"Jim Hobbs was born and raised in north-eastern Indiana at the convergence of three rivers. He is a recipient of the Doris Duke New Works Grant for composition from Chamber Music America. After a childhood of chewing hay and catching salamanders he began playing the saxophone. He received a full scholarship to Berklee College of Music where he majored in composition. It was there that he met bassist Timo Shanko and started the Fully Celebrated Orchestra (FCO), which has released 10+ recordings on various labels including Silkheart, Skycap and Innova. FCO is also the subject of a children's book. He has performed and recorded with Joe Morris, Luther Gray, Taylor Ho Bynum, Bill Lowe, The Jazz Composers Alliance, Forbes Graham, The Prodigal Suns, Mackie Burnett, Fred Hopkins, Laurence Cook, Jon Voight, Junko Simons, Nightstick, The Death's Head Quartet, Josh Roseman, Curtis Hasselbring, The Lunch Factor, Laura Andel, Brother Blue and many others."

"Timo Shanko grew up in Santa Monica, CA, where he studied electric bass before attending Berklee College of Music in Boston, graduating Magna Cum Laude in 1989. Timo was a founding member of the Fully Celebrated Orchestra with alto saxophonist Jim Hobbs. In the '90s, he toured with blues master Eddie Kirkland as bassist and Band Director, and co-founded the Prodigal Suns, who were signed to Geffen Records. He then developed his skills on tenor saxophone and now plays both bass and sax equally. In 2009, Timo joined G. Love & Special Sauce, touring major venues in the US, Japan, Australia, and also performed with many major artists. In addition to his own trio, Timo currently performs with Dub Apocalypse (winner of the Boston Music Award for Best International Artist). Timo has one of the biggest collection of self-notated transcriptions in the world, and has also written many transcription books for Hal Leonard Publishing, from Sonny Stitt and Wayne Shorter to Dizzy Gillespie and Miles Davis."