"Jason Schimmel is a composer & guitarist from Los Angeles.

With a command of countless genres and a vast list of credits, composer/guitarist Jason Schimmel is a musical polymath whose talents know no bounds. His seamlessly eclectic style-previously on display in boundary-defying bands Estradasphere and Secret Chiefs 3 - calls on anything from surf rock to big-band jazz to Balkan folk to heavy metal.

Currently heading the jazz-fusion quintet Atomic Ape, Schimmel has worked with a dizzying array of underground icons and virtuosos, including John Zorn, Trey Spruance, Amanda Palmer, J.G. Thirlwell, Neil Hamburger, Eyvind Kang, Wayne Horvitz, Jason Webley, Carla Kihlstedt, Matt Chamberlain, Tim Young, Michael White, and many more. His original compositions have been featured on NBC, ABC, Comedy Central, the Food Network, and Fox, and he has performed at major domestic and foreign festivals such as the North Sea Jazz Festival, the Rothbury Festival, the 10,000 Lakes Festival, the Masada Marathon at Lincoln Center, and the Angel City Jazz Festival.

A freelance composer with film-score and production-music credits, Schimmel also works with world-renowned production houses Elias Arts and Hans Zimmer's Bleeding Fingers. His skills stretch beyond composition as well-with expert engineering abilities, he owns and operates The Bunker, a full-service recording studio in Los Angeles."

"Rusty Kennedy is a Los Angeles based bassist, educator, arranger, conductor, and composer. He holds a BA in jazz bass performance from California Institute from the Arts. Well-versed in an array of different genres including jazz, progressive rock, blues, metal, Balkan, Brazilian, grindcore, West African, Salsa, funk, R & B, hip hop microtonal dance pop, and opera, Rusty is sought after for his extreme versatility and his individualized approach to every project. He has toured extensively around the US and has performed at festivals internationally. Just a small fraction of his many projects include Cryptic Gallbladder Splatter, Blackberry Tongues, Wax People, Brundlefly, Bubbeleh, The Baba Orchestra, Izela, Atomic Ape, Heart of Cyngus, Felix Martin, and THE INDUSTRY'S HOPSCOTCH.

Rusty has over 10 years of experience teaching and has spent much of that time leading elementary and middle school brass bands. He currently teaches, conducts, and arranges for Laby Harmony Project, where he leads the advanced orchestra and Latin jazz band. As an instructor, Rusty is beloved for his positive and optimistic approach and for his ability to truly connect with students."

Mike Lockwood is a Los Angeles, California area drummer, known for the groups A Conrad Trio, Evil Genius, Logan Hone's Similar Fashion, Matty Harris Double Septet, and Michael Mull Octet.

Ryan Parrish is a Los Angeles, CA-based musician, a member of Atomic Ape, The Droogs of Eidetia, DUBSAK, Duk, The Jazz Cavalry, Late Monkey/Early Man, Misery Love Company, Osmodiar, The Peculiar Pretzelmen, Secret Chiefs 3, The Mark Sexton Band, Show Brazil!, Sly Buford, Stupid Man Suit, Tubaluba.

Trevor Parrish: Teacher and performer of trumpet, trombone, piano and jazz in Seattle

"I hold a Bachelor of Music degree in Classical and Jazz trumpet performance from the University of Nevada, Reno, and a Master of Fine Arts degree from the California Institute of the Arts in Valencia, California. I also attended the School for Improvisational Music in Brooklyn, New York, in 2006.

[...]

Professionally, I currently play in a number of ensembles:

Funky2Death,an eight-piece funk/soul band that performs most Friday nights from 10:00 p.m. on at Seamonster Lounge, 2202 N. 45th St., Wallingford, Seattle.
45th St. Brass, a funk/soul/brass group in Seattle.
Special Forces, a jazz septet.
Atomic Ape, a Los Angeles-based quintet that performs an experimental mix of all types of musical genres and tours regularly and has recorded on the Web of Mimicry label.
45th Street Brass, a for-hire brass section, busking ensemble and New Orleans-style brass band.
Nucleus, an experimental trio in development.

Besides these ensembles, I also do a great deal of recording work, classical and jazz performance on a free-lance basis in numerous venues.

Past ensembles I have played in include the Rowan-Baba Jazz Orchestra, which performs all original contemporary jazz music, Orkestar Meze, an 11-piece band performing Òpeasant funk,Ó a blend of traditional/original eastern European music and American funk, Jazz Police, a jazz big band, and Sound Wave, the official band of the Seattle Sounders."

Max Whipple is an active Bay Area bassist and accordionist, composer and arranger.

"Eyvindur (Eyvind) Kang (born 23 June 1971 in Corvallis, Oregon, United States) is a composer and violist. He was raised in Canada and the United States, and has since lived and worked in countries ranging from Italy to Iceland.

A recurring theme in his solo work is the "NADE", the meaning of which Kang is not willing to disclose. Referring titles include "Theme from the first NADE", "5th NADE/Invisible Man", "Theme from the sixth NADE" (all three from the debut album 7 NADEs, 1996); "Jewel of the NADE", "Mystic NADE" (both from Theater of Mineral NADEs, 1998) and "Harbour of the NADE" (Virginal Co-ordinates, 2003). His preferred instrument is the viola.

In 2014 Kang visited Vossajazz in western Norway, for a gig with Bill Frisell's trio Beautiful Dreamers, including with drummer Rudy Royston, for the opening concert. During the concert Norwegian trumpeter Arve Henriksen joined in for a tune."

"Drummer/Composer Shawn Baltazor, originally from the California Bay Area, was exposed early on to it's richly diverse musical environment. He began performing professionally at the age of 10 with musical groups ranging from Rock and Roll to Traditional New Orleans Jazz. Moving to the east coast in his late teens to pursue his studies, he attended the renown William Paterson University where he was featured in performances with legends Clark Terry, Slide Hampton, Wynton Marsalis, Joe Lovano, Kenny Garrett and more.

Baltazor has performed internationally at the Festival International des Musiques Noires d'Abidjan in Cote d'Ivoire, the Jazzablanca Festival in Cassablanca, Morocco and the Risonanze Festival in Venice, Italy. US performances include the Kennedy Center, JVC Jazz Festival, Jazz at Lincoln Center, Merkin Concert Hall as well as many of New York City's Jazz clubs. He has composed multiple scores for the New York City-based Daniel Gwirtzman Dance Company, having them performed by live chamber ensembles. As a performer and composer, his individual sound has been sought after more recently by a wide range of artists including Eric Reed, Kermit Driscoll and Grammy Nominee Darcy James Argue, with which he has premiered several works.

Shawn Baltazor's debut album as a leader (which will be released fall of 2014) features an incredible line-up, with some of New York's finest musicians including Seamus Blake on Saxophone, Ben Monder on Guitar, Sam Harris on Piano and Ben Street on Bass."

"Jessika Kenney is unwinding and nourishing a harbor of voices. As a filter for sphygmoresonances, be they in forms of language or indecipherable metonymics, this functioning as process frequently manifests as: the intersection of melodic science (radifs, cengkok, unstable svaras, pulses) with the aural and textual transmissions of translated concepts... the sphygmological space between breathing bodies, canyons, and the asymmetrical harmonics of tuned metal... the exposure of first intention ontic wounds and corresponding temporal suturing.. as well as collective atemporal eversion between eras, iconicities, and untethered evolutions of cyclic inscriptions. She currently lives on Tataviam land near Los Angeles."

"Peter Valsamis is a Los Angeles-based drummer/percussionist/composer/sound designer. His unique approach to drumming synthesizes a variety of musical styles into his own unique sound. He has performed with Trance Mission, Emeline Michel, Martine St. Clair, Mitsou, Cecil Taylor, Don Preston, Walter Aziz, Dana Reason, Steve Lacy, and many others. Peter is also an accomplished composer and sound designer, working on titles such as Transformers, Star Trek, Battleship, The Price is Right, Jeopardy, and Wheel of Fortune. Peter received his M.F.A. in Electronic Music and Recording Media from Mills College."

"Miller Wrenn is a bassist and composer-improviser based in Los Angeles, CA.

His first album as a leader, Alternates, with his quintet Escapist was released May 4th, 2018 on pfMentum Records.

His music explores alternative models of improvisation, creative orchestration, and unfamiliar timbral and melodic gestures in pursuit of expressing universal experiences through an idiosyncratic lens.

He performs and records frequently in a wide variety of contexts and has been fortunate to do so with artists such as Steve Lehman, Vicki Ray, Larry Koonse, Joe LaBarbera, GE Stinson, Tony Malaby, Mark Menzies and many others. Notably he recently performed the world premiere of John Cage's "all sides of the small stone for Erik Satie" at the RedCat Theater in Los Angeles with The Ensemble at CalArts, and regularly performs and records with avant-garde jazz luminary Vinny Golia.

Additionally, he performs with and composes for a multitude of collective musical ventures and his own projects. He is a member of Off Cell, a forward-thinking quartet comprised of musicians from Los Angeles and Dallas, which released its debut recording in February of 2017. As both a performer and composer, he is a member of the New Music chamber group EnsembleVomma, which recently premiered his long-form work The Shape of Them Dissolving, for piano and string quintet, at ArtShare LA along with two premieres of renowned composer/violinist Mark Menzies.

Miller received a Master of Fine Arts degree in Bass Performance and Composition from California Institute of the Arts."