"Marty Ehrlich is celebrating thirty-five years in the nexus of creative music centered in New York City. He began his musical career in St. Louis, Missouri, while in high school, performing and recording with the Human Arts Ensemble. He graduated from the New England Conservatory of Music with honors in 1977, where his teachers included George Russell, Jaki Byard, Joseph Allard, and Gunther Schuller.

Since that time, he has made twenty-five recordings of his compositions for ensembles ranging in size from duo to jazz orchestra. These groups include his Emergency Peace Ensemble, Traveler's Tales Group, Rites Quartet, and the Marty Ehrlich Sextet. He has recorded a CD-length work for twenty-two musicians entitled The Long View, and has two acclaimed recordings in Tzadik's Radical Jewish Culture series. In 2013 he released "A Trumpet in the Morning", a large-ensemble recording of 5 long form compositions.

As a multi-instrumentalist passionate about improvisation and interpretation, he has performed with a who's who of contemporary composers including Muhal Richard Abrams, Ray Anderson, Steven Bernstein, Anthony Braxton, John Carter, Andrew Cyrille, Jack DeJohnette, Anthony Davis, Mark Dresser, Peter Erskine, Michael Formanek, Don Grolnick, Chico Hamilton, Julius Hemphill, Andrew Hill, Wayne Horvitz, Robin Holcomb, Leroy Jenkins, Myra Melford, James Newton, Bobby Previte, David Schiff, Wadada Leo Smith, and John Zorn. He appears on more than 100 recordings with these and other composers.

Ehrlich has performed with the Chicago Symphony, the BBC Symphony, the New York City Opera, Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, Chamber Music Northwest, and other classical ensembles. He has worked with the Jose Limón and Bill T. Jones dance companies, among others. He is currently presenting a concert program for twelve musicians entitled "Julius Hemphill: A Composer Portrait." His honors include a Guggenheim Fellowship in Composition, the Peter Ivers Visiting Artist Residency at Harvard University, composition grants from Chamber Music America, the NEA, and NYFA, "Clarinetist of the Year" from the Jazz Journalist Association, and a Distinguished Alumni award from NEC. He is currently Associate Professor of Jazz and Contemporary Music at Hampshire College."

New York multi-reedist Rob DeBellis is a saxophonist, clarinetist, flutist, composer and improviser whose work spans jazz, contemporary music, Broadway and studio performance. A longtime member of the orchestra for The Lion King, he has performed and recorded with Marty Ehrlich, Muhal Richard Abrams, Don Byron, Uri Caine, Mongo Santamaria, Phillip Johnston, James Emery and Kevin Norton, and released the album Parallax as a leader.

"As an expatriate Australian who has shown that she can succeed on the competitive New York jazz scene, alto and baritone saxophonist Lisa Parrott has been based in New York since the early '90s.

In 2021, Lisa received a Chamber Music America Performance Plus grant for her new harmolodic septet, 'We Love Ornette'. The grant included workshops with drummer and son of Ornette Coleman, Denardo Coleman, and a subsequent recording. After spending two days recording at Samurai Hotel in November 2022, the 'We Love Ornette' debut recording will be released in 2023.

In 2022, Lisa was honored to play and act in the inaugural sold out run of the HERE Theater's NYC production of Taylor Mac's 'The Hang' that was described by the New Yorker as a dada drag jazz opera extravaganza!"

"Jeff Lederer is a New York based saxophonist-clarinetist/composer/educator whose work crosses the genres of jazz, latin and creative improvised music. In 2014 he has been named in both the critics and Readers Polls of Downbeat Magazine recognizing his work on tenor and alto saxophones and clarinet. He has worked for many years in the Matt Wilson Quartet and the grammy nominated ensembles of Bobby Sanabria and Salsa trombonist Jimmy Bosch. He has recorded for Gunther Schuller's GM Recordings, CIMP Records, Palmetto Records and his own Little (i) Music label. His quartet "Sunwatcher" made it's debut in 2011 on the Jazzheads label featuring Buster Williams on bass, Jamie Saft on piano and Matt Wilson, drums. His longstanding ensemble "Shaker n' Bakers" performs modern jazz interpretations of the Vision songs of the Shaker religious sect and has released two recordings of Shaker music and performed at the World Festival of Sacred Music in Los Angeles.

Jeff's cross-stylistic composition/arranging projects include "Los Sazones", a salsa reimaginng of Vivaldi's "Four Seasons" which was commissioned by the Ravinia Festival for the Chicago Symphony and has been performed by many major orchestras including the Los Angeles Philharmonic at the Hollywood Bowl.

New projects for 2014 include a new recording and tours with the Honey Ear Trio with drummer Allison Miller and bassist Rene Hart and the debut of his new ensemble, "The Brooklyn Blow-Hards"- a brass band that plays sea shanties and Albert Ayler compositions.

Jeff has performed at numerous major jazz festivals including the Newport Jazz Festival, JVC Jazz Festival , Monterey Jazz Festival, Litchfield Jazz Festival, Pori Jazz Festival, Moldes Jazz, Guimaraes Festival (Portugal), Tiempo Latino (France) and many, many others. In 2013 Jeff performed a duo concert with drummer Allison Miller at the mainspace of the San Francisco Jazz Center. In 2010 he was invited as a special guest to perform spontaneous improvisations with the pianist Shahin Novrasli at the Baku Jazz Festival in Azerbaijan.

As an educator, Jeff has worked with Jazz At Lincoln Center where he was featured in the 2010 Jazz for Young People Concert "What is Free Jazz?". He has taught workshops and residencies in jazz and saxophone at the University of Miami, New England Conservatory, Dartmouth College, SUNY Binghamton, University of Northern Iowa and many other leading jazz departments. In 2009 he performed as a guest soloist with the Ellington competition winning Roosevelt High School Band (Seattle). Lederer also works as a music curriculum consultant and is the author of the Childrens' Orchestral Repetoire Project (Ch.O.R.D.). Jeff was co-producer of the recording "We-Bop - A Family Jazz Party" for the Jazz at Lincoln Center organization."

"Composer and multireedist Andy Laster grew up on the south shore of Long Island. He studied short fiction writing at the University of Michigan and jazz at Seattle's Cornish Institute before moving to New York City in 1985. His first recording, "Hippo Stomp," appeared on the Sound Aspects label in 1989. This album was followed by two more Sound Aspects releases, "Twirler" and the first eponymously named CD by Hydra, one of Laster's key ongoing projects in the 1990s. "Interpretations of Lessness," based on a poem by Samuel Beckett, was released in 1997 and was named one of the year's top ten jazz recordings by Billboard Magazine. "Window Silver Bright" was released in 2002, with an expanded version of his Lessness ensemble. While leading these two groups, Laster contributed to collaborative ensembles Orange Then Blue and New and Used, as well as performed in Erik Friedlander's Topaz; the Julius Hemphill Sextet; the Pink Noise Saxophone Quartet; Bobby Previte's Weather Clear, Track Fast; and Matt Darriau's Ballin' the Jack. He has also performed with Mark Helias, Hank Roberts' Birds of Prey, Lyle Lovett and his Large Band, Marty Ehrlich, Dave Douglas, Elliot Sharp, Roy Nathanson, Satoko Fujii Orchestra, and Brian Carpenter's Ghost Train Orchestra.

Laster's chamber music has been premiered at New York City venues including Advent Lutheran Church, the Cornelia Street Cafe, and Roulette. He has been awarded residencies at the Blue Mountain Center and the Djerassi Resident Artists Program. He wrote incidental music for the play "Cast a Spell" by Traci Parks, which was performed at HERE Arts Center. In 2010, his piece Concrete Floor and Sailfish was selected as part of the American Composer Forum, Philadelphia Chapter, New Voices program and was premiered by Argento Chamber Ensemble. He has also received grants from the American Music Center, the Mary Flagler Cary Charitable Trust, and Meet the Composer."

Multi-instrumentalist, composer and educator Brian Landrus specializes in low woodwinds including baritone and bass saxophones, bass and contra-alto clarinets, and alto and bass flutes. A prolific leader and composer, he has worked with artists including Fred Hersch, Billy Hart, Maria Schneider, Esperanza Spalding, Rufus Reid and Lewis Nash, and teaches jazz composition at Berklee College of Music.

Saxophonist, composer, educator and researcher Allan Chase has performed in jazz and improvised music since the 1970s, notably with Your Neighborhood Saxophone Quartet, Rashied Ali's Prima Materia, Steve Lantner, Joe Morris and numerous Boston-area ensembles. A longtime educator at Berklee College of Music and New England Conservatory, Chase also completed extensive research on the music and life of Sun Ra.

Composer, saxophonist, flutist, scholar and educator Jason Robinson works at the intersection of jazz, free improvisation, contemporary composition and electronics. His music draws on traditions extending from Duke Ellington and Charles Mingus to John Coltrane and Albert Ayler, while developing a distinctive approach to composed and improvised form through his own ensembles and collaborations.

American saxophonist, flutist, arranger and composer Sam Furnace (1954-2004) worked extensively across jazz, blues and creative music, performing with Julius Hemphill, Fred Ho, Mongo Santamaria, Johnny Copeland and Bill Cole. A longtime member of Hemphill's saxophone ensembles, including the Julius Hemphill Sextet, Furnace performed on recordings including Fat Man and the Hard Blues, Five Chord Stud and At Dr. King's Table.

"Andrew White (born September 6, 1942) is an American jazz/R'n'B multi-instrumentalist (saxophone, oboe and bass guitar), musicologist and publisher.

White was born in Washington, D.C., and grew up in Nashville, Tennessee, completing his public school education there. He returned to Washington, D.C. in September 1960 to attend Howard University. He graduated in June 1964, Cum Laude, with a Bachelor of Music Degree, majoring in music theory, and with a minor in oboe. After his four years at Howard University he attended the Paris Conservatory of Music, in Paris, France on a John Hay Whitney Foundation Fellowship for continued study of the oboe.

As a saxophonist, White appeared on the jazz scene in September 1960, concurrent with his graduation from his studies at Howard University, when he appeared with Washington D.C.'s J.F.K. Quintet.[1] (1961-63). He later appeared with Kenny Clarke (1965), Otis Redding (1967), McCoy Tyner (1970), Elvin Jones (1980-81), Beaver Harris (1983), The Julius Hemphill Saxophone Sextet (1987), "The Six Winds" Dutch Saxophone Sextet (1999), and on his own "Andrew White's ZORROSAX ALLSTARS," saxophone sextet (2002), and hundreds of personal solo appearances worldwide. These include solo performances at New York City's Carnegie Hall (1974 and 1975), Lincoln Center (1990 and 1995), Town Hall (1975), The Kennedy Center, in Washington, D.C. (1970 through 2005), Paris, France's Theatre du Chatelet (1980), La Vila (1995), and a 1994 solo Summer tour of seven French cities.

As composer, publisher, conductor and saxophone soloist, White was presented at the Mass Double Reed Orchestra of 300 Double Reed Instruments at the 32nd Annual Convention of The International Double Reed Society, in June 2003, at the University of North Carolina, at Greensboro, North Carolina.

The ten-year career of White as oboeist also includes study at Tanglewood, Massachusetts, in the summers of 1963 and 1966, The Dartmouth Community Orchestra, at Dartmouth College, study and performance of contemporary music at The Center Of Creative And Performing Arts, At the State University of New York, at Buffalo, on two Rockefeller Foundation Fellowships, 1965-1967, and his final position as principal oboist with the American Ballet Theatre, from January 1968 through August 1970.

As an electric bassist, White's most viable career spanned the decade 1966-1976. He was primarily the electric bassist with the singer-songwriter Stevie Wonder, from 1968 through August 1970, concurrent with his position as oboist with the American Ballet Theatre Orchestra. He was the principal electric bassist with the popular singing group The 5th Dimension, from 1970 through 1976. Among his most memorable recordings as an electric bassist is with the jazz-fusion super-group Weather Report's album, Sweetnighter, recorded in January, 1973, on Columbia Records.

On May 14, 2006, White was the 2006 Gold Medal Honoree of the French Society of Arts, Sciences, and Letters, in Paris. He shares the award with past honorees including violinist-conductor Lord Yehudi Menuhin, virtuoso trumpeter, Maurice André, composer Olivier Messiaen, and scientist-Nobel Prize laureate, Albert Schweitzer. White was the only American to receive this award for the year 2006.Academic

As a musicologist, White has published many musicological offerings through his music publishing firm, Andrew's Music, including The Works of John Coltrane, Vols. 1 though 14: 701 transcriptions of John Coltrane's Improvisations. Andrew White has "thoroughly and meticulously transcribed, encyclopeiasized, catalogued, documented, and self-published "the most significant linguistic contributor to the jazz language in the history of jazz, John Coltrane," writes Peter Occiogrosso, in The Soho News, New York (May 15, 1975). White's book on the music of John Coltrane, Trane and Me (1981), was also published in this manner.

On November 15, 2007, White was honored as a saxophonist by Howard University with the Benny Golson Master Award. He was presented in ceremony and concert, featuring the Howard University Jazz Ensemble (Fred Irby, Director), at Howard University's Andrew Rankin Chapel."

"Alex Harding was born on April 5, 1967 in Detroit, Michigan. At the age of six, Alex knew what he wanted to do in his lifetime: to be a musician. He started to pursue his dream. Alex started on Drums & a few years later after hearing Grover Washington Jr on the radio playing Mr. Magic Alex switched to the tenor sax. Mr. Harding took band classes in elementary, middle school & high school, entering musical competitions and shows. He chose to attend Northwestern High School so he could study music under the direction of Mr. Ernest Rogers, a renowned musician & teacher. It was during high school that Alex decided to make the baritone sax and bass clarinet his main instruments.

Alex Harding studied music in his early years with Yusef Lateef, Beans Bows and Herbie Williams, and played with Wynton Marsalis and Donald Byrd while still in high school. Alex went on to win music scholarships to the University of Massachusetts and the Aspen School of Music. Alex's first European engagement in 1990 was in Porgy and Bess. A year later, he went to Mexico to the Arts and Music Festival with percussionist Francisco Mora.

After settling in New York in 1993, and a stint touring with Phatoms, a Haitian group, Alex joined Julius Hemphill's Saxophone Sextet. He also began performing with Muhal Richard Abrams, Craig Harris, Lester Bowie, Frank Lacey, Oliver Lake and David Murray's Big Band.

In 1996, Alex joined Hamiet Bluiett's Baritone Group and appeared with the Mingus Big Band, Jayne Cortez Firespitters and Lester Bowie's Hip-Hop Philharmonic. He also recorded with Greg Osby, Frank Lowe, David Lee Roth and Rodney Whittaker. The following year, Alex recorded At Doctor King's Table with the Julius Hemphill Sextet, a CD with Hamiet Bluiett's Baritone Group, and he made his debut with the Sun Ra Arkestra under Marshall Allen's leadership. In 1998, Alex was part of the Sun Ra All-Star Project that premiered at the North Sea Jazz Festival and the Montreux-Detroit Jazz Festival. More recently Alex has performed with the Roy Hargrove Big Band and with Aretha Franklin.

In the October '97 issue of Jazz Times, the review of Hamiet Bluiett's Baritone Band said that Alex Harding: "...attacked the music with steamroller momentum and uncommon ferocity...it was sheer fireworks."

Alex Harding has recorded several CD's for CIMP label and since 2008 he has performed on Broadway and toured with the (3) Tony Award winning show FELA !!!!

A powerful and innovative saxophonist, Alex Harding has a unique and contemporary baritone sound. The sincerity of his musical _expression and the dynamism of his performance reaches out and touch the human spirit and soul."