Dennis Palmer (1957 - February 15, 2013) was a musician, visual artist, and educator from Chattanooga, Tennessee. He co-founded the Shaking Ray Levis, an improvisational music duo, with percussionist Bob Stagner in 1986. Palmer was known for his mastery of the Moog synthesizer and his unique storytelling abilities, contributing significantly to the free improvisation music scene.

"Jessica Lurie is an American composer, performance artist and woodwind player, originally hailing from Seattle and now living in Brooklyn, New York.

Lurie first gained notice as a member of The Billy Tipton Memorial Saxophone Quartet, an all-female horn ensemble who released its first album in 1993. In 1995, she also had a first release with the group Living Daylights, which performs jazz-jamband music. She has also performed as the leader of the Jessica Lurie Ensemble since 2002.

Jessica has performed, toured or recorded with international artists such as Bill Frisell, The Indigo Girls, Vinicio Capossela, Marc Ribot, Marty Ehrlich, Wayne Horvitz, Sleater-Kinney, Circus Amok, Les Claypool, Nels Cline, Mike Clark, and Great Small Works, among others.[citation needed] Lurie started her music label Zipa!Music in 2000.

Jessica's touring groups include jazz and alternative music artists. Her current New York line-up features Todd Sickafoose on acoustic bass (best known for his work with Ani DiFranco), Allison Miller on drums (Natalie Merchant) and Erik Deutsch on keyboard.[citation needed] Other regular guests include Scott Amendola (drums, Madeline Peyroux), Jon Evans (bass, Tori Amos), Nels Cline (guitar, Wilco) and Julie Wolf (piano, Ani diFranco) as well as Italian musicians Zeno de Rossi (drums), Danilo Gallo (bass) and Giorgio Pacorig (piano)."

"Frank Pahl is a Michigan-based musician/composer, working in several styles including "toy pop", or music made with toys. He works primarily in Wyandotte and Ann Arbor, Michigan, and has exhibited his work in Canada, Europe and Japan, as well as the United States.

Pahl has worked in several groups, including Only a Mother, Sublime Wedge, Immigrant Suns and currently in Scavenger Quartet, a freeform musical group, and Little Bang Theory, a "toy" music trio. Frank has worked with other avant-garde musicians like Eugene Chadbourne and Fred Frith. He frequently collaborates with Professors Terry Saris and Peter Sparling Frank has built and exhibited a lot of "automatic instruments"

Pahl was awarded the Master of Fine Arts degree in Art and Design from the University of Michigan Pahl was awarded the Kresge Art Fellowship in 2010.

Pahl was born February 11, 1958, in Trenton, MI, and played euphonium in high school. Pahl grew up in Wyandotte and got turned onto music listening to FM radio in the 70s."

"Bruce Hampton (born Gustav Valentine Berglund III; April 30, 1947 - May 1, 2017) was an American musician. He was a key figure in the Atlanta, Georgia music scene, mentoring numerous other musicians who became national stars. His own musical style was avant-garde, combining elements of jazz, fusion, southern rock and jam band styles.

He first rose to prominence as the leader of the Hampton Grease Band. Adopting the moniker Colonel Hampton B. Coles, Retired or alternatively Col. Bruce Hampton Ret., and sometimes playing a sort of dwarf guitar called a "chazoid", he later formed several other bands, some of whose names include The Late Bronze Age, The Aquarium Rescue Unit, The Fiji Mariners, The Codetalkers, The Quark Alliance, Pharaoh Gummitt, and Madrid Express.Career

As a member of the Hampton Grease Band, Bruce Hampton helped record the 1971 album Music to Eat. According to legend, this was the second-worst-selling album in Columbia Records history, with the worst being a yoga record.

Hampton's band The Late Bronze Age consisted of "Col. Hampton B. Coles, Ret." (Bruce Hampton) on vocals, slide guitar, mandolin, and chazoid; Ben "Pops" Thornton (Billy McPherson) on vocals, guitar, saxophones, and keyboards; Lincoln Metcalfe (Ricky Keller) on bass, guitar, brass, and vocals; and Bubba Phreon (Jerry Fields) on drums, percussion, trombone, and vocals. They performed several songs in the 1983 movie Getting It On.

Hampton helped start the 1990s seminal H.O.R.D.E. tours. The best known of his bands to play H.O.R.D.E. is the jazz-rock outfit Aquarium Rescue Unit, which featured improvisational music all-stars Oteil Burbridge, Jimmy Herring, Rev. Jeff Mosier, Matt Mundy, and Jeff Sipe.

In 1994, Hampton then formed the progressive rock/jazz duo Fiji Mariners and recorded two albums on Capricorn Records with Dan Matrazzo who simultaneously played keys, drums, and bass. Later, Ricky Fargo, Marcus Williams joined on drums and Joseph Patrick Moore joined on bass.

Hampton was the voice of Warren, a talking potted shrub, in a 1998 episode ("Warren") of the TV show Space Ghost Coast to Coast. Hampton played Morris, the songwriting band manager, in Billy Bob Thornton's 1996 film Sling Blade. He also starred in Mike Gordon's 2001 film Outside Out as a guitar 'out'structor.

Longtime friend Susan Tedeschi wrote a song about Bruce called "Hampmotized." It appears on her 2002 release Wait For Me. Hampton returned the favor with the song "Susan T".

Basically Frightened: The Musical Madness of Col. Bruce Hampton, Ret. is a documentary about Hampton. It premiered at the Atlanta Film Festival in March 2012.

Georgia Governor Nathan Deal presented Hampton with the Governor's Award In The Arts and Humanities in 2012.

In 2014, Hampton made a cameo in the music video for rap group Run The Jewels' single "Blockbuster Night, Pt. 1".

2015 saw the production of Here Comes Rusty in which Hampton portrayed the lead character, Dicky, alongside co-stars Fred Willard, Joey Lauren Adams and Brandon Niederauer. The film debuted at the Atlanta Film Festival in 2016, but was not commercially available until 2020.

On May 1, 2017, Hampton was honored by his friends at the Fox Theatre in Atlanta, Georgia for his 70th birthday. Dubbed Hampton 70: A Celebration of Col. Bruce Hampton, it was an all-star concert featuring Widespread Panic members John Bell, Dave Schools, Duane Trucks, and Jimmy Herring; blues guitarist Tinsley Ellis; Peter Buck of R.E.M; steel guitarist Darick Campbell; saxophone player Karl Denson; Drew Emmitt and Vince Herman of Leftover Salmon; Jon Fishman of Phish; banjo player Rev. Jeff Mosier of Blueground Undergrass; guitarist Warren Haynes; Drivin N Cryin frontman Kevn Kinney; Atlanta jazz-staple Johnny Knapp; Chuck Leavell; Athens rock-troubadour T. Hardy Morris; 13-year-old guitar prodigy Brandon Niederauer; slide guitarist Derek Trucks and blues singer Susan Tedeschi of the Tedeschi Trucks Band; John Popper of Blues Traveler; funk bassist Kevin Scott; keyboardist Matt Slocum; Denny Walley of Frank Zappa fame; gypsy-metal guitarist Emil Werstler; Oliver Wood of The Wood Brothers; and MLB pitcher Jake Peavy. Billy Bob Thornton was scheduled to appear but was not in attendance. The event was produced by Good Times Productions with the proceeds benefiting the Fox Theatre Institute and other musician-focused charities.

During the encore performance of the show, Hampton suffered a massive heart attack and collapsed on stage. Onlookers and his fellow musicians initially either did not notice that Hampton had collapsed, or thought it was a ruse due to his history of falling down onstage during performances and other practical jokes. As a result, Hampton lay face down at Niederauer's feet, his left arm draped over a stage monitor, as Niederauer soloed on "Turn on Your Love Light". The band played for several minutes before Hampton was taken offstage; he died shortly thereafter at Emory University Hospital Midtown in Atlanta, Georgia.

"Bob Stagner (born July 13, 1957 in Chattanooga, Tennessee) is an American drummer and percussionist who has worked with a wide range of artists in every discipline, from Blueground Undergrass to Derek Bailey and Howard Finster. Stagner and Dennis Palmer co-founded the free improvisation duo the Shaking Ray Levis and the Shaking Ray Levi Society, an arts education organization that supports emerging artists in performance, art and film. Stagner also works with The Rhythmic Arts Project, founded by drummer Eddie Tuduri. He is not only a musician but also a very talented drum teacher."