"Bassist and composer James Ilgenfritz has worked in New York's experimental music community for ten years, interacting with visual artists, improvisers, composers, and literary figures. As an improviser James has performed with Anthony Braxton, John Zorn, Elliott Sharp, Anthony Coleman, Jin Hi Kim, Jon Rose, Steve Swell, Nate Wooley, Jeremiah Cymerman, and Brian Chase. As an interpreter of notated music, he has also worked with composers Lukas Ligeti, JG Thirlwell, Annie Gosfield, Pauline Oliveros, Ted Hearne, David T. Little, Karin Rehnqvist, Duane Pitre, Kevin Norton, & Gordon Beeferman. He recently completed a tour of the Midwest and northeast with his jazz quartet MiND GAMeS (with Denman Maroney, Andrew Drury, Angelika Niescier). His debut solo recording 'Compositions (Braxton) 2011' features his distinctive solo bass interpretations of the music of Anthony Braxton, and was called "a considerable achievement of solo instrumentalism and an important demonstration of the possibilities open to the double bass in the early 21st century" by Avant Music News's Dan Barbiero. Current projects include his longstanding Anagram Ensemble (which has morphed from jazz quartet to experimental big band to avant-garde theatrical chamber ensemble), Hypercolor (with Lukas Ligeti and Eyal Maoz), Red Triangle (with Chuck Bettis and Nonoko Yoshida), COLONIC YOUTH (with Dan Blake, Philip White, and Kevin Shea), The Curators (with Joe Hertenstein and Mikko Innanen) and Radiant Tongues (with Jason Ponce). In 2011 James was Artist In Residence at Issue Project Room, where he premiered his opera The Ticket That Exploded (based on the 1962 William S. Burroughs novel of the same name). He is coordinator of the WSB100 festival, New York City's month-long celebration of the life and legacy of William S. Burroughs on the occasion of his 100th birthday. James Ilgenfritz holds degrees from University of Michigan & University of California San Diego, and is on faculty at Brooklyn College Preparatory Center & Brooklyn Conservatory."

"John McLellan (1968 - October 29, 2014). An extraordinary musician; a truly original drummer and improviser in a language of rhythmic orchestration and dynamics, counterpoint in ideas, space, touch, spirit... The recent passing of this dear friend and close associate of ours had a most profound affect on us all. The cause of his death was Mesothelioma. I saw him for the last time on October 26th at Tuft's Hospital in Boston. I was first introduced to Johnny through violist Mat Maneri back in 2004. They already had a rapport going back many years, and a closely related family style of improvisation which can only really be thoroughly understood through aural transmission, listening and first-hand experience, rehearsals... Around the same time I also formed a quartet with Johnny, saxophonist Jonathan Moritz and Eivind Opsvik we called THE UP. It all made a very deep impact on my development as an improviser, and will continue to. For the sake of this work and dedication, I felt it necessary to organize the documentation I have of this history, starting from the beginning."

"Saxophonist, composer and educator Jonathan Moritz was born in Teheran, Iran in 1977. At an early age he moved to Southern California with his multicultural family of Persian, Jewish, Belgian upbringing and was surrounded by weekly family gatherings rich in dancing and dombak drumming that filled the house with the joy of improvisation. He moved to Belgium, where his paternal family lives, to study at the Royal Conservatory of Brussels ('95-'98) focusing on solidifying an academic foundation of straight ahead jazz. Drawn back to the West Coast, Moritz finished his BFA in Jazz Performance at California Institute of the Arts ('98-2000), combining his knowledge of jazz academia with the creative spirit of the family jams. Here he collaborated with dancers on projects like Noisy Clothes where he met French designer Elodie Blanchard, who became his wife. Jonathan Moritz has lived in Brooklyn with Elodie Blanchard and their son Gaspard since 2000 and has been performing and working professionally throughout New York City since. As an educator he has led workshops on improvisation at the Oakwood High School in Los Angeles, the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor and ISIM at UCSD, has directed an instrumental music program at the Morris H. Weiss School for the past 10 years and graduated from Brooklyn College (‘07) with a Master Degree in Music Education. Since 2005, Jonathan and Elodie have curated one of New York's most intimate and welcoming performance spaces, the Prospect Series, a house concert featuring innovative improvisers, Persian stew, a diverse audience and French hospitality.

Jonathan has recorded with musicians among the likes of Eugene Chadbourne, Ben Gerstein, John McLellan, Sam Mickens, Eivind Opsvik, Mike Pride, Jason Stein, Nate Wooley and Jack Wright;He has toured Belgium, the West Coast, Northeast and Southern USA;Played at festivals: KMB Jazz, New Atlantis (Washington D.C.), Undead Jazz and Vision;And venues such as: Issue Project Room, Roulette and The Stone, Zebulon and Barbes.

His first trio album as a leader, Xanadu, was described as"remindful of the Sonny Rollins Village Vanguard Sessions - with just tenor saxophone, bass, and drums, but more pertinently in terms of Moritz's Rollinsesque sound and rhythmic and motivic improvisational development... even though their passionate and thoughtfully mannered music-making borders on the avant-guard, they still are well within the comfort zone of most serious-minded mainstream jazz listeners. Sure to make my top ten for the year." -Russel Arthur Roberts. L.A. Jazz Scene. His most recent release features a trio with bassist Shayna Dulberger and drummer/percussionist Mike Pride.

Jonathan Moritz's Secret Tempo concentrates on modernizing the roles with an artistic focus on harmony, indeterminate rhythms, extended technique and a deep exploration of sound. Loaded with cadenzas, fermatas, solo breaks, counter rhythms, and codas this album is often free sounding but is surprisingly, highly arranged."