"Charles Evans is an American baritone saxophonist based in New York, who specializes in chromatic improvisation/composition and traditional jazz. Evans has been a member of the New York City creative music community since 2002, when he moved to the city after graduation from the University of the Arts in Philadelphia. He then went on to earn a Master's in Jazz Performance from Queens College, as well as NYS teacher certification. He has studied with David Liebman, Julian Sparacino, Jim Buckley, the late Bill Zaccagni, Chris Farr, Ron Kerber, John Swana, Tony Miceli, George Garzone, Hamiet Bluiett, and Antonio Hart.

Charles has received rave reviews with five albums as a leader, including an all-baritone multi-layered record entitled, "The King of All Instruments," which received a 5 star review in Downbeat Magazine. He has also been included in both the Critics' and Readers' polls in the aforementioned magazine, in both the Rising Star and Baritone Saxophone categories. Live at St. Stephens received "Best New Release 2010 - Honorable Mention," in All About Jazz magazine. His upcoming CD will feature an original composition written for collaboration with his mentor David Liebman.

The baritonist has worked diligently to broaden the expressive range of his instrument, with specific care towards the difficult altissimo register as well as the application of chromatic improvisation/composition on the big horn. Musical projects include a chromatic/improvisational quartet with his mentor David Liebman, Ron Stabinsky, and Tony Marino; micro-tonal bebop in The Language Of with Peter Evans, Moppa Elliott, and Jan Roth, (It Needs It, No Relation) introspective duos with Neil Shah (Live at St. Stephens,) Erik Dutko (Ballads,) and Ron Stabinsky; and straight-ahead jazz with a former prized student in The David Jimenez Quintet.

Evans has been steadfast in his commitment to non-compromising music. To solve the obvious financial burden, he started a highly successful high school band program in Queens, NY. He places his teaching on equal footing with his artistic pursuits, and has learned that sharing his passion is just as meaningful as expressing personal music."

"NEA Jazz Master (2011) David Liebman's career has spanned nearly five decades, beginning in the early 1970s as the saxophone/flautist in both the Elvin Jones and Miles Davis Groups, continuing as a bandleader since. He has played on over five hundred recordings with nearly two hundred under his leadership and co-leadership. In jazz education he is a renowned lecturer and author of several milestone books: Self Portrait Of A Jazz Artist, A Chromatic Approach To Jazz Harmony And Melody, Developing A Personal Saxophone Sound (translated into multiple languages), in addition to teaching DVDs, journalistic contributions to periodicals and published chamber music. Lieb's autobiography What It Is-The Life Of A Jazz Artist (Scarecrow Press) is a fascinating look into Lieb's career. His bands over the years have included noted musicians such as John Scofield, Richie Beirach, Bob Moses, Billy Hart and others. The current group Expansions features some of the best of the younger generation. Lieb is the Founder and Artistic Director of the International Association of Schools of Jazz (IASJ) existing since 1989, which is a worldwide network of schools from nearly 40 countries. Liebman's awards, besides the NEA honor include the Jazz Educators Network (JEN) Legends of Jazz (2013); the Order of Arts and Letters (France 2009); Jazz Journalist's award for Soprano Saxophone (2007); Grammy nomination for Best Jazz Solo (1998); Honorary Doctorate from the Sibelius Academy (Finland-1997). He is currently teaching at the Manhattan School of Music and a guest lecturer at Berklee College of Music. Dave has consistently placed in the top positions for Soprano Saxophone in the Downbeat, Jazz Times and JazzEd polls since 1973."

"Ron Stabinsky recently released his debut album, Free for One, the culmination of more than a decade of evolving his improvised solo language. In addition to continuing to pursue his ongoing interest in solo piano improvisation, he enjoys working on music in a stylistically diverse array of situations throughout the United States and Europe with many other musicians and ensembles, including free-improvising saxophonist Jack Wright, bass trombone virtuoso David Taylor, Meat Puppets bassist Cris Kirkwood, and NEA Jazz Master David Liebman. Recent festival appearances include Newport Jazz Festival, North Sea Jazz Festival (Netherlands), Moers Festival (Germany), Jazzfestival Saalfelden (Austria), Outreach Festival (Austria), and Jazz and More Festival Sibiu (Romania). He is currently a regular member of the band Mostly Other People Do the Killing, the new music ensemble Relâche, the Charles Evans Quartet, and the Peter Evans Quintet."