"Michael Blake (born May 19, 1964) is a Canadian-born [Montreal] American saxophonist, composer and arranger. Blake is based in New York City where he has led a robust career leading his own bands. As a sideman Michael has performed with Charlie Hunter, The Lounge Lizards, Steven Bernstein/Henry Butler and the Hot 9, Ben Allison, Nicole Mitchell, Hamid Drake, Oliver Lake Big Band, Dafnis Prieto Big Band, Ricki Lee Jones and Ray LaMontagne. The New York Times jazz critic Ben Ratliff wrote,"Mr. Blake, on tenor especially, is an endlessly engaging improviser, and an inquisitive one"."

"Steven Bernstein (born October 8, 1961), is an American trumpeter, slide trumpeter, arranger/composer and bandleader from New York City, who lives outside of musical convention.

He is best known for his work as an arranger and a trumpet player in his bands Sexmob, the Millennial Territory Orchestra, The Lounge Lizards, Butler, Bernstein & the Hot 9, and The Midnight Ramble Band, which have garnered him four DownBeat® Critics Poll Awards, three GRAMMY® Awards, one GRAMMY® Award nomination, and a London Times "Jazz Record of the Year" Award. He has worked on over 131 recordings and has played with a diverse group of jazz giants such as Rosewell Rudd, Sam Rivers, Don Bryon, David Murray, Dave Berger, Mocean Worker, and Medeski, Martin & Wood, and others including My Morning Jacket, Linda Ronstadt, Aretha Franklin, Lou Reed, Digable Planets, Sting, Courtney Love, and Ryuichi Sakamoto."

"Bryan Carrott is an internationally renowned vibraphonist/mallet percussionist, who performs, records, and tours extensively in the jazz idiom. A prolific composer and improviser as well, Mr. Carrott is also an accomplished pianist. Bryan began percussion studies at New York's High School of Music and Art and continued at the Manhattan School of Music. He then went on to study at Brooklyn College under New York Philharmonic percussionist Morris Lang and William Paterson College, where he studied with Dave Samuels. Bryan completed degrees in Jazz Studies and Jazz Performance.

A two-time recipient of New York's "Meet the Composer Foundation", Bryan has been cited by Down Beat Magazine's International Critics' Poll seven of the last nine years for "Talent Deserving Wider Recognition" in the vibes category. Mr. Carrott was featured in the concert film "The Lounge Lizards Live in Berlin," as well as several television programs including "BET's JAZZ CENTRAL". Bryan can also be seen performing on marimba with Don Byron and Harvey Kietel in the film, "Lulu on the Bridge". He spent two years as a featured mallet percussionist for Disney's Broadway production of "The Lion King" and most recently performed with Branford Marsalis and his Quartet on the original soundtrack music composed by Marsalis for the Spike Lee produced film, "3 A.M.".

As a sideman Bryan has played with many top jazz groups including James Spaulding, Benny Powell, The Lounge Lizards, Kimati Dinizulu, and Roy Campbell. In recent years, he has been recording and performing with David "Fathead" Newman, Muhal Richard Abrahms, Butch Morris, The Jazz Passengers, Bob Moses, The Spirit of Life Ensemble, Henry Threadgill, Dave Douglas, Yoron Israel Connection, and Charlie Hunter. These performances include dates in the U.S., Europe, and Japan. In the Summer of 2006, Carrott is stated to perform with the world renown Ju Percussion Group in Teipei. Carrott has also collaborated with pianist/composer Riccardo Fassi for successful tours and festival performances in Italy. An original member of The Ralph Peterson Fo'tet, Bryan has composed, performed, and recorded with the group for the last ten years.

As a composer, Bryan has performed and presented his original music throughout the U.S., Europe and on recordings with the Fo'tet and vocalist Ruth Naomi Floyd, all to critical acclaim. He also performs and tours with his own groups the Bryan Carrott Trio, Quartet, and Quintet. Bryan performs and records exclusively with the Ross R715G vibraphone and R420W marimba."

"Billy Martin was born in NYC in 1963 to a Radio City Rockette and a concert violinist. At age 17, he devoted himself to music and dove into Manhattan's thriving, eclectic musical landscape. In the years to follow, he honed his craft everywhere from Broadway orchestra pits to Brazilian nightclubs and burgeoning underground performance spaces.

From the roots of the downtown scene he emerged with Medeski Martin and Wood, bridging the harmonic complexity of jazz, the conversational fluency of free improvisation, and the groove and swagger of classic R&B and funk. A series of albums and high-profile collaborations with John Scofield, John Zorn, iggy Pop, Natalie Merchant, and others, brought the band international acclaim.

Martin has relentlessly pursued diverse musical contexts, from free improvisation to chamber compositions to film scores. Much of his work is available via his Amulet Records label, which recently released the Road to Jajouka-a series of collaborations (produced by Martin) between the Master Musicians of Jajouka and such artists as Ornette Coleman, Flea, Marc Ribot, John Zorn, Lee Ranaldo, Bill Laswell, Mickey Hart, MMW and more.

Martin is also an accomplished filmmaker and visual artist, whose work has been exhibited in solo and group installations around the world including 2014's Cartegena de indias Bienal in Colombia and the Drawing Sound series at The Drawing Center in NYC (2015)

What began for Martin as tireless enthusiasm for music, percussion, and improvisation evolved into a wide ranging search for the roots of inspiration. Among the most valuable undertakings in this ongoing exploration is teaching. "When I teach," he explains, "I learn and discover methods to build my vocabulary and style, and I love to help others do the same"

His experiences as a teacher, student, and musician led him to create and direct Life on Drums, a cinematic exploration of percussion and the creative process with his childhood drum instructor, Allen Herman.

Billy is currently Executive Artistic Director and CEO of the legendary Creative Music Studio

He also owns and manages his own record label Amulet Records."

"Oren Bloedow (born July 3, 1965 in New York City) is an American singer, guitarist, and composer. He founded the band Elysian Fields in 1995 with Jennifer Charles.

His father, Jerry Bloedow, b. 1928, is a playwright, poet and film editor, whose theater, the Hardware Poet's Playhouse, was a fixture in the New York avante-garde scene in the 1950s and early 1960s.

Oren's first serious musical affiliations were with Phillip Johnston, Bobby Previte and Wayne Horvitz, all of whom worked with him in Bobby Radcliff's blues band in the 1980s. With Radcliff, Oren backed up Dr. John, Otis Rush and Johnny Copeland, also Paul Butterfield shortly before he died. Another close collaboration was with underground guitarist Ron Anderson, later of San Francisco's The Molecules. In 1985, a friend of Ron's introduced Oren to 101 Crustaceans, whose leader, Ed Pastorini, is Oren's oldest continuing musical associate, and was later a member of Elysian Fields. Oren consistently names Ed Pastorini as his favorite musical artist.

He attended New England Conservatory in 1987Ð88, and on returning, started gigging frequently at the Knitting Factory on Houston St. Previte, Horvitz and Johnston were all playing there, and so were many musicians Oren came to play with, like Samm Bennett, The Jazz Passengers, Marc Ribot, Bosho, Gary Lucas and innumerable others.

It was here in 1990 that Oren met Jennifer, and they began working together soon afterwards. During the nineties, Oren made a couple of solo records for the Knitting Factory label, one featuring Medeski, Martin and Wood, toured and recorded as a member of The Lounge Lizards for whom he played bass, as well as many other groups and projects.

From the nineties to the present, he continues to be a highly in demand player, having toured, recorded, and/or played with Chocolate Genius, Lizz Wright, Meshell Ndegeocello, Martha Wainwright, and Yerba Buena either on bass or guitar. Besides Oren's solo work, and work with Elysian Fields, he also continues his long-term association with Ed Pastorini and 101 Crustaceans.

Another outlet for Oren's music, and one that also features Jennifer Charles, is the 'Sephardic Diaspora' project La Mar Enfortuna, who have played in a variety of prestigious funded-arts environments, including the Jewish Culture Festival in Krak—w, where they performed for 20,000 people.

Career highlights for Oren include being named Artist of the Year by Greil Marcus in 2004, musical directing the Randy Newman tribute at UCLA's Royce Hall for impresario Hal Willner, performing with Lou Reed, Emmylou Harris, Steve Earle, and once with Bruce Springsteen at Carnegie Hall."