"Hi, I'm Sam. I was born and raised in Western Massachusetts, in a small town called Worthington. I left there in 2000 to attend Oberlin College, where I met many of the musicians I still collaborate with.

I moved to New York in 2004 and settled in the Astoria, Queens neighborhood, working as a nanny as I got my musical career going. I was playing a lot of improvised music at the time (still do!), and met many like-minded players through playing in the New York Soundpainting Orchestra and volunteering and generally hanging out at the Stone. Parallel to my activity as a serious improviser of music, I hooked up with several of the extremely talented rock musicians and songwriters that live in this city, and also found myself getting involved in playing music for theater and dance. I started touring a fair amount and meeting people all over the US and Europe. Don't let people tell you that being a musician isn't awesome.

I think of myself as a trombonist, though I play an increasing number of other instruments pretty decently. The trombone is the instrument that I play every day and can usually count on to best express myself with. However, as the Frank Zappa saying goes, "you can't write a chord ugly enough to say what you want sometimes, so you have to rely on a giraffe filled with whipped cream." So sometimes I rely on the electric bass, or my voice, or the tuba, or the guitar, or the ukulele to say what I want. I've even got my sister's oboe from high school that I break out on rare occasions. I tell you, when you've been playing the trombone your whole life and dealing with the difficulty of slide technique and then you pick up an instrument like the oboe that has BUTTONS, it's liberating!

It would be silly not to list by name some of the people I've worked with in New York. These are the people who shape who I am as a player, which is very closely related to who I am as a person. You can hear some of this music elsewhere on this website, and for those of you who are able to make it to a show, I try to make it special every time. Starring, Skeletons, Nervous Cabaret, Anthony Braxton, Talibam!, Joachim Badenhorst, The Talking Band, Cynthia Hopkins, Peter Evans, Mitra Sumara, Kagel Nacht, Jim Bianco, Johnny Society, Blueberry, Capillary Action, Mary Halvorson, Kevin Shea's Lonely Goldmine of Symbiotic Subterfuge, Jeremiah Cymerman, Frantz Loriot, Moppa Elliott, Walter Thompson, TILT Brass, 5 for Marion, Levon Helm, Dubl Handi, Charlie Rauh, John Zorn, Guardian Alien, Yellowbirds, Mettawee River Theater Company, Jessy Carolina, Yasanao Tone, Langhorne Slim, Chris Ferris, Red Dive, Amanda Palmer, The National Reserve, the Dirty Water Dogs, Kabloona, Tin Pan, the Drunkard's Wife, Paranoid Larry, Yoshi Wada, Super Hi-Fi, Shahzad Ismaily, Ed Pastorini, Louise DE Jensen, James Ilgenfritz, Kamala Sankaram, Banana Bag & Bodice, Rick Burkhardt, Cesar Alvarez, Gordon Webster, David First & The Western Enisphere."

"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."

"Pianist Danny Fox was born in New York City where he became immersed in the jazz scene from an early age. In high school, Danny was selected as a Presidential Scholar in the Arts and went on to attend Harvard University during which time he became active in the Boston music scene. He formed the Danny Fox Trio in 2008 as a vehicle for his original compositions and since then the working group has performed steadily around NYC and the US, releasing the critically acclaimed albums The One Constant (Songlines) and Wide Eyed (Hot Cup).

Called a "pianist of diverse accomplishment" (NY Times), Danny has established himself as a versatile musician active in a wide variety of settings, co-founding the New Orleans rock and roll group Tubby, playing around the fertile Brooklyn roots and bluegrass scene, performing on Broadway, and collaborating with the cutting edge video artist Meghan Allynn Johnson. He has performed with artists as diverse as Bruce Springsteen, Cassandra Wilson, Michael Blake, and Kermit Driscoll."

"A short biography from the artist:

I was born on September 13, 1978, the first son of David and Carolyn Elliott in Scranton, Pa. Incidentally, they named me Matthew Thomas Elliott, not Moppa. My parents are both college instructors and intense music lovers, so I was able to hear a lot of music growing up. After a brief introduction to the piano, I started to play the trombone in the sixth grade, and after deciding a few years later that I wanted to also play an instrument with strings, I was given an electric bass. When I was about 17, I fixed up my father's old acoustic bass in order to audition for a summer program. I then began to study the bass seriously with Pocono resident Tony Marino. In the fall of 1997, I enrolled in both Oberlin College and the Oberlin Conservatory of Music majoring in biology and Jazz bass performance in Oberlin's double-degree program. While there I was able to record my first CD, Pinpoint and to gain some experience playing in Cleveland OH for about 3 years. I was also fortunate enough to teach at the Pennsylvania Governor's School for the Arts for four summers. I finished school in the winter of 2001, and moved to New York City the following summer. Here in New York, I have been able to play and record with some great musicians and to continue teaching at St. Mary's High School."

"The winner of the 2008 Thelonious Monk Saxophone Competition, Irabagon has since topped both the Rising Star Alto Saxophone and the Rising Star Tenor Saxophone categories in the DownBeat Magazine Critics' Poll and been named one of Time Out New York's 25 New York City Jazz Icons. Jon was also named 2012 Musician of the Year in The New York City Jazz Record and is an integral member of such high-profile ensembles as the Mary Halvorson Quintet, the Dave Douglas Quintet and Barry Altschul's 3Dom Factor, as well as an established bandleader in his own right.

For Perpetual Motion, a project of Moondog arrangements, Jon (along with French saxophonist/clarinetist/composer Sylvain Rifflet) has been awarded a French-American Cultural Exchange grant from the Mid-Atlantic Arts Foundation, with generous funding from the Cultural Services of the French Embassy, Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, Florence Gould Foundation, The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, Institut Français, Ministère de la Culture et de la Communication, and Société des Auteurs et Compositeurs de Musique ("SACEM"). In addition, Jon has received a 2012 Mabuhay Award by the National Association of Filipino-Americans and a 2014 Philippine Presidential Award.

Jon's own record label, Irabbagast Records, has currently released five of his efforts, including I Don't Hear Nothin' but the Blues Volume 2: Appalachian Haze (with Mike Pride and Mick Barr), Outright! Unhinged (with Ralph Alessi, Jacob Sacks, John Hebert and Tom Rainey) and It Takes All Kinds (featuring Mark Helias and Barry Altschul), and most recently, the dual release of Behind the Sky (featuring Tom Harrell, Luis Perdomo, Yasushi Nakamura and Rudy Royston) as well as Jon's first solo saxophone recording, Inaction is an Action."

"Nick Millevoi is a guitarist and composer whose music searches for the sonic cracks between jazz, rock and roll, noise, and modern composition. His band, Desertion Trio, featuring bassist Johnny DeBlase and drummer Kevin Shea, takes on the history of instrumental electric guitar music and throws it in a blender. Noisey describes Desertion Trio as "Supremely weird desert noir," and NPR Music said the band's debut "hits the sweet spot between Neil Young's exploratory Crazy Horse jams and a spaghetti western soundtrack."

Millevoi also makes one half of the duo Archer Spade, with trombonist Dan Blacksberg. With Archer Spade, Nick has has performed composed works by Derek Bailey, Mick Barr, Roscoe Mitchell, Dave Soldier, Gene Coleman, and many others. With guitarist Matt Hollenberg (Cleric, John Frum), Millevoi co-leads the Hollenberg-Millevoi Quartet, formed to perform John Zorn's Bagatelles. Nick was co-leader of the power trio, Many Arms, releasing five full-length records, including two for John Zorn's Tzadik label, has been a member of Chris Forsyth & the Solar Motel Band, performing on their critically-acclaimed double LP, The Rarity of Experience, as well as a member of Hassidic doom metal band Deveykus (Tzadik). In addition to these longer standing collaborations, Nick has performed with Mostly Other People Do the Killing, Dead Neanderthals, Nels Cline, Marc Ribot, Jamaaladeen Tacuma, Fugazi's Joe Lally.

As a performer in many different projects, Nick regularly tours throughout the US and Europe, and has performed at festivals such as Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival (UK), Gaffer Fest (France), Incubate (Netherlands), Mission Creek Festival (US), the Montreal Jewish Music Festival, Nelsonville Music Festival (US), the New Atlantis Festival (DC), Suoni Per Il Popolo (Canada), and John Zorn's Masada Book Three Premiere concert at New York's Town Hall and Ultimate Bagatelles Marathon. Nick's music has been released by labels such as Tzadik, ShhPuma/Clean Feed, New Atlantis, Gaffer, The Flenser, Sick Room, and Public Eyesore."

"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."

"Nate Wooley was born in 1974 in Clatskanie, Oregon, a town of 2,000 people in the timber country of the Pacific Northwestern corner of the U.S. He began playing trumpet professionally with his father, a big band saxophonist, at the age of 13. His time in Oregon, a place of relative quiet and slow time reference, instilled in Nate a musical aesthetic that has informed all of his music making for the past 20 years, but in no situation more than his solo trumpet performances.

Nate moved to New York in 2001, and has since become one of the most in-demand trumpet players in the burgeoning Brooklyn jazz, improv, noise, and new music scenes. He has performed regularly with such icons as John Zorn, Anthony Braxton, Eliane Radigue, Ken Vandermark, Fred Frith, Evan Parker, and Yoshi Wada, as well as being a collaborator with some of the brightest lights of his generation like Chris Corsano, C. Spencer Yeh, Peter Evans, and Mary Halvorson.

Wooley's solo playing has often been cited as being a part of an international revolution in improvised trumpet. Along with Peter Evans and Greg Kelley, Wooley is considered one of the leading lights of the American movement to redefine the physical boundaries of the horn, as well as demolishing the way trumpet is perceived in a historical context still overshadowed by Louis Armstrong. A combination of vocalization, extreme extended technique, noise and drone aesthetics, amplification and feedback, and compositional rigor has led one reviewer to call his solo recordings "exquisitely hostile".

In the past three years, Wooley has been gathering international acclaim for his idiosyncratic trumpet language. Time Out New York has called him "an iconoclastic trumpeter", and Downbeat's Jazz Musician of the Year, Dave Douglas has said, "Nate Wooley is one of the most interesting and unusual trumpet players living today, and that is without hyperbole". His work has been featured at the SWR JazzNow stage at Donaueschingen, the WRO Media Arts Biennial in Poland, Kongsberg, North Sea, Music Unlimited, and Copenhagen Jazz Festivals, and the New York New Darmstadt Festivals. In 2011 he was an artist in residence at Issue Project Room in Brooklyn, NY and Cafe Oto in London, England. In 2013 he performed at the Walker Art Center as a featured solo artist.

Nate is the curator of the Database of Recorded American Music (www.dramonline.org) and the editor-in-chief of their online quarterly journal Sound American (www.soundamerican.org) both of which are dedicated to broadening the definition of American music through their online presence and the physical distribution of music through Sound American Records. He also runs Pleasure of the Text which releases music by composers of experimental music at the beginnings of their careers in rough and ready mediums."

"Saxophonist Matt Nelson regularly performs in a far-reaching, motley assortment of musical projects. Described as "one of the more unpredictable virtuosos in New York's underground" by Pitchfork, and "genre-bending" by Tiny Mix Tapes, his output often lies in the gray corners beyond categorization.

Upon graduating from the Oberlin Conservatory, where he studied with Gary Bartz and Paul Cohen, Matt moved back to his native Bay Area where he became an active member of the music community. He performed regularly with several bands, among them experimental pop outfit tUnE-yArDs, with whom he recorded and toured extensively in support of their acclaimed album w h o k i l l.

In 2010 Matt relocated to Brooklyn, New York. During his time there he has performed and toured as a member of Battle Trance, GRID, Elder Ones, Premature Burial, Skeletons, and the Weasel Walter Large Ensemble. He also performs as a solo act, where he often utilizes electronics and amplified feedback along with his saxophone, as heard on his record Lower Bottoms. "

"Hailed as "a composer and arranger certainly worthy of considerable attention" (Bill Donaldson, Cadence Magazine), Kyle Saulnier writes music of dramatic intensity and immediacy, fusing orchestral techniques with the modern jazz vocabulary into music that has been described as "lush and inventive" (WNYC), "fearlessly relevant" (New York Music Daily), and "a Great American Songbook of another order" (Downbeat).

In his primary voice as composer of the Awakening Orchestra, Saulnier has composed two symphonies (2010's this is not the answer. and 2016's i can see my country from here.), a violin concerto (2014's to call her to a higher plain.), as well as scores of single-movement compositions, arrangements, and orchestrations. The orchestra's 2014 debut was called "as rare an achievement as Carla Bley's Escalator Over the Hill" (All About Jazz), and "a unique and masterful work." (Cadence Magazine)

Not limited to the jazz and avant-garde realms, Saulnier has composed and arranged for the Metropole Orchestra, Vermont Symphony Orchestra, Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra, Young the Giant, Francesca Blanchard, Alexei Murdoch, National Geographic Television, the BET Awards, and scores of other varied artists and groups. His catalog includes works for symphony orchestra, studio orchestra, big band, string quartet, brass ensemble, solo piano, and countless combinations of mixed jazz and chamber ensembles."

"My name is Ava Mendoza. I play guitars and stompboxes and write music. Currently I'm based out of Brooklyn, NY. I have played guitar for most of my life and been active for the last decade playing my own music and in many different groups. In any context I try to bring expressivity, energy and a wide sonic range to the music I play. I've toured throughout the U.S. and Europe and recorded or performed with a broad spectrum of musicians including singer Carla Bozulich (The Geraldine Fibbers, Evangelista), Fred Frith (Massacre, Henry Cow, Art Bears), Nels Cline, Jamaaladeen Tacuma, Weasel Walter, Tune-Yards, and more. I've played on recordings released by labels Weird Forest, Tzadik, Clean Feed, NotTwo, ugEXPLODE, Resipiscent, New Atlantis, and others.

Friendly critics have called me "Oakland's avant-jazz virtuoso" (Brad Cohan, Village Voice), "a versatile and virtuosic guitarist" (The San Francisco Film Society), "a wizard on a semi-circle of effects pedals, butÉ equally adept with FX-less technique," (Lars Gotrich, A Blog Supreme/NPR Jazz). I was recently named one of Guitar WorldÔs Ò10 Female Guitarists You Should KnowÓ.

My main project these days is UNNATURAL WAYS .

PERFORMED/RECORDED WITH:

Scott Amendola (Nels Cline Singers, Charlie Hunter Quartet), Liz Allbee, Vijay Anderson, Bran(...)pos, Carla Bozulich (The Geraldine Fibbers, Evangelista), Sheldon Brown, Tony Buck (The Necks), members of Caroliner, Nels Cline (Wilco), George Cremaschi, Tim Dahl (Child Abuse, Lydia Lunch), J.A. Deane, Marco Di Gasbarro (Squartet), John Dikeman (Cactus Truck), Thomas Dimuzio, Shayna Dunkleman, Marco Eneidi, Luc Ex, Ben Goldberg, Fred Frith (Henry Cow, Art Bears, Massacre), Vinny Golia, Phillip Greenlief, Franz Hautzinger, Jacob Felix Heule, Devin Hoff (Good for Cows), Gerri Jager (Knaalpot), Darren Johnston, Henry Kaiser (Crazy Backwards Alphabet), Annette Krebs, Thollem McDonas, Lisa Mezzacappa, Butch Morris, Matt Nelson, Hexlove aka Zac Nelson, Kanoko Nishi, Nick Podgurski (Extra Life), Porest aka Mark Gergis, Gino Robair, Aram Shelton, John Shiurba, SF Sound, Damon Smith, Moe! Staiano, Jamaaladeen Tacuma, Raphael Vanoli (Knaalpot), Weasel Walter (The Flying Luttenbachers), Mike Watt (Minutemen, fIREHOSE), Wobbly (Negativland), Tune-yards, William Winant (Mr. Bungle), Kenny Wollesen (Sex Mob), Theater of Yugen, dancers Leyya Mona Tawil, Yuko Kaseki, and Manuela Tessi."

"Since his arrival in New York, pianist, composer, and bandleader George Burton has been on the radar of everyone who follows innovations in jazz. But that's not surprising; Burton's experience is wide-ranging and deep. Born and raised in Philadelphia, he grew up playing classical violin and viola while absorbing gospel and blues at home and in high school went on to play with Philly hard-bop legend Bootsie Barnes, while learning the subtleties of the genre from some of the veteran pianists on the Philly scene, notably Sid Simmons and Shirley Scott. He had a long tenure as the pianist for Odean Pope's saxophone choir, and from there he earned a place on the world stage with some of the most significant practitioners of post-bop and the avant-garde - from Eddie Henderson to James Carter to the Sun Ra Arkestra.

Burton's own work is in a category by itself: he brings not only stunning technique, but original music that unites all the dimensions of his experience. For George, newness and wandering is a constant that is steeped in being a prodigious composer and classically trained virtuoso instrumentalist. His breathtakingly eclectic approach, channeled through the dynamic performances of his bands, puts Burton's ensembles among the most cutting edge groups on the scene, leaving listeners to wonder if the fugitive magic of his live shows could ever be captured in a recording. The answer to that question is always, a YES. [...]"

"Mike Pride: Percussionist • Composer • Vocalist • Visual Artist

Born and raised in Southern Maine, but based out of New York City since 2000, Mike Pride currently performs solo, leads modern-jazz quartet From Bacteria To Boys, the 7-drummer installation-band Drummer's Corpse, and the MDC piano trio I Hate Work. He also co-leads the ensembles Pulverize The Sound (w/ Peter Evans and Tim Dahl), and Period (w/ Charlie Looker and Chuck Bettis). Pride is renowned for his ability to excel in a wide range of genres and ensembles. He has worked with everyone from improvised music icon Anthony Braxton to punk legends Millions Of Dead Cops, toured extensively on four continents, appeared on more than 100 recordings, and is currently touring the world opening for comedian Amy Schumer with Jason Stein's Locksmith Isidore.

A short list of his collaborators includes Mick Barr, Tim Berne, Boredoms, Eugene Chadbourne, Nels Cline, Andrew D'Angelo, Trevor Dunn, Dynamite Club, Peter Evans, Charles Gayle, Milford Graves, Drew Gress, Mary Halvorson, Curtis Hasselbring, Nona Hendryx, Jon Irabagon, Brad Jones, Haino Keiji, Kirk Knuffke, George Lewis, Frank Lowe, Bill McHenry, Tony Malaby, Sam Mickens, Butch Morris, Joe Morris, William Parker, Marc Ribot, Matana Roberts, Herb Robertson, Jamie Saft, Sonny Simmons, Craig Wedren, Nate Wooley, Otomo Yoshihide and John Zorn.

Pride's versatility doesn't end with his eclectic résumé as a popular sideman and leader/co-leader of many active ensembles spanning the worlds of modern-jazz, avant-rock, noise and doom metal improv. He is also a busy educator and clinician, a soundtrack composer for TV shows, video games, podcasts, independent films, and websites, and an experienced and exhibited visual artist.

Mike proudly uses Yamaha Drums & hardware, Vic Firth striking implements, and Humes & Berg Cases."