"Joe McPhee, born November 3,1939 in Miami, Florida, USA, is a multi-instrumentalist, composer, improviser, conceptualist and theoretician. He began playing the trumpet at age eight, taught by his father, himself a trumpet player. He continued on that instrument through his formative school years and later in a U.S. Army band stationed in Germany, at which time he was introduced to performing traditional jazz. Clifford Thornton's Freedom and Unity, released in 1969 on the Third World label, is the first recording on which he appears as a side man. In 1968, inspired by the music of Albert Ayler, he took up the saxophone and began an active involvement in both acoustic and electronic music.

His first recordings as leader appeared on the CJ Records label, founded in 1969 by painter Craig Johnson. These include Underground Railroad by the Joe McPhee Quartet (1969), Nation Time (1970), Trinity (1971) and Pieces of Light (1974). In 1975, Swiss entrepreneur Werner X. Uehlinger release Black Magic Man by McPhee, on what was to become Hat Hut Records.

In 1981, he met composer, accordionist, performer, and educator Pauline Oliveros, whose theories of "deep listening" strengthened his interests in extended instrumental and electronic techniques. he also discovered Edward de Bono's book Lateral Thinking: A Textbook of Creativity, which presents concepts for solving problems by "disrupting an apparent sequence and arriving at the solution from another angle." de Bono's theories inspired McPhee to apply this "sideways thinking" to his own work in creative improvisation, resulting in the concept of "Po Music." McPhee describes "Po Music" as a "process of provocation" (Po is a language indicator to show that provocation is being used) to "move from one fixed set of ideas in an attempt to discover new ones." He concludes, "It is a Positive, Possible, Poetic Hypothesis." The results of this application of Po principles to creative improvisation can be heard on several Hat Art recordings, including Topology, Linear B, and Oleo & a Future Retrospective.

In 1997, McPhee discovered two like-minded improvisers in bassist Dominic Duval and drummer Jay Rosen. The trio premiered at the Vision Jazz Festival in 1998 but the concert went unnoticed by the press. McPhee, Duval, and Rosen therefore decided that an apt title for the group would be Trio X. In 2004 he created Survival Unit III with Fred Lonberg-Holm and Michael Zerang to expand his musical horizons and with a career spanning nearly 50 years and over 100 recordings, he continues to tour internationally, forge new connections while reaching for music's outer limits."

"Jen Clare Paulson is no ordinary fiddler, she's actually a violist who has always had a wandering musical eye. Originally from Chicagoland, she relocated to Madison to get her doctorate in viola performance with a minor in jazz studies at the University. In addition to performing in regional orchestral and chamber music settings she is also a member of several new music ensembles based in Chicago - most notably Kyle Bruckmann's Wrack, who recently toured Europe and won a generous Chamber Music America grant for future projects. Highlights from JCP's musical pursuits include: studying Japanese koto in college, playing Bach cello suites on tenor banjo, transcribing tenor sax blues solos for viola and playing in string sections behind artists as diverse as Ray Charles, Olivia Newton John and Ricky Skaggs.

Jen has taken a few lessons on bluegrass fiddle with Jerry Loughney (Above the Town) and old time fiddle with Jim Becker (Caliphone); but mostly she's listening hard and making it up as she goes.

JCP teaches violin and viola at The Madison Music Foundry and works as an apprentice at Spruce Tree Music and Repair, learning to repair and restore new and vintage string instruments."

Brian Labycz, aka Koura, is an improviser hailing from Chicago primarily performing with electronics. He is known for the groups Breakway, Chicago Sound Map, Fanlab Duo, Galactic Unity Ensemble, Gregorio, Roebke, Labycz Trio, Mythic Birds, abd The Green Pasture Happiness.