"Jazz saxophonist and clarinetist Wendell Harrison has long been known for taking his music into his own hands. Co-founder of the legendary Tribe record label and collective in the 1970's, Harrison went on to establish Rebirth Inc., a non profit jazz performance and education organization in the 80's. Numerous well-known jazz artists, including pianist Gerri Allen, saxophonist James Carter, Eddie Harris vocalist leon Thomas and trumpeter Woody Shaw , just to name a few, have participated in Rebirth's programs. He also created WenHa the record label and publishing company which released many of his recordings, as well as that of his wife, pianist Pamela Wise. Through his solo work and his Mama's Licking Stick Clarinet Ensemble, Harrison has gained more widespread respect for the clarinet, this often neglected, yet versatile instrument. Wendell Harrison received a Bachelors of Science Degree in 2014 from Spring Arbor University, majoring in Organizational Management to enhance his administrative skills.

As a young jazz enthusiast, Harrison began formal jazz studies with pianist Barry Harris. While in Detroit he performed with Motown stars Marvin Gaye, Aretha Franklin and the legendary Sammy Ward. Shortly after in 1960 the young Harrison headed for New York. He began performing for some of the world's premier jazz artists: guitarist Grant Green vocalist Eddie Jefferson, and the great Sun Ra. He teamed up with trumpeters Marcus Belgrave, Jimmy Owens and Howard Johnson to perform and tour with saxophonist Hank Crawford. Wendell can be heard on Hank's earlier recordings: Double Cross, Dig These Blues, Mr. Blues, on Atlantic Records. Wendell learned how to compose, write and arrange for multi ensembles during this time in his life.

In 1970, the fast paced New York and the road began taking its' toll on Wendell. He moved to California for a short period. While resting and practicing at the Synanon Center, he met vocalist Esther Phillips and saxophonist Art Pepper. Under the direction of Greg Dykes they recorded an album(reissued on CD) entitled The Prince Of Peace which received world wide recognition. This experience also enhanced his writing and arranging skills. Harrison headed back to Detroit in 1971. He began teaching music at a multi arts complex for youth, Metro Arts founded by Dr. Amelita Mandingo. While teaching at Metro Arts Wendell met pianist composer Harold McKinney and rejoined his friend Marcus Belgrave. Wendell also met trombonist Phil Ranelin who had moved to Detroit from Indianapolis. Together they formed the Tribe record label and collective. Tribe used this vehicle to convey a growing black political consciousness. The group also included drummer and composer Doug Hammond, pianist Ken Cox and trumpeter Charles Moore.

They performed together live and on one another's recordings releasing them on the Tribe record label. Tribe also published a magazine, a quarterly monthly publication dedicated to musical and political revolutionaries and political issues. The magazine was published by Harrison's company, The Harrison Association. Tribe had pretty much disbanded in 1975, but Phil Ranelin and Wendell were instrumental and getting all of the Tribe recordings reissued to various labels. This unique organization packed a strong musical punch on the international scene. Techno music guru Carl Craig discovered in his global travels that Tribe still was gaining popularity on the underground techno music scene internationally which was unheard of considering they haven't performed together as Tribe in over 30 years. In 2007 Carl reproduced the Tribe group with Marcus, Wendell, Doug and Phil. They have a single on the market entitled It's A New Day on the C2 Planet E record label and is also touring globally. The newly Tribe produced CD will be forthcoming in 2009. Other Tribe reissues can be found on several web sites including DustyGroove.com.

Wendell and Harold McKinney founded Rebirth Inc. in 1978, another successful organization whose mission is to educate youth and the greater community about jazz through workshop and concert presentations throughout the Midwest. The organization is based in Detroit and funded by several foundations and corporations. In teaching and presenting many of Rebirth's programs he found that students needed a method to help them learn jazz improvisation and perform like the masters. So he authored the Be Boppers Method Books I & II which is an invaluable aid to young musicians wanting to build their improvisational skills. The book also contains a play along CD and is distributed internationally by Jamey Aebersold.

Harrison's campaign for the often neglected clarinet instrument has added a new spin on his list of accomplishments. The unique Mama's Licking Stick clarinet ensemble features each member of the clarinet family including E flat soprano, B flat, alto, bass and contra bass clarinets. Chamber Music America, a prestigious granting organization based in NYC has awarded Harrison many grants in support of his unique clarinet ensemble. Some of the programs have included New Works and Creation, Jazz Residency and French American Culture Exchange projects. There are several recordings available on Mama's Licking Stick; Rush and Hustle, Live In Concert (both which feature James Carter on bass clarinet) and Forever Duke released on the WenHa record label. Wendell Harrison's latest release, "Its About Damn Time" has assembled a pianoless quartet, featuring driving rhythms and the high quality of musicianship that listeners have come to expect from this jazz legend. Produced by John Shetler, this release returned to the vinyl format for the first time since The Carnivorous Lady album in 1988. Also. CD'S is issued with the album, that has four bonus tracks."

"John Lindberg commenced his full-time professional career at age sixteen, allowing for total immersion into his work as a performer/composer, subsequently being mentored by the late great bassist David Izenzon.

The first public performances of his ensemble compositions began in 1975, and in 1980 he recorded his first album focused on his original music, a collection of works for solo double bass, Comin' & Goin'.

Over the last forty-one years he has traveled the globe performing thousands of concerts of creative music, in thirty-six countries on five continents. He has released myriad albums - over one hundred - that spotlight his original compositions for a variety of jazz ensembles, and feature his singularly identifiable bass playing.

His extended works for chamber ensembles combined with improvising artists have been widely commissioned, including works for The Pittsburgh New Music Ensemble, New York Chamber Ensemble, and Neues Kolner Streichquartett. His catalogue contains over one hundred and fifty published works.

He is renowned as an ensemble leader, a collaborator in special duet settings, a solo double bass performer, and as co-founder of the String Trio of New York with Billy Bang and James Emery. He has worked with a plethora of luminary creative artists, including: Albert Mangelsdorff, Ed Thigpen, Eric Watson, Louis Sclavis, Human Arts Ensemble, Frank Lowe, Wadada Leo Smith, Susie Ibarra, Karl Berger, Anthony Braxton, Andrew Cyrille, Dave Douglas, John Carter, Henry Threadgill, Jack DeJohnette, Regina Carter, Jimmy Lyons, Sunny Murray, Roswell Rudd, Mary Redhouse, Pablo Calogero, Joe LaBarbera, Wendell Harrison, and Kevin Norton.

His work as a producer of numerous recordings, and of powerful cross-genre projects - such as JazzHopRevolution and BLOB - is well established, as is his ongoing work as an educator with a distinctly unique message.

Awards and fellowships in support of his work include those from New Music USA, National Endowment for the Arts, New York Foundation for the Arts, Chamber Music America, ASCAP, Arts International, Aaron Copland Fund for Music, Cary Charitable Trust, New York State Council on the Arts, Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation, Meet The Composer, and a Diploma de Honor from Gobernacion Cordillera, Chile.

Of late, John's disparate extra-musical activities - which include a stint as a community rescue squad ambulance driver, serving as general contractor for a cabin built with carpenter friends in South Dakota, and being engaged as an observational naturalist - have significantly informed his work as a composer and musician.

Released in September, 2016, on Clean Feed Records, are two new albums:John Lindberg BC3, Born in an Urban Ruin and John Lindberg Raptor Trio, Western Edges. Other recent recordings that feature his compositions include the duet with Wadada Leo Smith, Celestial Weather, the duet with cellist Anil Eraslan, Juggling Kukla (released as a limited edition of 300 vinyl LPs), and John Lindberg's TriPolar, [a]live at Roulette, NYC."

"Kevin Norton was born in Brooklyn and raised in Staten Island, NY. The composer/percussionist came to jazz in an unlikely setting but befriended drummer and fellow record collector Kenny Washington as a teenager. Studies at Hunter College introduced Kevin to Milt Hinton and after a short period, Kevin began to perform with Milt Hinton, eventually recording The Judge's Decision with a quartet led by Milt. Under Milt's encouragement, Kevin went back to school to get his Masters Degree from Manhattan School of Music.

After graduation he played every kind of gig available to a versatile percussionist: classical, jazz, blues, Dixieland, off-Broadway shows, rock, but especially taking part in the blossoming downtown New York City scene that strove to combine all these musics. This lead to him playing with Fred Frith's band Keep the Dog, which also included harpist Zeena Parkins and saxophonist John Zorn. Soon Mr. Norton was asked to play with a vast amount of downtown New York (sometimes called the Knitting Factory scene) ensembles. However, he longed to return to his jazz roots and began to play with downtown outsiders Phillip Johnston and Joel Forrester and their co-led band, the Microscopic Septet (and later Johnston's Big Trouble, with two CDs on Black Saint).

Still unsatisfied on a level of self-expression, Kevin began to devote himself to his own projects featuring his composition work and his improvising on total percussion (predominantly vibes and drums). Kevin has written several multi-movement pieces sometimes based on extra-musical subject matter. For Guy Debord (in nine events)is a piece for quintet and woodwind soloist (originally Anthony Braxton) based on the texts of the radical French philosopher whose thought proved central to the riots of Paris, 1968. Change Dance (Troubled Energy) draws it's inspiration from another radical political activist, Kathy Change (born Kathleen Chang). Both suites are approximately an hour in duration. On February 23, 2006 Kevin's Water and Fire Suite was premiered. It was commissioned as part of the national series of works from Meet The Composer Commissioning Music/USA, which is made possible by generous support from the National Endowment for the Arts, The Helen F. Whitaker Fund, and the Target Foundation.

In less than 10 years he has led and/or co-led about 20 critically acclaimed recordings, many of them making year-end "Best of" lists. On one of the recent recordings, Time-Space Modulator integrates intricate, sophisticated composition work with the deep improvisatory skills of Kevin, Tony Malaby, Dave Ballou and John Lindberg.

Kevin has also played with many highly esteemed European Improvisers such as Paul Rogers, Jo‘lle LŽandre, Paul Dunmall and Frode Gjerstad. Also, for about ten years, Mr. Norton was Anthony Braxton's main percussionist in both the "ghost trance" phase and the "standards" phase, plotting out the course for all percussionists who followed him. His most recent projects include compositions for various sized chamber groups and a duo with pianist Connie Crothers.

In June of 2002, Kevin Norton was a resident composer at the prestigious MacDowell Colony. He has served on the faculty of several schools including the University of Maryland and is currently on the faculty of William Paterson University."