Sung has been called “one of the brightest emerging stars injazz today”, and named by Wynton Marsalis as one of his 2011 "Who's GotNext: Jazz Musicians to Watch," pianist-composer Helen Sung is blazing herown path - as an Asian-American artist, she bridges diverse worlds with asingular vision and sound.Sung was accepted into the inaugural class of the Thelonious Monk Institute ofJazz Performance at the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston. Anintensive program accepting only seven students (forming a jazz septet), theInstitute was an unprecedented opportunity to study and perform with some ofthe greatest masters of jazz music: Clark Terry, Wynton Marsalis,Jimmy Heath, Jackie McLean, Bobby Watson, Harry “Sweets” Edison, JamesMoody, Ron Carter (artistic director of the program), amongothers.

Les McCann

Les McCann’s signature soul groove style motheredan entire movement of back-to-the-roots jazz.McCann's laid-back personality has always been anopening for musicians to perform together. Les is bestknown for his work in the late 60s and early 70s withpartner/saxman Eddie Harris, whom he firstencountered at the Montreux Jazz Festival. Theresulting album, Swiss Movement (1960), was a topselling jazz record, and the single "Compared to What"sold platinum. The same year, Much Les, withoutHarris, hit hard with the ballad "With These Hands."Second Movement (1971), reunited McCann and

Harris, and acclaimed recordings such as Invitation to Openness (1972), the double-record Live at Montreux(1973), and Layers (1973) followed. Les McCann helped pioneer the use of electric piano, clavinet, andsynthesizer, starting with this work which was one of the earliest electronic jazz albums.

Mulgrew Miller

Miller is said to have set his mind definitely to becoming a jazz pianist after seeingOscar Peterson on television. Much of his playing has the same technical prowess sooften connected with Peterson. Mulgrew began his career as member of Art Blakey'sJazz Messengers. He is the Director of Jazz Studies at William Paterson University.

George Cables

"I never really listened to pianists when I was coming up. I would probably say I'vebeen more influenced by Miles or Trane and their whole bands rather than by anysingle pianist. The concept of the music is more important than listening tosomebody's chops, somebody's technique, The Way Miles' band held together, it wasjust like magic. You were transported to another world."Collaborations and recordings with tenor saxophonists Joe Henderson and SonnyRollins ("Next Album:), trumpeters Freddie Hubbard and Woody Shaw ("Blackstone

Legacy"), and vibist Bobby Hutcberson made Cables' wide-ranging keyboard skills, often on electric piano,amply evident. Demand for his sensitive accompaniment increased and by the end of the 1970s, Cableswas garnering a reputation as everyone's favorite sideman.

Craig HandyFrom the time he arrived in New York at age 23 in 1986, saxophonistCraig Handy was acknowledged as a musician with big, burly tenorsound, sharp wit, and above all, individuality. Over the next few yearshe would breath life into those accolades through a number ofimportant associations: holding his own on the front line of legendarybebop drummer Roy Haynes’ band, working with South Africanpianist Abdullah Ibrahim, and weaving sensuous obbligati behindBetty Carter on the kind of tunes most young artist are presumed notto understand.

"Mr. Handy has a forthright, authoritative tone, and he is steeped in mid-1960's jazz, from hard-bop'stransfigured blues to John Coltrane's sheets of sound. His solos are assured and logical. He'll carry asequence as far as it will go, then shift to another gambit, from steady eighth-notes to triplets, from quickruns to a thicker, buzzier tone that alludes to the swing era. He can bring out the tenderness in a balladwithout irony; he can also turn a blues phrase into a sly chuckle."

—Jon Pareles, New York Times

Billy HartBilly Hart is one of the unsung giants of jazz drumming. Appearing onclassic recordings by Herbie Hancock, Miles Davis, McCoy Tyner andPharoah Sanders, Hart continues to push forward in performancesand recordings with Charles Lloyd, Dave Liebman, Joe Lovano andDon Byron's Ivey-Divey trio. If he's not in New York playing, he's eithertouring the globe or teaching at one of five colleges and universities atwhich he is faculty

Billy Harper“Billy Harper has one of the most impressive resumes in jazz, includingstints with Gil Evans, Art Blakey, Elvin Jones, Max Roach, Lee Morgan,Thad Jones-Mel Lewis,Charles Tolliver and Randy Weston, but it is hisunique sound on the tenor and distinctive style as a composer that hasbrought him international acclaim and truly setshim apart from mostother players.” Russ Musto

Eddie HendersonHenderson was influenced by the early fusion work of jazz musicianMiles Davis, who was a friend of his parents. They met in 1957 whenHenderson was aged seventeen, and played a gig together.After completing his medical education, Henderson went back to theBay area for his medical internship and residency - and the break thatthrust him fully into music. It was a week-long gig with HerbieHancock's Mwandishi band that led to a three-year job, lasting from1970-73. In addition to the three albums recorded by the group underHancock's name, Henderson recorded his first two albums, Realization

(1972) and Inside Out (1973), with Hancock and the Mwandishi group.After leaving Hancock, the trumpeter worked extensively with Pharoah Sanders, Mike Nock, NormanConnors, and Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers, returning to the San Francisco Bay Area in 1975 wherehe joined the Latin-jazz group Azteca, and fronted his own bands

Cecil McBeeDouble bassist Cecil McBee got his start with the Paul Winter Sextet, and earnedinternational acclaim in the mid-60s touring with Charles Lloyd and Pharoah Sanders.He went on to perform around the world with such artists as Elvin Jones, McCoy Tyner,Miles Davis, Bobby Hutcherson, Keith Jarrett, Wayne Shorter, Freddie Hubbard,Sonny Rollins, and Joe Henderson.

David WeissThe trumpeter, composer, and arranger has had the opportunity to learn from someof the music's quintessential figures by touring and/or recording with the likes ofFreddie Hubbard, Charles Tolliver, Billy Harper, Bobby Hutcherson, Slide Hampton,James Moody, Tom Harrell, Louis Hayes, Muhal Richard Abrams and Billy Hartamong many others. Weiss took one his occasional special projects The Cookersand decided to solidify the personnel and make it a real band that would feature someof the most important musicians in jazz that are still living but in his opinion a bitunsung or neglected and give them another showcase for their amazingcompositional skills and outstanding improvisational prowess.

Zon Del BarrioAn intergenerational 12-piece orchestrawhose members span several ages, itsyoung percussion section is alreadybeing called "los monstritos" as these"little monsters" of rhythm are making aname for themselves alongside theladies of ZDB that provide thisensemble's swing. Founded by Latinmusic historian, composer and writerAurora Flores and her husband, musicaldirector and arranger David Fernandez,Zon del Barrio is a play on the words"son" the musical genre foundthroughout the Caribbean and "Zone"where Latinos live, work and struggle tofind their balance in the "zon." f you likesalsa, they do it "dura" hardcore style. Ifyou like Boricua roots music, Cortijostyle Zon del Barrio brings music fromthe African Diaspora to the streets ofNew York.