"Itaru Oki (沖至) was born in Suma-Ku, Kobe, Hyogo, Japan on 10th September 1941. Oki Itaru was raised in a rich musical environment; his father was a player of the Shakuhachi (Japanese vertical flute) and his mother was a master of the Koto (Japanese horizontal harp) of the Ikuta School. He started to play the trumpet in his high school brass band before playing in a Dixieland style band and then in a bop band. In the late 1960's, the trumpeter began playing free jazz. He changed his place of performance from Kansai (a western area of Japan) to Tokyo in 1965. After improving his skill in many groups, he joined an experimental unit "ESSG" of Togashi Masahiko and Sato Masahiko. Oki made his first tour to Europe with the ESSG in 1969. After being back from Europe, he formed the Oki Itaru Trio, which later grew into a quartet. In June 1974, he moved to Paris, France. After living in Lyon for a while, he moved back to Paris in December 1999. Until the present, Oki has continually performed at concerts and festivals in France and various other countries in Europe."

"Axel Dörner (born 26 April 1964 in Cologne, Germany) is a German jazz musician (trumpet and piano) and composer.

Dörner studied piano in the Dutch town Arnhem (1988-89) and at the Music Academy in Cologne (1989-1996). From 1991 he studied trumpet with Malte Burba, and during his studies he collaborated with trumpeter Bruno Light in the "The Street Fighters Duo". At this time he also joined the ensembles "The Street Fighters Quartet" and "The Street Fighters Double Quartet" together with Matthias Schubert, Bruno Leicht, and Claudio Puntin. In addition the "Axel Dörner Quartet" was initiated (with Frank Gratkowski, Hans Schneider and Martin Blume). With saxophonist Matthias Petzold. he participated on the albums Lifelines and Psalmen Und Lobgesänge.

Dörner has resided in Berlin since 1994, and occurs in the most diverse settings like "The London Jazz Composers Orchestra" and with "Hedros" (together with Mats Gustafsson, Günter Christmann, Barry Guy and others). Since then he has contributed on more than 50 album recordings.

Dörner is distinguished mainly by his versatility. He bouth play the more traditional Bebop, just like he fits in to classic Free Jazz or electronic music. He playd with Otomo Yoshihide at the Donaueschinger Musiktage in 2005. Dörner play both solo concerts and collaborates with his trio "TOOT" (together with Phil Minton and Thomas Lehn) and "Die Anreicherung" with Christian Lillinger, Håvard Wiik and Jan Roder, and in Ken Vandermarks "Territory-Band". Dörner is an integral part of the Berlin scene of experimental new improvisational music. Dörner was given special attention for his interpretation of all compositions by Thelonious Monk, with the pianist Alexander von Schlippenbach and his own band "Die Enttäuschung" released on a three CD album (Monks Casino, Complete 2005)."-Wikipedia