"Robert Gluck (born 1955) is a pianist and composer whose repertoire spans jazz, live electronic music, and avant-garde music. Karl Ackermann (All About Jazz), wrote of the latest of GluckÕs five recordings: ÒAs a composer and player, Gluck ranks with the likes of Andrew Hill and Cecil TaylorÉ Something Quiet is completely original, artistically spontaneous, and intellectually challenging.Ó Allan Kozinn (New York Times) wrote that Gluck is Òan accomplished jazz pianistÓ who played with Òvirtuosic fluidity.Ó Keyboard magazine named him June 2009 ÒUnsigned Artist of the Month.Ó GluckÕs current musical collaborators include saxophonists Joe Giardullo and Ras Moshe, bassists Christopher Dean Sullivan and Michael Bisio, drummer Dean Sharp, and computer musician/composer Neil Rolnick.

Raised in New York as a conservatory student and political activist, Gluck spent many years away from music, leading a life as a rabbi. Bob GluckÕs return to composing electronic music in 1995 and to the piano in 2005 marked a new beginning in his unusual career as a musician, educator, and writer. With influences as diverse as Herbie Hancock, Jimi Hendrix, Johann Sebastian Bach, Ornette Coleman, John Coltrane, and Karlheinz Stockhausen, Gluck has discovered a way to marry interests in electronic music with his love of jazz. Gluck designs his own software interfaces for interactive musical performance and multimedia installation, including the sound installations 'Layered Histories' (2004), an immersive sound and video environment with Cynthia Rubin and 'Sounds of a Community' (2002), in which visitors trigger and shape recorded sounds by interacting with electronic musical sculptures.

Gluck's musical training is from the Juilliard, Manhattan and Crane schools of music and he holds degrees from the University at Albany, Yeshiva University's Wurzweiler School of Social Work, Reconstructionist Rabbinical College (MHL, title of Rabbi) and Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (MFA). His music has been performed internationally. His writings have appeared in Computer Music Journal, Leonardo Music Journal, Leonardo, Organized Sound, Tav +, Journal SEAMUS, Review Zaman (France), Magham (Iran), Ideas Sonicas (Mexico), and elsewhere. He is author of ÒYouÕll Know When You Get There: Herbie Hancock and the Mwandishi BandÓ (forthcoming, University of Chicago Press). Bob Gluck is Associate Professor of Music and Director of the Electronic Music Studio at The University at Albany."

"Described as both "utterly original" and "a singer with an uncanny emotional touch for the past 50 years of jazz," Andrea Wolper, "brings songs to life, whatever their source, working in a milieu that begins with jazz and reaches out to embrace an expressive area that is uniquely her own."*

Andrea appears in clubs, festivals, and concert spaces in the U.S. and abroad. Performance credits as a leader in her New York home base include the Blue Note, Dizzy's Club Coca-Cola (Jazz at Lincoln Center), Mezzrow, JVC New York Jazz Festival, Kitano, Arts for Arts Evolving Series, and more, and she has toured across the U.S., in Europe, and beyond. Working frequently as both leader and side-person, Andrea is "an audacious artist [who] flouts genre limitations, singing songs for the love of it and delivering an inventive, thrilling, appealing musical vision."

One of the "great jazz singers" included in "The Jazz Singers: The Ultimate Guide" (Yannow, BackBeat Books), Andrea is as accomplished with the Great American Songbook as she is with more unusual repertoire and spontaneous improvisation. Andrea has also made her mark as a songwriter; Cadence magazine calls her "easily superior to the ever expanding population in the singer/songwriter category," and she has been awarded composing fellowships by Helene Wurlitzer Foundation, Ucross Foundation, Newnan ArtRez, Kimmel Harding Nelson Center, and Uncool Residency.

Andrea's third CD, "Parallel Lives" (Jazzed Media) received rave reviews, and was included on several Top Jazz CDs and Notable Releases lists for 2011. Co-produced by Todd Barkan, it features her group with guitarist Michael Howell, pianist Kris Davis, bassist Ken Filiano, and drummer Michael T.A. Thompson. Her previous release, "The Small Hours" (VarisOne.Jazz), built around her trio with guitarist Ron Affif and Ken Filiano, was produced by Barkan, and features drummers Victor Lewis and Jamey Haddad, as well as guest artists Lou Marini (flute) and Frank London (trumpet and flugelhorn).

Andrea also appears as a side person across jazz genres, from holding the vocal chair with the straight ahead Heavenly Big Band to appearing in several performance and recording projects of free jazz bassist William Parker. In addition, she was one third of the improvising trio TranceFormation, with Filiano and the late pianist Connie Crothers; the trio's live CD, "TranceFormation in Concert" (New Artists) was a best vocal CD selection in the 2012 Downbeat critics' polls.

Andrea curated the "Why Not Experiment?" series at Whynot Jazz Room in New York city for nearly two years (2014-15). She is a past President of International Women in Jazz, and served on the Advisory Board of the Jazz Vocal Coalition.

Andrea offers singing lessons in her private studio, and conducts clinics in jazz vocal performance, and workshops and master classes on performance and improvisation.

Fun Facts: Andrea is an accomplished writer whose journalism and poetry have appeared in numerous publications. Among her works are two books, "Women's Rights, Human Rights: International Feminist Perspectives" (with Julie S. Peters; Routledge) and "The Actor's City Sourcebook" (Watson-Guptill). In addition, she's spent time on the stage, and came to New York from her native California to attend the prestigious Neighborhood Playhouse School of the Theatre. She earned a black belt in Shotokan Karate, and has two dust-gathering trophies to tell the tale."

"Kinan Azmeh: Clarinet, Composer

Hailed as "intensely soulful" and a "virtuoso" by The New York Times and "spellbinding" by The New Yorker, Winner of OpusKlassik award in 2019 clarinetist and composer Kinan Azmeh has gained international recognition for what the CBC has called his "incredibly rich sound" and his distinctive compositional voice across diverse musical genres.

Originally from Damascus, Syria, Kinan Azmeh brings his music to all corners of the world as a soloist, composer and improviser. Notable appearances include the Opera Bastille, Paris; Tchaikovsky Grand Hall, Moscow; Carnegie Hall and the UN General Assembly, New York; the Royal Albert hall, London; Teatro Colon, Buenos Aires; Der Philharmonie, Berlin; the Library of Congress, the Kennedy Center, Washington DC; the Mozarteum, Salzburg, Hamburg's Elbphilharmonie; and in his native Syria at the opening concert of the Damascus Opera House.

He has appeared as a soloist with the New York Philharmonic, the Seattle Symphony, the Bavarian Radio Orchestra, the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra, the Qatar Philharmonic and the Syrian Symphony Orchestra among others, and has shared the stage with such musical luminaries as Yo-Yo Ma, Marcel Khalife, Aynur, Daniel Barenboim, and Jivan Gasparian.

Kinan's compositions include several works for solo, chamber, and orchestral music, as well as music for film, live illustration, and electronics. He was Composer-In-Residence with Classical Movements for the 2017-2018 season. His resent compositions were commissioned by the New York Philharmonic, Seattle Symphony , The Silkroad Ensemble, Saint Paul Chamber Orhcetsra, Elbphilharmonie, Apple Hill String Quartet, Brooklyn Rider, Quatuor Voce and Bob Wilson's for his recent production of Oedipus Rex.

As a clarinetist, his unique sound and commitment to new music has resulted in the commissioning and premiere of numerous new works for the clarinet that were written for him, including concertos by Dia Succari, Kareem Roustom, Zaid Jabri, Dinuk Wijeratne, Saad Haddad and Guus Janssen among others.

Kinan's discography include three albums with his ensemble Hewar, several soundtracks for film and dance, a duo album with pianist Dinuk Wijeratne and an album with his New York "Arabic-jazz" quartet the Kinan Azmeh CityBand. His album "Uneven Sky" with the Deutsches Symphony Orchestra has won the OpusKlassik Award in 2019. He serves as artistic director of the Damascus Festival Chamber Players, a pan-Arab ensemble dedicated to contemporary music form the Arab world. Kinan is a frequent guest faculty at the Apple Hill Center for Chamber Music and is on the advisory board of the Nova Scotia Youth Orchestra. He is also a member of Yo-Yo Ma's Silkroad Ensemble, whose 2017 Grammy Award-winning album "Sing Me Home" features Kinan as a clarinetist and composer.

Kinan Azmeh is a graduate of New York's Juilliard School as a student of Charles Neidich, and of both the Damascus High institute of Music where he studied with Shukry Sahwki, Nicolay Viovanof and Anatoly Moratof, and Damascus University's School of Electrical Engineering. Kinan earned his doctorate degree in music from the City University of New York in 2013."

"Ken Filiano performs throughout the world, playing and recording with leading artists in jazz, spontaneous improvisation, classical, world/ethnic, and interdisciplinary performance, fusing the rich traditions of the double bass with his own seemingly limitless inventiveness. Ken's solo bass CD, subvenire (NineWinds), received widespread critical praise. For this and numerous other recordings, Ken has been called a creative virtuoso, a master of technique ... a paradigm of that type of artist... who can play anything in any context and make it work, simply because he puts the music first and leaves peripheral considerations behind.

Ken composes for his quartet with Michael Attias, Tony Malaby, and Michael T.A. Thomspon; a collective with Attias and Tomas Ulrich; and for his decades-long collaborations with Steve Adams and Vinny Golia. His prolific output also includes performances and/or recordings with artists including Bonnie Barnett, Rob Blakeslee, Bobby Bradford, Taylor Ho Bynum, Roy Campbell, John Carter, Nels Cline, Alex Cline, Connie Crothers, Mark Dresser, Ted Dunbar, Marty Ehrlich, Giora Feidman, Bob Feldman, Eddie Gale, Georgian Chamber Orchestra, Dennis Gonzalez, Lou Grassi, Phil Haynes, Fred Hess, Jason Hwang, Joseph Jarman, Sheila Jordan (with the Aardvark Orchestra), Raul Juarena, Joe Labarbera, Joelle Leandre, Frank London, Manhattan Chamber Orchestra, Tina Marsh, Warne Marsh, Dom Minasi, Hafez Modirzadeh, Butch Morris, Barre Phillips, Don Preston, Herb Robertson, Bob Rodriguez, Roswell Rudd, ROVA Saxophone Quartet, Ursel Schlicht, Paul Smoker, Chris Sullivan, Peeter Uuskyla, Fay Victor, Biggi Vinkeloe, Kenny Wessel, Andrea Wolper, Pablo Ziegler. With Tomas Ulrich, Elliott Sharp, and Carlos Zingaro, he is a member of T.E.C.K. String Quartet.

Ken has been a guest lecturer, performer, and workshop leader at institutions in the United States and Europe. He earned a MM from Rutgers University and is currently on faculty at Mansfield University."- All About Jazz

"Tani Tabbal is a jazz drummer who has worked with Roscoe Mitchell, David Murray, and Cassandra Wilson.

By the age of 14 Tabbal was playing professionally, performing with Oscar Brown Jr. In his teens he also performed with Phil Cohran and the Sun Ra Arkestra.

Tabbal has recorded, performed and toured with a wide range of musicians, including Roscoe Mitchell, Anthony Braxton, Oliver Lake, Muhal Richard Abrams, Henry Threadgill, Richard Davis, David Murray, James Carter, Geri Allen, Karl Berger, Evan Parker, Leroy Jenkins, Milt Jackson, Jackie McLean, Dewey Redman and Cassandra Wilson.

He was also an integral part of the rhythm section of Detroit group Griot Galaxy, along with bassist Jaribu Shahid. In addition, he was in the percussion ensemble "Pieces of Time" along with Andrew Cyrille, Famoudou Don Moye, and Obo Addy.

In 2001 he was successfully treated for a brain tumour.

In 2007, Tani released a solo percussion CD, entitled Before Time After."