"Sabir Mateen (born April 16, 1951) is a musician and composer from Philadelphia who plays primarily in the avant-garde jazz idiom. He plays tenor and alto saxophone, B♭ and alto clarinet, and flute.

As a young man, Mateen was originally a percussionist, and he started playing flute as a teenager. From there he moved to alto and then tenor saxophone. He started out playing rhythm and blues in the early 1970s which led him to the tenor saxophone chair of the Horace Tapscott Pan Afrikan Peoples Arkestra. He has performed or recorded with Cecil Taylor, Sunny Murray, William Parker, Alan Silva, Butch and Wilber Morris, Raphe Malik, Steve Swell, Roy Campbell, Jr., Matthew Shipp, Marc Edwards, Jemeel Moondoc, William Hooker, Henry Grimes, Rashid Bakr, Hamid Drake among others. He also is a member of the band TEST, with Daniel Carter."

"Born in Newark, NJ, Steve Swell has been an active member of the NYC music community since 1975. He has toured and recorded with many artists from mainstreamers such as Lionel Hampton and Buddy Rich to so called outsiders as Anthony Braxton, Bill Dixon, Cecil Taylor and William Parker. He has over 40 CDs as a leader or co-leader and is a featured artists on more than 100 other releases. He runs workshops around the world and is a teaching artist in the NYC public school system focusing on special needs children.

Swell has worked on music transcriptions of the Bosavi tribe of New Guinea for MacArthur fellow, Steve Feld in 2000. His CD, "Suite For Players, Listeners and Other Dreamers" (CIMP) ranked number 2 in the 2004 Cadence Readers Poll. He has also received grants from USArtists International in 2006, MCAF (LMCC) awards in 2008 and 2013 and has been commissioned twice on the Interpretations Series at Merkin Hall in 2006 and at Roulette in 2012.

Steve was nominated for Trombonist of the Year 2008 & 2011 by the Jazz Journalists Association, was selected Trombonist of the Year 2008-2010 , 2012 and 2014-2015 by the magazine El Intruso of Argentina and received the 2008 Jubilation Foundation Fellowship Award of the Tides Foundation. Steve has also been selected by the Downbeat Critics Poll in the Trombone category each year from 2010-2016.

Steve is presently a teaching artist through the American Composers Orchestra, Healing Arts Initiative , Mind-Builders Creative Arts Center (Bronx), the Jazz Foundation of America and Leman Manhattan Preparatory School.

Steve was also awarded the 2014 Creative Curricula grant (LMCC) for the project: "Metamorphoses: Modern Mythology in Sound and Words" which was taught in a month long residency at Baruch College Campus High School in Manhattan."

"Matt Lavelle (Paterson NJ 1970), began his music career with a High School Big Band tour of the Soviet Union in 1988, and then a 5 year period of study with Hildred Humphries, a Swing era veteran that played with Count Basie, Billie Holiday, and many others of the time. Lavelle played Trumpet during this time as a member of Hildred's band.

Lavelle then made his move on New York City to go through the trials of all new Jazz musicians, and played Straight-ahead Jazz until 1995. When he relocated to Kingston New York, and immersed himself in the study of the Bass-clarinet, keeping the trumpet going, creating the only known successful double of these 2 challenging instruments.

Lavelle returned to New York seeking out what is known as the Downtown community in 1999, which he has been a member of to this day (2009). Along the way Lavelle has played with William Parker, which also consisted of a tour in Sardinia Italy, Sabir Mateen, consisting of a tour of Northern Italy, and also toured in Scotland with an improvisation collective known as Eye Contact.

Lavelle began study with Jazz Legend Ornette Coleman in 2005, having huge impact and transformational impact on the Musician, also resulting in the addition of the Alto Clarinet as another voice.

Matt also was the key in the return and resurgence of Jazz legend Giuseppi Logan, playing on and producing his comeback record after a 40 year absence.

Lavelle has played and collaborated with Ornette Coleman, Giuseppi Logan, Hildred Humprhries, William Parker, Eric Mingus, Sabir Mateen, Roy Campbell, Daniel Carter, Jemeel Moondoc, Mat Maneri, Ras Moshe, Potato Valdez, and many others."

"Matthew Heyner came to New York from Richmond Virginia, an angel-faced skater boy who played bass and liked Primus. After seeing William Parker at the Alterknit he traded in his electric for an upright and became a star of the avant-garde.

Matthew plays bass for mega-art bands No Neck Blues Band and Test in addition to his work with the Mammals of Zod. He is also the husband of internationally recognized dancer and choreographer Nami Yamomoto.

Matthew plays intuitively, using the bull fiddle as an analog synthesizer with potentially unlimited sound-making potential. He has been known to play the bag he carries the bass in. Sometimes he plays his bass upside down, hanging from the ceiling.

Matthew has also played with Thurston Moore, Rashid Bakr, Matthew Shipp, and tons of other free jazz superstars."

Mike T.A. Thompson is a jazz drummer known for groups Dennis Gonzalez NY Quartet, Dennis Gonzalez's Inspiration Band, Dennis Gonzalez's Spirit Meridian, Ken Filiano & Quantum Entanglements, Matt Lavelle Trio, Sabir Mateen's Shapes, Texture And Sound Ensemble