"Jemeel Moondoc (August 5, 1946 Ð August 29, 2021) was a jazz saxophonist who played alto saxophone. He was a proponent of a highly improvisational style.

He was born in Chicago, Illinois, United States, and studied clarinet and piano before settling on saxophone at sixteen. He became interested in jazz largely due to Cecil Taylor and at the University of WisconsinÐMadison, he was a student of Taylor's. After that he moved to New York City, where he founded "Ensemble Muntu" with William Parker, Roy Campbell, Jr., and Rashid Bakr. The group also had its own Muntu record label, but eventually faced financial difficulties. In 1984, he formed the Jus Grew Orchestra, which secured a residency at the Neither/Nor club in the Lower East Side. He worked with Parker again in 1998's album, New World Pygmies.

He died in August 2021, at the age of 75 from the effects of sickle cell anemia."

From the biography entry of JemeelMoondoc.com, the website currently inactive:

"It was Cecil Taylor who brought the young JEMEEL MOONDOC into modern jazz, and Jemeel has remained a devoted disciple ever since. Moondoc studied with Cecil Taylor and played in his Black Music Ensemble at Antioch College in 1970 - 1971, becoming a featured soloist. Moondoc's own early groups, the Ensemble Muntu, which included Arthur Williams, Mark Hennen, Roy Campbell Jr. William Parker, Rashid Bakr, et al, was very much in the Taylor mold, but Moondoc remained open to other influences as well; the recent release of a three-CD box set, The Muntu Recordings, (NoBusiness Records NBCD 7-8-9) chronicles the first recordings and performances of Jemeel Moondoc and Muntu during the New York loft jazz scene. (see http://www.pointofdeparture.org/PoD27/PoD27Muntu.html)

In the 1980's Moondoc made three recordings for Soul Note Records including Judy's Bounce with Ed Blackwell and Fred Hopkins. This recording in particular gave Moondoc recognition as an innovative improviser and composer; his playing style sits somewhere between Ornette's country wail and Jimmy Lyons street corner preaching. In 1983 Moondoc formed the Jus Grew Orchestra, a group of improvisers that included Roy Campbell Jr. Bern Nix, Zane Massey, Steve Swell, Codaryl Moffett, Nathan Breedlove, John Voigt and others. Moondoc composed extensively, understanding, as did Mingus and Ellington, that t he strength and power of composition lies with the individual and unique talents of the orchestra members, he also use a technique called 'conduction' which is an improvisational technique were the conductor can guide the entire group through unwritten passages. At one point for about a year and a half during 1983 and 1984 Jemeel Moondoc and Jus Grew Orchestra performed every Thursday night at the Neither-Nor bookstore on East 5th Street. The Orchestra also did stints at the Nuyorican Poets Café, and First on First, with intermittent performances at the Fez. The Jus Grew Orchestra made two live CD performances - Spirit House [Eremite, 2000], recorded at UMASS at its Magic Triangle Jazz Series, and Live at the Vision Festival [Ayler, 2002].

Between 1985 and 1996 Jemeel Moondoc could not secure a recording date. "There was a lack of interest in recording so-called free jazz at the time", recalls Moondoc. "I remember thinking that the whole music scene was going downhill, I was still playing, I just didn't record, it didn't really bother me because I knew I was going to get the opportunity to record again".

In 1995 Moondoc began a recording relationship with the now renowned Eremite Records label (eremite.com/eremite); between 1996 and 2002 he recorded several records on Eremite. The most acclaimed is Revolt of the Negro Lawn Jockeys 2001. This recording "shows a musician capable of drawing together the post-bop linage that includes Jackie McClean and Charles Mingus, and the free-jazz energy music tradition of Ornette Coleman and Cecil Taylor into one grand swinging synthesis", writes Ed Hazell in the liner notes. "Any quintet lineup featuring alto sax, vibes, bass and drums inevitably invites comparison with Eric Dolphy's Out To Lunch. Hard act to follow, but Jemeel Moondoc can hold his head up high. Those who take perverse pleasure in announcing the death of jazz in all its forms, should be strapped to a table and forced to listen to this 47-minute set until their ears bleed". - Dan Warburton, Paiisiantransatlantic.com . Jemeel Moondoc's "unorthodoxies are deeply rooted in the knowledge of and a profound feeling for his craft. His heavily vocalized sound on alto combines the sharp edge of Jackie McLean and a gentleness of tone reminiscent of Joe Henderson. He manipulates timbre as expressively as Albert Ayler. The vivid animation and emotionalism of his playing again recall Ayler , along with another of Black Musuc's great exponents, the South African musician Dudu Pukwana". But "Moondoc's rhythmic concept, delivery, and sense of space are completely unique; his phrases slip and wobble prankishly, forming impossible oblique shapes, while somehow holding to a melodic line". "Moondoc gives everything he does an old-world, future-world, other-word plurality. He is one of the most singular players in music, and one of the most eloquent and communicative storytellers", explains Michael Ehlers of Eremite Records.

Moondoc is currently associated with the newly formed Relative Pitch Records, his newly released CD, Two 2012, is an intriguing duo dialogue between Connie Crothers and Moondoc, "the program finds the two players engaging in an off-the-cuff improvisations - the takeaway from this intimate series of duets is that Crothers and Moondoc are kindred souls - not the sort who traffic in cheap musical melodrama - the emotional reach in their interactions is real." (Derek Taylor - Dusted Magazine). Moondoc's newest release The Zookeeper's House 2014, has started to gain some critical acclaim. "Alto saxophonist Jemeel Moondoc has been keeping the faith in a post-free-jazz mindset for many years, working with bassist William Parker and others on the adventuresome avant-jazz fringes. He continues his progression with The Zookeeper's House, The new five-track set, with different groupings and musical angles, captures a distinctly live vibrancy and in-the-moment vulnerability in the studio. On the opening track, Moondoc is joined by sensitive foil Matthew Shipp on piano, bassist Hilliard Green and drummer Newman Taylor Baker, laying out the rumbling ruminations for Moondoc's six note, Albert Ayler-esque theme, played with brittle fervor by the saxophonist. Structure yields to abandon, and Moondoc's toothy, sharp-toned burst, angular fragments and sense of space alight, with empathetic help from his allies. On "Little Blue Elvira," a kind of ambling, slap-happy horn trio-with trumpeter Roy Campbell Jr. (who died a few months after this session, and to whom the album is dedicated) and trombonist Steve Swell joining the leader in unison-conjures up a Mingus vibe. Loose essences of Coltrane (or the Coltranes) are worked into the album's fabric with Alice Coltrane's "Ptah The El Daoud," another chord-less setting with Swell and Campbell, and the aptly named "One For Monk & Trane." "For The Love Of Cindy," with only drums, bass and the saxophonist's poetically embracing space, ends the album on an airy note, with a bittersweet ambiance vaguely redolent of Ornette Coleman's "Lonely Woman," but less lonely. With The Zookeeper's House; Moondoc returns-and-continues-a bit deeper and wiser". Josef Woodard-Downbeat Magizine October 2014"

"Michael Marcus (August 25, 1952) is an American jazz clarinetist and multi-woodwind player - A clarinet, bass clarinet, octavin, tarogato, soprano saxophone; also tenor, baritone, bass, C melody, and straight alto (stritch), and saxello saxophones, composer and arranger. Since releasing his debut recording as a leader, "Under the Wire" for Enja Records in 1991, he has appeared on over thirty-five records for Soul Note, Justin' Time, Not Two, Boxholder, Ayler, Drimala, CIMP and Qwest/Warner.

He has composed over 125 original/recorded compositions. Marcus was a recipient of the National Endowment for the Arts Individual Artist Grant. Marcus' first professional gigs were with Albert King and Bobby "Blue" Bland. Michael has recorded and toured with the Saxemble (Frank Lowe & James Carter) and with the great Mr. Jaki Byard. With Sonny Simmons, he is the co-leader of The Cosmosamatics with 9 recordings and multiple domestic and international tours. Michael performed in a duo context with master drum legend Edgar Bateman. Marcus and Ted Daniel comprise Duology, which has collaborated with Andrew Cyrille. Michael continues to record and tour with his own group.

He has performed/recorded with: Albert King (w/Harold Attyberry, Oliver Johnson), Bobby Blue Bland (w/Mel Brown, Wayne Bennett, Morris Atchison, Joe Hardin), Sonny Simmons, Jaki Byard Trio, Rahn Burton, Billy Higgins, Carlos "Patato" Valdes, Santi De Briano, Ted Daniel, Henry Grimes, Nasheet Waits, Tarus Mateen, Jymie Merritt, Alvin Fielder, Chris Parker, Oliver Truchot, Neil Kirkwood, Warren Smith. Vince Wallace, Fred Hopkins, Philip Wilson, "Bishop" Norman Williams, B.J. PAPA, John Handy, Clifford Barbaro, Essiet Essiet, Masa Kamaguchi, Bob Cunningham, Roy Campbell, Butch Morris, Steve Neil, Eddie Henderson, Larry Hancock, Joe LaBarbra, Jay Rosen, Mel Graves, Charles & Cody Moffett, Chris Sullivan, Reggie Nicholson, Carlos Ward, Aaron James, Radu Williams, Matt Brewer, Big Joe Turner, Hill Greene, Butch Morris, Christian Ravaglioli, Jerry McKinney, Charlie Kohlhase, Drori Mondlak, Itaru Oki, Makoto Sato, Erich Hunt, Tim Price, Muziki Roberson, Carlton Holmes, Aruan Ortiz, Keith Saunders, Sam Dockery, Greg Murphy, Dwayne Burno, Mark Helias, Juni Booth, Eric Zinman, Eric Revis, Richard Clements, Hideji Taninaka, Herbie Lewis, Joe Bonner, Sid Simmons, Taru Alexander, Andrew Cyrille, Roswell Rudd, Rashaan Carter, Antoine Roney, Grachan Moncur, Francois Grillot, Eric McPherson, John Bacon Jr., Greg Piontek, Vincent Chancey, Henry Threadgill, Rudy Lawless, Leon Joyce, Daniel Levin, Bob Arkin, Tom Bruno, Art Lewis, Peter Herbert, Emil Ram, Perry Robinson, John Patton, Scott Colley, Curtis Lundy, Bob Feldman, Dave Burrell, Xavier Davis, Gene Jackson, Darrel Green, Emanuel Harrold, Reggie Workman, Tyler Mitchell, Sonny Rhodes, Donald Smith, Eddie Gladden, Dominic Duval, Cecil Wells, Newman T. Baker, Georg Wolf, Bruce Edwards, Sadiq Abdushahid, Chris Amberger, Joe McPhee, Mort Weiss, Don Friedman Trio, Heshima Mark Williams, Ron McClure, Theo Jorgensmann, Jonathan Robinson, Mike Boone, Luther Thomas, Sandor Moss, Zarak Simmons, Grant Levin, Brian Ho, Don Alberts, Kiane Zawadi, Azar Lawrence, Larry Smith, Gary Strauss, Sylvia Cuenca, Matt Vinders, Pheeron Aklaff and Wade Barnes.

Also, with Makanda Ken McIntyre Ensemble, Grachan Moncur's Big Band, Zane Massey's "Liberation Suite", Jemeel Moondoc's JUS GREW Orchestra (w/Steve Swell, Bern Nix, Chad Taylor, Gerald Cleaver, N. Breedlove & Tyronne Hill), The Saxemble (w/ Frank Lowe, James Carter & Cindy Blackman) - (2005), Joe Bowie's Defunkt, and performing in a duet with drum great, Edgar Bateman and many more great artists.

Michael in 1997-8 had the pleasure to record & tour with the late great Mr. Jaki Byard! He is extremely active in the 2000's. Co-leading the "Cosmosamatics" w/Sonny Simmons (touring & recording) - the Cosmosamatics have released eight CDs. Mr. Marcus has seen the release of "Ithem" for Ayler Records - a 1993 date with William Parker and Denis Charles, his first unaccompanied recording "Speakin' Out"(Drimala, 2002). He also cut two trio recordings for SoulNote Records "Blue Reality" and "Soulifications"(w/Tarus Mateen & Jay Rosen or w/Nasheet Waits). Current projects are: "Duology", an innovative duo of brass and Bb clarinet where he joins forces with Ted Daniel on their new release "Duology/Andrew Cyrille" 2012 on Jazzwerkstatt! Duology "Golden Atoms" on SoulNote (2008), also "Michael Marcus & Magic Door", a new and flexible group representing Michael's release for Not Two, "The Magic Door". Michael is currently focusing on his recordings and performances with the Bb clarinet, exclusively. While Michael continues to grow into new visions in the new millenium, he is now also presenting his music in the format of the traditional quartet/quintet of- "Clarinet-piano-bass-drums & percussion", keeping a flame alive! This group in includes: Jessie Crawford, John Austria, Charlie Taylor, amongst the members. Michael's newest release is now also out on Not Two Records "Lotus Symphony"(www.nottwo.com-Nov.2008) w/Taru Alexander, John Austria, Rashaan Carter, Radu Ben Judah, Jay Rosen & special guest: Antoine Roney! (2009)

Jazz clarinetist, Michael Marcus' latest NYC performances have included - Alan Jay Palmer, Rashaan Carter, Russell Carter, Dezron Douglas, Francois Grillot, David Bryant, Denton Darien, Benito Gonzalez & trumpeter Lenwood "Woody" Turner, performing his latest compositions in his quartet! 2010: The Cosmosamatics tour! 2011: Michael releases "For Yes!" on NotTwo. Invited to be part of Craig Harris' historic concert, "Breathe" (10/16/16)."

"Roy Sinclair Campbell Jr. (September 29, 1952 - January 9, 2014) was an American trumpeter frequently linked to free jazz, although he also performed rhythm and blues and funk during his career.

Born in Los Angeles, California, in 1952, Campbell was raised in New York City. At the age of fifteen he began learning to play trumpet and soon studied at the Jazz Mobile program along with Kenny Dorham, Lee Morgan and Joe Newman. Throughout the 1960s, still unacquainted with the avant-garde movement, Campbell performed in the big bands of the Manhattan Community College. From the 1970s onwards he performed primarily within the context of free jazz, spending some of this period studying with Yusef Lateef.

In the early 1990s Campbell moved to the Netherlands and performed regularly with Klaas Hekman and Don Cherry. In addition to leading his own groups, he performed with Yo La Tengo, William Parker, Peter Brotzmann, Matthew Shipp, and other improvisors. Upon returning to the United States he began leading his group Other Dimensions In Music and also formed the Pyramid Trio, a pianoless trio formed with William Parker. He performed regularly as part of the Festival of New Trumpet Music, which is held annually in New York City.

He died in January 2014 of hypertensive atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease at the age of 61."

"Born in Newark, NJ, Steve Swell has been an active member of the NYC music community since 1975. He has toured and recorded with many artists from mainstreamers such as Lionel Hampton and Buddy Rich to so called outsiders as Anthony Braxton, Bill Dixon, Cecil Taylor and William Parker. He has over 40 CDs as a leader or co-leader and is a featured artists on more than 100 other releases. He runs workshops around the world and is a teaching artist in the NYC public school system focusing on special needs children.

Swell has worked on music transcriptions of the Bosavi tribe of New Guinea for MacArthur fellow, Steve Feld in 2000. His CD, "Suite For Players, Listeners and Other Dreamers" (CIMP) ranked number 2 in the 2004 Cadence Readers Poll. He has also received grants from USArtists International in 2006, MCAF (LMCC) awards in 2008 and 2013 and has been commissioned twice on the Interpretations Series at Merkin Hall in 2006 and at Roulette in 2012.

Steve was nominated for Trombonist of the Year 2008 & 2011 by the Jazz Journalists Association, was selected Trombonist of the Year 2008-2010 , 2012 and 2014-2015 by the magazine El Intruso of Argentina and received the 2008 Jubilation Foundation Fellowship Award of the Tides Foundation. Steve has also been selected by the Downbeat Critics Poll in the Trombone category each year from 2010-2016.

Steve is presently a teaching artist through the American Composers Orchestra, Healing Arts Initiative , Mind-Builders Creative Arts Center (Bronx), the Jazz Foundation of America and Leman Manhattan Preparatory School.

Steve was also awarded the 2014 Creative Curricula grant (LMCC) for the project: "Metamorphoses: Modern Mythology in Sound and Words" which was taught in a month long residency at Baruch College Campus High School in Manhattan."

"Bern Nix (September 21, 1947 - May 31, 2017) was an American jazz guitarist. He recorded and performed with Ornette Coleman from 1975-87, notably with guitarist Charlie Ellerbee in Coleman's Prime Time group on their key recordings, including Dancing in Your Head and In All Languages in 1987. Nix was voted among the top ten jazz guitarists poll by Down Beat magazine.

A native of Toledo, Ohio, Nix taught guitar upon his arrival to New York City. He is a graduate of the Berklee College of Music. Nix led the Bern Nix trio from 1985 until his death in 2017 in New York City. In 1993, the band released the album Alarms and Excursions. The album made many critics' top ten lists. Nix released a solo recording entitled Low Barometer (Tompkins Square) which became available online in September 2006. Another recent Nix composition, "Les is More", appears on Art and Money, an album released by 1687, Inc. in 2006. In 2013, the Bern Nix Quartet released an album entitled Negative Capability.

Nix also performed with James Chance and the Contortions and appears on their 1981 Live in New York recording. He has also appeared with Jayne Cortez, John Zorn, Marc Ribot, Elliott Sharp, Jemeel Moondoc, Ronald Shannon Jackson, James Chance, and Kip Hanrahan."

"Gerald Cleaver (born May 4, 1963) is an African-American jazz drummer from Detroit, Michigan. Cleaver's father is drummer John Cleaver Jr., originally from Springfield, Ohio, and his mother was from Greenwood, Mississippi. Gerald had six older siblings. Cleaver joined the jazz faculty at the University of Michigan in 1995. He has performed or recorded with Joe Morris, Mat Maneri, Roscoe Mitchell, Miroslav Vitous, Michael Formanek, Tomasz Sta ko, Franck Amsallem and others.

Under the name Veil of Names, Cleaver released an album called Adjust on the Fresh Sounds New Talent label in 2001. It featured Maneri, Ben Monder, Andrew Bishop, Craig Taborn and Reid Anderson and was a Best Debut Recording Nominee by the Jazz Journalists Association. Cleaver currently leads the groups Uncle June, Black Host, Violet Hour and NiMbNl as well as working as a sideman with many different artists."