"[...] Born and raised in La Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland - a lesser-known but no less significant jazz metropolis which was, for a time, home to expatriate Americans Sidney Bechet and Kenny Clarke, as well as Swiss jazz trombonist Raymond Droz - Blaser has also spent considerable time living in New York City and currently resides in Berlin; truly an international musician, then, in clear defiance of boundaries cultural, musical and stylistic. Beginning trombone lessons at the age of 9, he "couldn't go past third position and had to have a trolley to carry trombone because it was too heavy," says Blaser. Still, with plenty of music in the Blaser household, where he was the middle of three children - ranging from Swiss folk music to American R&B and jazz - Blaser progressed quickly, entering the local conservatory at 14 and graduating seven years later in 2002 after receiving a number of awards in both the jazz and classical spheres, including the 2000 Benny Golson Prize.

Continuing private studies, Blaser began a number of significant associations, including the heralded Vienna Art Orchestra and European Radio Big Band, leading to a Fulbright scholarship which enabled him to study in the United States at the Purchase College Conservatory of Music, going on to win the J.J. Johnson Prize, as well as both the Public Prize and Jury's Favorite Player awards at the 2006 Fribourg Jazz Festival.

All of these diverse accomplishments have ultimately - and inevitably - led to Blaser finding a personal nexus where disparate elements like Indian Tihi and Wagnerian opera meet. Blaser's impressive improvisational élan is predicated on instrumental mastery that is nothing more than the means to very musical ends. Together with his equally unfettered quartet, Blaser continues to expand the purview of jazz, redefining it in the new millennium as it enters its second century of existence.

Beyond Blaser's ability to combine knotty compositional form with incendiary improvisational prowess in the context of his own music, his unfettered yet ever-collaborative approach has resulted in a number of significant associations, among them his ongoing work with Swiss percussion legend Pierre Favre; a much-lauded duo with pianist Malcolm Braff; touring in 2012 as a member of François Houle's recent 5+1 group, and heard on the French Canadian clarinetist's Genera (Songlines, 2012); and recording/performing with Berlin-based Canadian saxophonist Peter van Huffel's HuffLiGNoN group with singer Sophie Tassignon. Blaser has also shared the stage with artists including trombonist David Taylor, bassist Michael Blake, drummer John Hollenbeck and pianist Hal Galper. It's no surprise that Rene Laanen of USA Trombone Online has called Blaser" one of today´s finest trombonists."

2013 will see Blaser touring with two new trios: one that, in addition to Marc Ducret, will also feature Danish drummer Peter Bruun; and another featuring French pianist Benoit Delbecq and American drummer Gerry Hemingway. Equally important, Blaser will also reunite his Consort in Motion (Kind of Blue, 2011) Quartet with pianist Russ Lossing, Belgian reed player Joachim Badenhorst, bassist Drew Gress and Hemingway, who replaces the sadly deceased Paul Motian. That record - Blaser's first and only to include a pianist, marrying the seemingly disparate elements of Renaissance and Baroque period composition with more open-ended jazz improvisation - was praised by All About Jazz's Troy Collins as " Fearlessly modern, yet respectfully regal." Collins continues, asserting that "Blaser's adventurous arrangements and reinterpretations offer the best of both worlds, enriching the raw impetuousness of avant-garde jazz with the proven sophistication of ageless classical forms. Consort in Motion is a high-water mark in the enduring lineage of the Third Stream, and all the more inspiring for the focus of its vision."

Meanwhile, with the release of As the Sea - like Boundless, a live recording but one culled from a single performance - Blaser reaps the rewards of greater trust and personal camaraderie built with Ducret, Oester and Cleaver through additional touring, following the release of their debut recording. "The music is quite different from the first record," says Blaser, "because things are more written. It's a little more complex rhythmically, too. But it's crazy, because I can play anything - a single note, even - and everybody will move with me. It's pretty intense."

Between recording and touring with his own groups and collaborating in other leaders' ensembles, Blaser's career continues an upward trajectory that seems to have no end in sight. "The world of music fascinates me to no end, and I´m determined to take one journey after another with my instrument and work," says Blaser. "It´s all about discovery and communicating new ideas. Believe me, I´m proof that a shiny trombone can send a message right to your heart and change your life." "

"Thomas Morgan (born 14 August 1981 in Hayward, California) is an American jazz musician (upright bass, cello) in contemporary jazz.

Morgan began playing the cello 7 years of age, before switching to upright-bass at 14. In 2003 he received his bachelor's degree in Music from the Manhattan School of Music, where he studied with Harvie Swartz and Garry Diall. He also took lessons with Ray Brown and Peter Herbert. Morgan worked with David Binney, Steve Coleman, Joey Baron, Josh Roseman, Brad Shepik, Steve Cardenas, Timu�in ahin, Kenny Wollesen, Gerald Cleaver, Adam Rogers and Kenny Werner throughout his career. He is also cooperating with Jakob Bro, Dan Tepfer, Jim Black, John Abercrombie, Masabumi Kikuchi and the Sylvie Courvoisier-Mark Feldman Quartet. Morgan lead his own trio."

"Gerald Cleaver (born May 4, 1963) is an African-American jazz drummer from Detroit, Michigan. Cleaver's father is drummer John Cleaver Jr., originally from Springfield, Ohio, and his mother was from Greenwood, Mississippi. Gerald had six older siblings. Cleaver joined the jazz faculty at the University of Michigan in 1995. He has performed or recorded with Joe Morris, Mat Maneri, Roscoe Mitchell, Miroslav Vitous, Michael Formanek, Tomasz Sta ko, Franck Amsallem and others.

Under the name Veil of Names, Cleaver released an album called Adjust on the Fresh Sounds New Talent label in 2001. It featured Maneri, Ben Monder, Andrew Bishop, Craig Taborn and Reid Anderson and was a Best Debut Recording Nominee by the Jazz Journalists Association. Cleaver currently leads the groups Uncle June, Black Host, Violet Hour and NiMbNl as well as working as a sideman with many different artists."

"Praised by The New York Times as having "begun to make waves" with his "exploratory yet melodic sensibilities" and "serious compositional ambitions," guitarist/composer Scott DuBois's music is described by JazzTimes as "fascinating" and "brilliant"; by All About Jazz as "wondrous, chilling, atmospheric, and powerful as can be"; and by The New York City Jazz Record as "captivating music for the meditative thinker."

In 2005 DuBois was selected as a Semi-Finalist in the Thelonious Monk Jazz Competition. Shortly after he started touring extensively with the Scott DuBois Quartet performing at jazz festivals, concert halls, and clubs throughout North America and Europe.

DuBois has recorded two albums with David Liebman for the Soul Note record label, Monsoon (2004) and Tempest (2006), and three albums for the Sunnyside record label, Banshees (2008), Black Hawk Dance (2010), and Landscape Scripture (2012). His Black Hawk Dance album received a 5-star review in DownBeat Magazine and his Landscape Scripture album was named one of the "Top 10 Jazz Albums of 2012" by National Public Radio.

In 2015 DuBois signed with the ACT record label and released his sixth album Winter Light which was named as one of the best "Albums of the Year" by the New York City Jazz Record, one of the "Best Releases of 2016" by All About Jazz, one of the "25 Favorite Discs of 2015" by New York City's Downtown Music Gallery, the "#1 Jazz Album of 2015" by Poland's LongPlay, one of "ten albums of 2015 to track down" by The Los Angeles Times, one of the "Best Albums of the Year 2016" by All About Jazz Italia, and one of the best "Albums of the Year" in Germany's Fono Forum classical and jazz magazine.

In 2017 DuBois released on the ACT record label his Autumn Wind album, featuring his quartet of the past ten years + a string & woodwind octet. The album was named one of the "Best Releases of 2017" by All About Jazz, one of the "strongest albums of 2017" by the Czech Republic's JazzPort, called a "delicately-complex masterpiece" by Germany's Fono Forum magazine, and a "fascinating masterpiece" by Austria's Kulturzeitschrift.

In 2018 DuBois won Germany's ECHO Award, Germany's top prize for music and the German equivalent of the Grammy, for his Autumn Wind album.

DuBois was named in DownBeat Magazine's 2019 Critic's Poll in the "Rising Star Guitar" Category.

In 2021, after 16 years signed to three great record labels: Soul Note (2004 - 06), Sunnyside Records (2007 - 14), ACT (2015 - 20), DuBois launched his own record label/publishing company, Watertone Music, to record and publish his chamber jazz/improvised music and his classical orchestral music.

In April 2021 DuBois released on Watertone Music his eighth record, Summer Water, the next season captured in sound following his Winter Light and Autumn Wind albums. Summer Water was named one of the top ten new jazz albums of the year by journalist Dan Bilawski for JazzTimes Magazine, one of the "Favorite 50 Albums of the Year" by Spain's Missingduke, and Bandcamp chose the album for its "Best Jazz on Bandcamp: April 2021" list. JAZZIZ Magazine called Summer Water a "brilliant and sonically intricate piece of impressionistic musical storytelling" and JazzTimes Magazine wrote about the album that "Scott DuBois doesn't just play guitar; he's a sound sculptor." "