"John Blum was born April 15, 1968 in New York City. While an undergraduate from 1987-1991 Blum received a degree in Biological Science at Bennington College and also received a BFA in Music through his studies with Bill Dixon and Milford Graves. After college he continued his musical studies with pianists Borah Bergman and Cecil Taylor, and later received a MFA in Jazz Composition and Performance.

While in Europe in 1992, he worked with Han Bennink (Drums), Antonio Grippi (Sax), Demian Richardson (Trumpet), Tristan Honsinger (Cello), and the legendary Tony Scott on Clarinet.

Upon returning to New York City, Blum became a member of the Improvisers Collective (1993-1995) and also initiated projects as a soloist and a group leader. By early 1998 he joined together with Antonio Grippi on Saxophone, William Parker on Bass, and Denis Charles on Drums to form The" Astrogeny Quartet". A CD of this group was released on Eremite records in 2005. In 2001 Blum recorded a solo piano CD for Drimala Records entitled "Naked Mirror", and was also featured on Butch Morris' "Conduction 117" released on JumpArts Records. In 2003, Blum recorded with Sunny Murray's trio and is featured on his CD Perles Noires Volume 2 on Eremite Records. Blum joined the Steve Swell Quintet in 2005 and a CD was released on NotTwo Records of their 2006 Vision Festival performance in NYC. He performed with Han Bennink (Drums) and Peter Brotzmann (Sax) in 2006 and also played duets with Hamid Drake (Drums) and Marco Eneidi (Sax). In 2007 he played with Jackson Krall (Drums) at the Sage Gateshead New Music Festival in Newcastle England. Blum was featured with The Daniel Carter Quintet in 2008 at the Ponta Delgada Jazz Festival in Portugal.

He recorded a trio CD in 2008 entitled "In The Shade Of Sun" with William Parker and Sunny Murray released on Ecstatic Peace Records. That same year he also recorded a solo piano CD "Who begat Eye" released on Konnex Records in 2009. Blum returned to the Ponta Delgada Jazz Festival in 2010 and also played at the Abrantes Musicam Festival in Portugal as a soloist. In 2011 Blum played a series of solo concerts in Portugal on the islands of Pico, Faial. and Sao Miguel; and at Circol Malda in Barcelona. That year he also played at the Suoni Per Il Popolo Festival in Montreal, Canada. In 2012 Blum performed regularly in NYC and was featured in several music festivals, including the High Zero Festival in Baltimore and the Jazzores Festival in Portugal, where he performed on the island of Santa Maria. He returned to Barcelona in 2012 to play at Robadors with Bassist Masa Kamaguchi.

In 2013 Blum performed in Mexico in the cities of Guanajuato at Casa Cuatro, and in Merida at the Chaakab Paaxil Free Jazz Festival. He also played as a soloist and with a trio in at the Crossover Festival in Italy, the Jazz and More Festival in Romania, and the Musicam Festival in Portugal."

"Jackson Krall ((born October 12, 1949) ) After studying jazz drumming with Alan Dawson in Boston and being strongly influenced by the teachings of Milford Graves at Bennington College in the early 1970's, Jackson Krall set up shop on Manhattan's Lower-East-Side, the emerging hub of New York's art scene. While making inroads in the downtown avant jazz scene and after making hand drums and some of the finest marraccas imaginable, he crafted his first line of agogo bells in 1978. He immediately started supplying many of New York's local musical instrument dealers such as "Music Inn", "Mannys", and "Drummers World" with his creations, and eventually expanded his marketing worldwide.

Since the mid 1970's Jackson has played drums with other high-profile musicians such as Cecil Taylor, Bill Dixon, Alan Silva, Karen Borca, William Parker, and Steve Swell, as well as choreographers Elaine Shipman and Kay Nishikawa and his own group "The Secret Music Society."

What most people are unaware of is that he is a master craftsman and artisan who has been hand making bells, drums, other percussion instruments and sound sculptures for over 35 years. Through the years Jackson's instruments have found their way into the hands of the world's greatest drummers and percussionists, and can be heard on recordings as well as in live performance by many bands, orchestras, and the most popular Broadway and Off-Broadway shows like "Lion King" and "Blue Man Group".

In the early 1980's, under the leadership of Toni and Celia Nogueira, Jackson was a founding member and helped write the bylaws of New York's first samba school, the now legendary Empire Loisaida Escola de Samba."