"Filipino-American guitarist/composer Karl Evangelista (b.1986) ranks among a new wave of musicians pushing the traditions of jazz and experimental rock into the 21st century. Synthesizing the heavy legacy of contemporary improvised music with popular song and 20th century composition, Evangelista explores multicultural concepts with sonic intensity and political fervor.

Signal to Noise magazine hails Evangelista as "one of the most original instrumentalists and composers of his generation," and as the creative force behind boundary-breaking group Grex, Evangelista's music has been called an "otherworldly experience" (Eugene Weekly), "a near-seamless blend of modern jazz, contemporary structuralist composition, indie rock, and blues rock" (Tiny Mix Tapes).

Evangelista has explored new realms in sound and intercultural collaboration across a vast spectrum of academic and professional situations. He has worked in a wide variety of ensembles with or under the direction of, among others, Achyutan (Marvin Patillo), Bruce Ackley, Scott Amendola, Tatsu Aoki, Steve Berlin (Los Lobos), India Cooke, Nava Dunkelman, Fred Frith, Eddie Gale, Jordan Glenn, Ben Goldberg, Phillip Greenlief, Alexander Hawkins, Jon Jang, Darren Johnston, Lewis Jordan, Oliver Lake, Lenora Lee, Myra Melford, Hafez Modirzadeh, Louis Moholo-Moholo, Bill Noertker, James Norton, Larry Ochs, Zeena Parkins, John-Carlos Perea, Dan Plonsey, Gino Robair, Rent Romus, Daniel Schmidt, Marcus Shelby, Aram Shelton, David Slusser, Damon Smith, Karen Stackpole, Melody Takata, Marshall Trammell, Eli Wallace, Wayne Wallace, Trevor Watts, and AIR co-founder Francis Wong, and has performed in new arrangements of works by Luciano Chessa, Christian Jendreiko, Polly Moller, Moe! Staiano, AACM co-founder Muhal Richard Abrams, and Art Ensemble of Chicago co-founder Roscoe Mitchell. Evangelista has presented work at the Guelph Jazz Festival, the United States of Asian America Festival, Myra Melford's New Frequencies Festival, the Switchboard Festival, the Sonic Circuits Festival, and the Outsound New Music Summit, and he was awarded a 2011 Zellerbach Grant for Taglish, a suite centered on Filipino-American culture; an album of the composition was successfully funded via Kickstarter and released in 2012.

Evangelista holds a BA in Interdisciplinary Studies from UC Berkeley (Summa Cum Laude, '06) and an MFA in Improvised Music from Mills College ('09). He has lectured at UC Berkeley and directed guitar ensembles at the East Bay Center for the Performing Arts and San Francisco Waldorf High School. Karl is also a licensed instructor in the popular Kinderguitar method."

"Bobby Lee Bradford (born July 19, 1934) is an American jazz trumpeter, cornetist, bandleader, and composer. He is noted for his work with Ornette Coleman. In October 2009, Bradford became the second recipient of the Festival of New Trumpet Music's Award of Recognition.

Bobby Lee Bradford's life begins in Mississippi, he and his family then moved to Dallas, Texas, in 1946. He moved to Los Angeles, California in 1953 where he reunited with Ornette Coleman, whom he had previously known in Texas. Bradford subsequently joined Coleman's ensemble, but was drafted into the U.S. Air Force and replaced by Don Cherry.

After playing in military bands from late 1954 to late 1958, he rejoined Coleman's quartet from 1961 to 1963, which infrequently performed in public, but was indeed recorded under Coleman's Atlantic contract. Quite unfortunately, these tapes were among those many destroyed in the Great Atlantic Vault Fire. Freddie Hubbard acted as Bradford's replacement upon his departure to return to the West Coast and pursue further studies. Bradford soon began a long-running and relatively well-documented association with the clarinetist John Carter, a pairing that brought both increased exposure at international festivals (though the records remain scantily available, when one excludes web rips and bootlegs). Following Carter's death in 1991, Bradford fronted his own ensemble known as The Mo'tet, with which he has continued to perform since. He is the father of drummer Dennis Bradford. He is also the father of jazz vocalist Carmen Bradford.

He holds a B.M. degree from Huston-Tillotson College (now Huston-Tillotson University) in Austin, Texas.

In addition to Coleman, Bradford has performed with Eric Dolphy, Leon "Ndugu" Chancler, Ingebrigt HŒker-Flaten, Bob Stewart, Charlie Haden, George Lewis (trmbn.), James Newton, Frode Gjerstad, Vinny Golia, Paal Nilssen-Love, and David Murray, who was previously a student of his in the 1970s.

He is an instructor at Pasadena City College in Pasadena, California, and Pomona College in Claremont, California, where he teaches The History of Jazz, known to be one of the most popular classes available."

Rei Scampavia is a pianist, a member of Karl Evangelista's Apura and the duo Grex with Karl Evangelista.

"William Roper is a multi-disciplinary artist residing in Los Angeles. His experience ranges from the symphony stage to free improvisation groups. He has toured Europe, North and South America, and Japan as a soloist and with ensembles. His musicianship is represented on over 60 recordings, including twelve as leader and co-leader. He has played or recorded with numerous artists and ensembles including the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Los Angeles Master Chorale, Elton John, Leon Russell, Yusef Lateef, Michiyo Yagi, James Newton, Bobby Bradford, Francis Wong, Horace Tapscott, Anthony Braxton, Douglas Ewart, Daisuke Fuwa, Michael Vlatkovich, Vinny Golia, Wadada Leo Smith, Tim McGraw, Glenn Horiuchi and many others. In addition, he has played on several major motion picture soundtracks.

Roper has received several awards from organizations such as NEA, California Arts Council, City of Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs, Meet the Composer, American Music Center, American Composers Forum, Durfee Foundation, Broady Arts Fund and others. He has been a resident composer at the Djerassi Institute in California and the Oberfaelzer Kuenstlerhaus in Bavaria. He has been an Artist Fellow in Japan of the Japan-U.S. Friendship Commission.

As a composer he has fulfilled commissions for the Gloria Newman Dance Theater, Dance L.A., SASSAS, among others. His compositions have been performed in the U.S., Europe and Japan. Click here for a listing of Roper's compositions.

He creates works that merge music, stage performance, spoken word and the visual arts. These works, whether site-specific, for the concert hall, theater, gallery, digital platforms or recordings, explore histories of place, ethnic and cultural groups, and self-history. They map his movement through these landscapes. In a sense, he is a cartographer.

In addition to his own work he has collaborated with such artists as Jackie Apple, Linda Austin, Bob Carroll, Heidi Duckler, John Fleck, Anna Homler, Scott Kellman, Dan Kwong, Jeff McMahon, Joseph Mitchell, Betty Nash, Gloria Newman, Rudy Perez, Will Salmon, Joseph Santarromana, Eve Stabolepsy and Bernie White.

As a visual artist his media are painting, assemblage, video and performance art. His work has been exhibited in the United States and Europe."

"Robert A. (Bobby) López is currently Professor of Instruction @txst and the marching percussion coordinator for the @txstbmb. Mr. López is an active educator, clinician, performer and adjudicator throughout the United States. He attended Del Mar College in Corpus Christi, TX., and received a Bachelor of Music degree in Music Education from Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi and a Master of Music degree in Percussion Performance from Texas State University. Aside from his duties at Texas State University, Bobby has performed as a regular extra in the Austin Symphony Orchestra since 2005. He continues to perform with ASO, Austin Opera and Ballet Austin. He has also performed with the Mid-Texas Symphony and Corpus Christi Symphony Orchestra. He is published by Tapspace Publications and is an endorser for Pearl/Adams Percussion, Innovative Percussion, SABIAN Cymbals, and Grover Pro Percussion."