"Julian Lage (born December 25, 1987) is an American jazz guitarist and composer.

A child prodigy, Lage was the subject of the 1997 documentary Jules at Eight. At 13, Lage performed at the 2000 Grammy Awards. At 15, Lage became a faculty member at the Stanford Jazz Workshop at Stanford University. Classically trained at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, Lage has studied at Sonoma State University and the Ali Akbar College of Music. He graduated from the Berklee College of Music in 2008.

On March 24, 2009 Lage released his debut album Sounding Point on EmArcy Records, to favorable reviews. It was nominated for the 2010 Grammy Award Best Contemporary Jazz Album. Lage's second album, titled Gladwell was released April 26, 2011, to positive reviews. On March 2, 2015, Lage released his first solo acoustic album entitled World's Fair. On March 11, 2016, Lage released his fourth album as a leader, entitled Arclight.

As of 2017, Lage's trio features bassist Scott Colley and drummer Kenny Wollesen. Lage also has duo projects with guitarists Chris Eldridge and Nels Cline."

"Gyan Riley (born 1977) is an American guitarist and composer. He is a son of minimalist composer Terry Riley. They frequently collaborate, including a tour in Europe in September 2016. Gyan Riley studied at San Francisco Conservatory of Music. He released his solo album Stream of Gratitude in 2013 on John Zorn's Tzadik Records. He also performed with Zakir Hussain, Dawn Upshaw, San Francisco Symphony among others. In 2015, he released Nayive Eviyan, a collaboration with Czech violinist Iva Bittová."

"John Zorn (born September 2, 1953) is an American composer, arranger, producer, saxophonist, and multi-instrumentalist with hundreds of album credits as performer, composer, and producer across a variety of genres including jazz, rock, hardcore, classical, surf, metal, klezmer, soundtrack, ambient, and improvised music. He incorporates diverse styles in his compositions which he identifies as avant-garde or experimental. Zorn was described by Down Beat as "one of our most important composers".

Zorn established himself within the New York City downtown music movement in the mid-1970s performing with musicians across the sonic spectrum and developing experimental methods of composing new music. After releasing albums on several independent US and European labels, Zorn signed with Elektra Nonesuch and received wide acclaim with the release of The Big Gundown, an album reworking the compositions of Ennio Morricone. He attracted further attention worldwide with the release of Spillane in 1987, and Naked City in 1989. After spending almost a decade travelling between Japan and the US he made New York his permanent base and established his own record label, Tzadik, in the mid-1990s.

Tzadik enabled Zorn to maintain independence from the mainstream music industry and ensured the continued availability of his growing catalog of recordings, allowing him to prolifically record and release new material, issuing several new albums each year, as well as promoting the work of many other musicians. Zorn has led the hardcore bands Naked City and Painkiller, the klezmer/free jazz-influenced quartet Masada, composed over 600 pieces as part of the Masada Songbooks that have been performed by an array of groups, composed concert music for classical ensembles and orchestras, and produced music for opera, sound installations, film and documentary. Zorn has undertaken many tours of Europe, Asia, and the Middle East, often performing at festivals with many other musicians and ensembles that perform his diverse output.

Zorn's compositions cross many genres and he has stated "All the various styles are organically connected to one another. I'm an additive person-the entire storehouse of my knowledge informs everything I do. People are so obsessed with the surface that they can't see the connections, but they are there." For Zorn "Composing is more than just imagining music-it's knowing how to communicate it to musicians. And you don't give an improviser music that's completely written out, or ask a classical musician to improvise. I'm interested in speaking to musicians in their own languages, on their own terms, and in bringing out the best in what they do. To challenge them and excite them." "