"Fred Lonberg-Holm (born 1962) is an American cellist based in Chicago. He relocated from New York City to Chicago in 1995. Lonberg-Holm is most identified with playing free improvisation and free jazz. He is also a composer of concert works. As a session musician and arranger, he is credited on many rock, pop, and country records. Lonberg-Holm currently leads the Valentine Trio, with Jason Roebke (bass) and Frank Rosaly (drums). This jazz trio performs original compositions as well as tunes by both jazz composers (e.g. Sun Ra) and pop songwriters (e.g. Jeff Tweedy, Syd Barrett). The group released its first album Terminal Valentine, in 2007, which was reviewed by AllAboutJazz critic Nils Jacobson.

He coordinates and directs performances of his Lightbox Orchestra, an improvising ensemble with a flexible, ever-changing membership. Lonberg-Holm does not play an instrument in this group, but rather conducts its non-idiomatic improvisations via the "lightbox" and by holding up handwritten signs. The lightbox contains a light bulb for each musician which Lonberg-Holm switches on or off to suggest when they should play. Collective groups of which Lonberg-Holm is a member include Terminal 4 who released an album, in 2003, called When I'm Falling that received four and a half stars, and AMG Album Pick by Allmusic, and it was reviewed by Allmusic's Joslyn Layne, The Boxhead Ensemble, Pillow, the Lonberg-Holm/Kessler/Zerang trio (with Kent Kessler and Michael Zerang), and the Dörner/Lonberg-Holm duo (with Axel Dörner).

Among groups led by other people, he is a member of the Vandermark 5, the Joe McPhee Trio, the Peter Brötzmann Chicago Tentet, Keefe Jackson's Fast Citizens, and Ken Vandermark's Territory Band. When he lived in New York, Lonberg-Holm frequently collaborated with the rock group God Is My Co-Pilot pianist and composer Anthony Coleman as well as multi-instrumentalist Paul Duncan of Warm Ghost. In Chicago, he has worked with Jim O'Rourke, Bobby Conn (on "Llovessonngs" [1999] and "The Golden Age" [2001]), The Flying Luttenbachers, Lake Of Dracula, Wilco, Rivulets, Mats Gustafsson, Sten Sandell, Jaap Blonk, John Butcher, and a great many others.

Lonberg-Holm's concert works have been premiered by William Winant, Carrie Biolo, the Austin New Music Co-Op, Subtropics Ensemble, Duo Atypica, the Schanzer/Speach Duo, New Winds, Paul Hoskin, Kevin Norton, the E.S.P. Ensemble, and others. His scores for dance have been performed at the Brooklyn Academy of Music and Dance Theater Workshop as well as many other venues. He is a former composition student of Anthony Braxton and Morton Feldman. He performed improvised music in the role of a troubled composer who finds inspiration in the love of a couple he spots on the street in a short film for the Playboy channel."

"Bassist and Chicago native Nick Macri has careened in an out of various musical situations over the years from creative group settings and notable sideman gigs to theater work and solo excursions. He is/was a contributing member to many, varied groups including Ken Vandermark's Audio One, instrumental explorers Euphone (Jade Tree) and Heroic Doses (SUB>POP), art-pop quartet The Zincs (Thrill Jockey), the pastoral psych-folk of The Horse's Ha (with Janet Bean and James Elkington), and instrumental trio Stirrup with Fred Lonberg-Holm & Charles Rumback, (Clean Feed, 482 Records). He has also performed and toured as a sideman and recorded sessions with an eclectic list of artists including Laetitia Sadier (Stereolab), Ken Vandermark, The Sea and Cake, Mark Eitzel (American Music Club), Jeremy Enigk (Sunny Day Real Estate), Nina Nastasia, Azita, Bobby Conn, Lanterna, Tim Kinsella (Friend/Enemy), The Lonesome Organist, James Elkington & Nathan Salsburg, Wanees Zarour's Middle East Music Ensemble, Bruce Licher (Savage Republic, Scenic), Tara Jane O'Neil, and Hector Zazou. He has performed across Europe, Asia, South America, and North America including concerts at Saalfelden Jazz Festival (Austria), Festival de Musique Actuelle (Montreal), Reading Festival and Leeds Festival (U.K.), World Music Festival Chicago, All Tomorrow's Parties (U.K.), the London Institute of Contemporary Arts, the Museum of Contemporary Art, the Logan Center and the Pritzker Pavilion (Chicago)."

Charles Rumback is a Chicago drummer, composer, and bandleader. He has performed in the groups Colorlist, From Beyond, Stirrup, and Who Cares How Long You Sink, and his own bands with sidemen like bassist John Tate, pianist Jim Baker, saxophonist Greg Ward, and bassist James Singleton.