"Ike Levin has been playing reed instruments professionally for over 28 years. A native of Chicago, Illinois, Ike was an active performer in the windy city's vibrant jazz, blues, and new music scene before relocating to the San Francisco Bay area. He studied music composition at the Roosevelt University Conservatory of Music and in the Jazz Studies program at the University of Illinois at Chicago. While a student, Ike performed as a regular member of the University of Illinois Jazz Orchestra and played with the Jazz Members Big Band comprised of many of the Chicago area's top jazz musicians who used the Band as a forum for original arrangements and experimental compositions. Ike studied privately with legendary jazz saxophone master Joe Daley who helped him develop his technique and establish his neo-bop foundations.

Ike also studied with Fred Anderson, one of the co-founders of the Chicago based avant-garde jazz organization Association for the Advancement of Creative Music (AACM). Under the tutelage of Fred Anderson Ike began to explore new musical frontiers for his improvisational work unencumbered by harmonic structures and strict time meter. As he tells it, "At first, I thought Fred was going to get me into abstract concepts of the music, but initially we used to play Charlie Parker heads over and over again together. He was getting me into Bird's amazing concept of phrasing which is the foundation of all improvisational work." However, his real development as a jazz musician came from listening and occasionally sitting in with the many great jazz artists who came through Chicago's jazz clubs during the 70's and early 80's. Whether its "straight ahead" or freer forms of jazz, Ike is never content to rely on clichés or simply replicate past musical phrases. Instead, he is always searching for new musical ideas and sounds all the while focusing on keeping the music swinging.

Ike's orientation to his instruments and approach to jazz improvisation has had a multitude of influences. Some of his major influences include the saxophonists John Coltrane, Eric Dolphy, Jimmy Lyons, Sonny Rollins, and Dexter Gordon, as well as Albert Ayler. The music of Thelonious Monk and Charles Mingus have also influenced his approach and concept of improvisation. Additionally, Ike identifies such 20th century composers as Bartok, Perdercki, and Boulez as influencing the way he conceives of musical composition and tonality.

In addition to Chicago and San Francisco, Ike has performed in cities across the US and Canada including Portland, Cleveland, St. Louis, Minneapolis, Phoenix, and Toronto. For the past 7 years, Ike has had a very productive association with pianist Joel Futterman with whom he performs and records regularly. He has also performed with such internationally acclaimed musicians as Ira Sullivan, Robert Barry, Wilbur Campbell, Reggie Nicholson, Alvin Fielder, Ed Petersen, and Bay Area jazz stalwarts Oluyemi Thomas, Randall Hunt, Smiley Winters, Walter Savage, and Kash Killion. Ike has also led his own quartets and small ensembles comprised of veteran jazz talents."

"Shao Way Wu is a freelance jazz bassist and Portland resident who grew up in Hong Kong. He moved to the Bay Area in 1971 at the age of fifteen. For two decades Wu was a pillar of the Humboldt County, CA jazz community. His artistic spirit has been thriving in Portland, where he's released a handful of albums and collaborated with a swath of northwest creatives. Current projects include The CMG Extradition Series, John Savage Quartet, Bryan Smith Quartet, Alan Cook Collective, JB Butler Trio, John Niekrasz Trio, Ike Levin Trio, Chris Lee Duo."

"Tim DuRoche (Drums) works regularly with the collective ensemble Battle Hymns & Gardens and The Kin Trio, and has logged in extensive time with an array of US and European avant- garde jazz innovators, including Dominic Duval, Burton Greene, Matana Roberts, Paul Plimley- Lisle Ellis, Wally Shoup, Gust Burns, Bert Wilson, Urs Leimgruber, Jon Raskin, Perry Robinson, Jack Wright, Doug Theriault, Marco Eneidi, Didier Petit, and Frank Gratkowski, among others. Tim is the host of "The New Thing," a weekly radio jazz radio show on KMHD 89.1 FM and is the author of the book Occasional Jazz Conjectures (Durable Goods)."