"James Arnold Bennington (born May 22, 1970 in Columbus, Ohio) is an American jazz drummer and avant-garde musician based in Chicago, Illinois.

Born in Columbus, Ohio, 1970 James Bennington lived in Detroit, Michigan until 1978 when he relocated to Houston, Texas. He began music studies on clarinet while attending Elementary School, switching to drums at age thirteen, Bennington's experience has come from private study, marching and concert bands both middle and high school, work as a sideman, and as a band leader with his group, Colour and Sound.

Early musical experiences include participation in several jazz and blues sessions in Texas (late 1980s and early 1990s). Bennington studied with Elvin Jones ten years beginning in 1994 and served as band manager / drum tech, from 2000Ð2002 (tours U.S. and Europe).

Residence on West Coast from 1998-2006. Residence in Chicago 2006Ðpresent. Bennington has performed throughout the U.S., Canada, Europe, and South America. He has played and recorded in the jazz and improvised music communities for over a quarter of a century. In Chicago he has been an active contributor to the music scene playing extensively with Ed Schuller (Bassist), Brian Smith (Bassist), Fredrick Jackson Jr. (Saxophonist), Samuel Hasting (guitarist), Jim Baker (piano), Mike W Harmon (bassist), Davi Priest (bassist), Steve Cohn (Pianist), Dustin Laurenzi (Saxophonist), Ben Schmidt-Swartz (Saxophonist), and Artie Black (Saxophonist) among many others.

Most notably, Bennington was a featured performer at the 30th Annual Chicago Jazz Festival, Fred Anderson's Velvet Lounge, and the Tampon-Galerie in Paris (France, 2008). Bennington is proudly endorsed by Dream Cymbals and Gongs, Inc.."

Paul Blaney is an acoustic and electric bassist and composer. Blaney is active in the Vancouver music scene, playing both mainstream and avant-garde jazz styles and with his own trio, Garbo's Hat. He is also known for the groups Awakening, Brahman, NOW Orchestra, Paul Plimley Octet, The Tony Wilson Sextet, This Trio.

"Julian Priester (born June 29, 1935) is an American jazz trombonist. He is sometimes credited "Julian Priester Pepo Mtoto". He has played with Sun Ra, Max Roach, Duke Ellington, John Coltrane, and Herbie Hancock.

Priester attended Chicago's DuSable High School, where he studied under Walter Dyett. In his teens he played with blues and R&B artists such as Muddy Waters, and Bo Diddley, and had the opportunity to jam with jazz players like saxophonist Sonny Stitt.

In the early 1950s, Priester was a member of Sun Ra's big band, recording several albums with the group before leaving Chicago in 1956 to tour with Lionel Hampton and he joined Dinah Washington in 1958. The following year he settled in New York and joined the group led by drummer Max Roach who heard him playing on the Philly Joe Jones album, "Blues for Dracula" (1958). While playing in Roach's group, Priester also recorded two albums as a leader, Keep Swingin' and Spiritsville, both of which were recorded and released by Riverside (the latter by their Jazzland subsidiary) in 1960.

Priester recorded two albums with trumpeter Booker Little in 1961, Out Front and Booker Little and Friend (also known as Victory and Sorrow), the first also features Roach, and Priester took part in the sessions for John Coltrane's Africa/Brass album, which was recorded in the same year. He left Roach's band during 1961, and between then and 1969 appeared as a sideman on albums led by Freddie Hubbard, Stanley Turrentine, Blue Mitchell, Art Blakey, Joe Henderson, McCoy Tyner, Johnny Griffin, and Sam Rivers. In 1969, he accepted an offer to play with Duke Ellington's big band, and he stayed with that ensemble for six months before leaving in 1970 to join pianist Herbie Hancock's fusion sextet.

After leaving the Hancock in 1973, Priester moved to San Francisco, where he recorded two more albums as a leader: Love, Love in 1974 and 1977's Polarization. In 1979 he joined the faculty of Cornish College of the Arts in Seattle, where he taught jazz composition, performance, and history until retiring in 2011.

In the 1980s, he became a member of the Dave Holland's quintet and also returned to Sun Ra's band for a few recordings. The 1990s saw the addition of Charlie Haden's Liberation Music Orchestra to his schedule. Priester was co-leader with drummer Jimmy Bennington on 'Portraits and Silhouettes' which received an Honorable Mention in All About Jazz New York's 'Best Recordings of 2007', which culminated with the two musicians appearing at the 30th Annual Chicago Jazz Festival. Priester also performs on the album Monoliths & Dimensions by the drone metal band Sunn 0))), released in May 2009. His major contributions were to the final track of the album, "Alice," a tribute to Alice Coltrane.

In addition to teaching and touring, Priester continues to record albums under his own name. He released Hints on Light and Shadow (with Sam Rivers and Tucker Martine) in 1997 and followed it in 2003 with In Deep End Dance."