"[...] Born and raised in La Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland - a lesser-known but no less significant jazz metropolis which was, for a time, home to expatriate Americans Sidney Bechet and Kenny Clarke, as well as Swiss jazz trombonist Raymond Droz - Blaser has also spent considerable time living in New York City and currently resides in Berlin; truly an international musician, then, in clear defiance of boundaries cultural, musical and stylistic. Beginning trombone lessons at the age of 9, he "couldn't go past third position and had to have a trolley to carry trombone because it was too heavy," says Blaser. Still, with plenty of music in the Blaser household, where he was the middle of three children - ranging from Swiss folk music to American R&B and jazz - Blaser progressed quickly, entering the local conservatory at 14 and graduating seven years later in 2002 after receiving a number of awards in both the jazz and classical spheres, including the 2000 Benny Golson Prize.

Continuing private studies, Blaser began a number of significant associations, including the heralded Vienna Art Orchestra and European Radio Big Band, leading to a Fulbright scholarship which enabled him to study in the United States at the Purchase College Conservatory of Music, going on to win the J.J. Johnson Prize, as well as both the Public Prize and Jury's Favorite Player awards at the 2006 Fribourg Jazz Festival.

All of these diverse accomplishments have ultimately - and inevitably - led to Blaser finding a personal nexus where disparate elements like Indian Tihi and Wagnerian opera meet. Blaser's impressive improvisational élan is predicated on instrumental mastery that is nothing more than the means to very musical ends. Together with his equally unfettered quartet, Blaser continues to expand the purview of jazz, redefining it in the new millennium as it enters its second century of existence.

Beyond Blaser's ability to combine knotty compositional form with incendiary improvisational prowess in the context of his own music, his unfettered yet ever-collaborative approach has resulted in a number of significant associations, among them his ongoing work with Swiss percussion legend Pierre Favre; a much-lauded duo with pianist Malcolm Braff; touring in 2012 as a member of François Houle's recent 5+1 group, and heard on the French Canadian clarinetist's Genera (Songlines, 2012); and recording/performing with Berlin-based Canadian saxophonist Peter van Huffel's HuffLiGNoN group with singer Sophie Tassignon. Blaser has also shared the stage with artists including trombonist David Taylor, bassist Michael Blake, drummer John Hollenbeck and pianist Hal Galper. It's no surprise that Rene Laanen of USA Trombone Online has called Blaser" one of today´s finest trombonists."

2013 will see Blaser touring with two new trios: one that, in addition to Marc Ducret, will also feature Danish drummer Peter Bruun; and another featuring French pianist Benoit Delbecq and American drummer Gerry Hemingway. Equally important, Blaser will also reunite his Consort in Motion (Kind of Blue, 2011) Quartet with pianist Russ Lossing, Belgian reed player Joachim Badenhorst, bassist Drew Gress and Hemingway, who replaces the sadly deceased Paul Motian. That record - Blaser's first and only to include a pianist, marrying the seemingly disparate elements of Renaissance and Baroque period composition with more open-ended jazz improvisation - was praised by All About Jazz's Troy Collins as " Fearlessly modern, yet respectfully regal." Collins continues, asserting that "Blaser's adventurous arrangements and reinterpretations offer the best of both worlds, enriching the raw impetuousness of avant-garde jazz with the proven sophistication of ageless classical forms. Consort in Motion is a high-water mark in the enduring lineage of the Third Stream, and all the more inspiring for the focus of its vision."

Meanwhile, with the release of As the Sea - like Boundless, a live recording but one culled from a single performance - Blaser reaps the rewards of greater trust and personal camaraderie built with Ducret, Oester and Cleaver through additional touring, following the release of their debut recording. "The music is quite different from the first record," says Blaser, "because things are more written. It's a little more complex rhythmically, too. But it's crazy, because I can play anything - a single note, even - and everybody will move with me. It's pretty intense."

Between recording and touring with his own groups and collaborating in other leaders' ensembles, Blaser's career continues an upward trajectory that seems to have no end in sight. "The world of music fascinates me to no end, and I´m determined to take one journey after another with my instrument and work," says Blaser. "It´s all about discovery and communicating new ideas. Believe me, I´m proof that a shiny trombone can send a message right to your heart and change your life." "

"Alex is an award-winning British born pianist, producer and videographer with nine solo albums and over a hundred video productions. He combines artistic flair with technical mastery to create emotions through music and film. He has produced for numerous artists and as a performer, Alex has appeared in over 60 countries with artists such as Wynton Marsalis, Rodrigo y Gabriela, Courtney Pine and many more.

Alex was born in the town of Belper in Derbyshire, UK, however he spent the first year of his life living in Freetown, Sierra Leone where his grandfather, Barthes Wilson, was Minister of Education. Following his grandfather's death, Alex's family returned to the UK for 9 years, followed by 6 years in Vienna.

Alex then finished his high school education at the International School of Geneva, by which time he had discovered his passion for jazz and the piano. He went on to study Electronic Engineering at the Universities of York (UK) and Santa Barbara (USA), while maintaining a parallel career as a student musician.

Following graduation, Alex moved to London and became professional, quickly working his way up from smaller concerts to playing international concert venues and festivals. In 2001, Alex went on to win the BBC Rising Jazz Star award and in 2019, Alex won the LUKAS Award for Jazz in Europe.

Now based in Switzerland, he has performed in over 60 countries with numerous renown artists and continues to grow and develop as a musician, composer and arranger.

He has nine albums under his own name, including the Mali Latino collaboration with Malian griot, Madou Sidiki Diabaté, which won a "Top of the World" accolade from Songlines Magazine.

With a prolific career in writing for screen, Alex has clocked up over 25 production music albums, with compositions placed on television worldwide through EMI and Warner.

During the first Covid lockdown, Alex launched his new company "emotions through music and film", to create video productions which attracted clients as diverse as pastors from the church to motivational speakers to music schools to corporate clients - all having one thing in common: benefitting from the intense emotions and complete dedication Alex puts into all his media production and live work."

"Dion Gary Parson (born June 11, 1967) is an American jazz drummer from the U.S. Virgin Islands.

Parson was born on St. Thomas and played trombone as a child before picking up drums when he was fifteen years old. He studied at Interlochen and then at Rutgers, where he studied under Keith Copeland and took his bachelor's degree in music education in 1990. In the 1990s he was based primarily in New York City, where he worked with Monty Alexander, Ray Anderson, Dwayne Burno, Don Byron, Marc Cary, Laurent de Wilde, Donald Harrison, Ernest Ranglin, Justin Robinson, and David Sanchez. He has also worked extensively with Ron Blake and fellow Virgin Islander Reuben Rogers. He worked with the Broadway production of The Color Purple starting in 2006, and co-founded the organization United Jazz International with Steve Coleman and Branford Marsalis in 2007. He has taught at Rutgers University, Cheyney University, North Carolina University, and Harlem School of the Arts."

"Soweto Kinch (born 10 January 1978) is a British jazz alto saxophonist and rapper.

Born in 1978 in London, England, to a Barbadian father, playwright Don Kinch, and British-Jamaican actress Yvette Harris, Soweto Kinch began playing saxophone at the age of nine after learning clarinet at Allfarthing Primary School, Wandsworth, SW London. He then moved to Birmingham, where he attended West House Primary School in Edgbaston, beginning a long association with Britain's second city.

After meeting Wynton Marsalis four years later, he discovered and became passionate about jazz, first concentrating on piano and later in his teens switching to alto saxophone as his main instrument. He attended Bromsgrove School, Worcestershire, from the age of 13, completing his A-levels when he was 18. Early musical influences include the vocalist and percussionist Frank Holder. Kinch went on to study Modern History at Hertford College, Oxford University. He also benefited from participation in the programmes of Tomorrow's Warriors, the music education and artist development organisation co-founded in 1991 by Janine Irons and Gary Crosby, and played with Crosby's Jazz Jamaica All Stars collective.

In 2001, Kinch established the Soweto Kinch Trio with bassist Michael Olatuja and drummer Troy Miller and supported Courtney Pine at Ronnie Scott's Jazz Club and performed at the Royal Festival Hall and the Cheltenham International Jazz Festival.

In 2006, Kinch released his second album, A Life in the Day of B19: Tales of the Tower Block, the first instalment of a two-part concept album documenting the lives of three Birmingham men. The album includes narration by BBC newsreader Moira Stuart.

Kinch is also a member of the Pop Idol backing band the Big Blue.

Kinch has performed for Don't Flop Entertainment, where he has competed in rap battles and faced opponents Dotz, Shuffle T and Charron. [...]"

-Wikipedia-Soweto Kinch Website, Wikipedia (https://www.soweto-kinch.com/soweto-kinch/BIOG.html)
11/18/2024

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"Michael Blake (born May 19, 1964) is a Canadian-born [Montreal] American saxophonist, composer and arranger. Blake is based in New York City where he has led a robust career leading his own bands. As a sideman Michael has performed with Charlie Hunter, The Lounge Lizards, Steven Bernstein/Henry Butler and the Hot 9, Ben Allison, Nicole Mitchell, Hamid Drake, Oliver Lake Big Band, Dafnis Prieto Big Band, Ricki Lee Jones and Ray LaMontagne. The New York Times jazz critic Ben Ratliff wrote,"Mr. Blake, on tenor especially, is an endlessly engaging improviser, and an inquisitive one"."

"Carroll Thompson, b. 1960, Letchworth, Hertfordshire, England. Thompson's voice was nurtured while singing in school and church choirs, but she studied for a career in the pharmaceuticals industry. In the mid-70s she provided backing vocals in a number of UK-based recording studios, following a successful audition to join the disco band Sugar Cane (the group was a further attempt at disco domination by Frank Farian, but was later abandoned). She sang on sessions for UK-based reggae performers, as well as Imagination and soca star Norma White. Thompson subsequently embarked on a solo career and by 1981 she had topped the reggae chart twice, with 'I'm Sorry' and 'Simply In Love', for the Itals. In 1982 she scooped two accolades at the GLR Reggae Awards. She was voted best female performer and 'Hopelessly In Love' was deemed the best song. She maintained a high profile with the release of 'Smiling In The Morning' for Excaliber, 'Your Love' and 'Hopelessly Without You' for S&G, with whom she also worked in a production role. Her prominence led to the release of a single by her harmony singer, Saffrice, 'Dreaming Of Your Love', through S&G. As they were unable to provide Thompson with the necessary promotion, the S&G group initiated an agreement with the Red Bus label to further her career. The releases of 'Just A Little Bit' and 'A Happy Song' were met with animosity from the media and the ballads faltered, resulting in a short-term agreement. Her prolific career continued, however, and in 1983 she secured further awards, including a citation from the Voice, and was voted top female vocalist for the second time by GLR listeners. She also recorded duets with Sugar Minott ('Make It With You') and Trevor Walters ('Love Won't Let Us Wait'). Her solo hits include 'Honest I Do', 'Give Me A Chance' and 'You Make It Heaven'. By 1984 her recorded output had dwindled, although the release of 'Baby Be True' secured an acceptable chart placing. Thompson maintained her high profile with commendable performances at both the GLR Reggae Awards and fifth Black Echoes Awards ceremonies. In 1985 she worked with the funk group Total Contrast, resulting in the release of 'Apple Of My Eye'. In 1990 she was invited to provide the lead vocals on a joint production with Aswad and Courtney Pine, for the release of a version of Diana Ross' 'I'm Still Waiting', which sat at the lower end of the UK chart. She also entered the UK chart in the same year as a featured vocalist for Movement 98 with 'Joy And Heartbreak' and 'Sunrise'. In 1994 Thompson joined Alton Ellis, Prince Lincoln, Justin Hinds, Dennis Alcapone and Owen Gray in a memorial concert for Gene Rondo."

"One of the world's preeminent jazz innovators, trombonist and seashellist Steve Turre, has consistently won both the Readers' and Critics' polls in JazzTimes, Downbeat, and Jazziz for Best Trombone and for Best Miscellaneous Instrumentalist (shells). Turre was born to Mexican-American parents and grew up in the San Francisco Bay area where he absorbed daily doses of mariachi, blues and jazz. While attending Sacramento State University, he joined the Escovedo Brothers salsa band, which began his career-long involvement with that genre.

In 1972 Steve Turre's career picked up momentum when Ray Charles hired him to go on tour. A year later Turre's mentor Woody Shaw brought him into Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers. After his tenure with Blakey, Turre went on to work with a diverse list of musicians from the jazz, Latin, and pop worlds, including Dizzy Gillespie, McCoy Tyner, J.J. Johnson, Herbie Hancock, Lester Bowie, Tito Puente, Mongo Santamaria, Van Morrison, Pharoah Sanders, Horace Silver, Max Roach, and Rahsaan Roland Kirk. The latter introduced hum to the seashell as an instrument. Soon after that, while touring in Mexico City with Woody Shaw, Turre's relatives informed him that his ancestors similarly played the shells. Since then, Turre has incorporated seashells into his diverse musical style.

In addition to performing as a member of the Saturday Night Live Band since 1984, Turre leads several different ensembles. Sanctified Shells utilizes the seashell in a larger context, transforming his horn section into a "shell choir". Turre's Spring 1999 Verve release, Lotus Flower, showcases his Sextet With Strings. The recording explores many great standards and original compositions arranged by Turre for a unique instrumentation of trombone and shells, violin, cello, piano, bass and drums. Turre's quartet and quintet provide a setting based in tradition and stretching the limits conceptually and stylistically. In the Summer of 2000, Telarc released In The Spur of the Moment. This recording features Steve with three different quartets, each with a different and distinct master pianist: Ray Charles, Chucho Valdes, and Stephen Scott.

Turre's self-titled Verve release pioneers a unique artistic vision, drawing upon jazz, Afro-Cuban, and Brazilian sources. This innovative recording also features Cassandra Wilson, Randy Brecker, Graciela, Mongo Santamaria and J.J. Johnson. Previously Turre recorded Right There and Rhythm Within, featuring Herbie Hancock, Jon Faddis, Pharoah Sanders, and Sanctified Shells, on Verve's subsidiary label, Antilles.

Steve Turre continually evolves as a musician and arranger. He has a strong command of all musical genres and when it comes to his distinct brand of jazz, he always keeps one foot in the past and one in the future."

"John Fedchock's illustrious career in jazz has spanned over four decades. Since his emergence on the scene in 1980, Fedchock has established himself as a world-class trombone soloist, a heralded bandleader, and a Grammy-nominated arranger. An in-demand performer and writer in New York City, his multifaceted talents have led him to become one of NYC's premier jazz artists. His critically acclaimed John Fedchock New York Big Band has become a marquee group, showcasing Fedchock's trombone and arranging as well as the band's all-star soloists. The JFNYBB's five CDs on the MAMA and Reservoir Music labels have all received high praise from critics and extraordinary success on national jazz radio charts. The early success of the band resulted in Fedchock's name appearing in DOWNBEAT's Readers Poll under the categories of Trombone, Arranger and Big Band, simultaneously for several consecutive years. In recognition of his formidable arranging skills, Fedchock is a two-time GRAMMY Award nominee for "Best Instrumental Arrangement". The JFNYBB's recordings have appeared in jazz radio's Top Ten, and the New York Times has applauded the band's "Cheerful Syncopation, Served With Spit-and-Polish Precision." Small group projects with his quartet and NY Sextet showcase A-list sidemen along with Fedchock's "incomparable trombone playing, which seems to have no limit, technically or musically" (JazzReview.com).

Fedchock began his career as a jazz trombonist when he joined the legendary Woody Herman Orchestra in 1980. He toured with Woody's "Thundering Herd" for seven years, during which time he was musical director and a featured soloist. He served as musical coordinator and chief arranger in the production of Herman's last two Grammy Award nominated albums "50th Anniversary Tour" and "Woody's Gold Star", and received accolades from jazz journalists worldwide. Famed jazz critic Leonard Feather called him the "unsung hero" of Woody's "50th Anniversary Tour" album and Woody said of Fedchock, "He's my right hand man. Everything I ask of John he accomplishes, and I ask a lot. He's a major talent." DOWNBEAT magazine stated that, "it was the young blood of musicians like Fedchock that helped keep Woody Herman's last years musically healthy and growing". Fedchock still maintains a close association with the Herman orchestra, performing with the group on occasion and continuing to add his own compositions and arrangements to the band's library.

Fedchock has toured with T.S. Monk, Gerry Mulligan Concert Jazz Band, Louie Bellson Big Band, Bob Belden Ensemble, Manhattan Jazz Orchestra, Jon Faddis Jazz Orchestra and the Carnegie Hall Jazz Band, and has performed at jazz festivals and concert halls around the world. As a solo artist, he appears throughout the United States and abroad performing as guest trombonist/composer/conductor. To add to his already diverse list of multiple talents, Fedchock is also a producer of note, and has lent his studio expertise to several recent recording projects.

Born in Cleveland, Ohio, Fedchock is a graduate of The Ohio State University with degrees in Music Education and Jazz Studies. He also holds a master's degree in Jazz Studies And Contemporary Media from the prestigious Eastman School of Music in Rochester, New York. He is an in-demand clinician, and conducts seminars and workshops at colleges and universities across the country. His compositions and arrangements are published by Jazzlines Publications, Kendor Music Inc, and Walrus Music Publishing. John Fedchock is a trombone artist for XO Professional Brass and plays XO trombones exclusively. His collaboration with the prominent instrument company to create the XO1632 trombone has proven to be an overwhelming success in both innovative design and industry popularity."

"My Name is Johan Escalante, I'm a Trombone Player, Music Producer, Brass Arranger, Have my Recording Studio and Music Copyist."

"Heiri Känzig has always played on the international stage. He accompanied the great bebop trumpeter Art Farmer at the age of 21 and recorded his first album with him. Countless renowned colleagues in Europe and the USA followed later. Känzig studied in Graz, Vienna and Zurich and has been one of the best bassists in Europe for years. He is a virtuoso technician whose sound and agility come into their own in a wide variety of contexts, from jazz and improvisation to world music. Heiri Känzig gained international recognition as the longstanding and resident bassist of the Vienna Art Orchestra, where he played for 16 years. As a sought-after freelance musician, he has recorded over 180 CDs and can be heard on renowned labels such as Blue Note, Verve, CBS, Virgin, Emi, ACT and ENJA.

He regularly plays and tours with musicians all over the world such as Bobby McFerrin, John Scofield, Pierre Favre, Lauren Newton, Billy Cobham, Charlie Mariano, Kenny Wheeler, Ralph Towner, Betty Carter, Daniel Humair, Bob Mintzer, Adam Nussbaum, NENA, Andreas Vollenweider, Gary Thomas, George Gruntz, Jerry Bergonzi, Mark Feldman, Didier Lockwood, Dieter Meier (Yello), Franco Ambrosetti, Richard Galliano, Geri Allen and Billy Hart.

At the beginning of the 1990s, Heiri Känzig founded his own quartet with Art Lande and Kenny Wheeler. Heiri Känzig was the first non-Frenchman to be appointed to the Orchestra Nationale de Jazz (France) in 1990.

This was followed by his own projects with Charlie Mariano, Paul McCandless, Christy Doran and Dominque Pifarely. He then became bassist in the Thierry Lang Trio, with whom he recorded seven CDs for the renowned American label Blue Note. The bassist received a great deal of attention not least with his "Tien Shan Switzerland Express", consisting of 22 musicians, which brought together different cultures from Central Asia, Mongolia and Switzerland. He was honoured with the Composition Prize of the Canton of Zurich for this project in 2005.

Since 2006 he has been under contract with the renowned label ACT with the trio DEPART (Jojo Mayer and Harry Sokal).

In 2016 he was honoured with the Jazz Prize of the SUISA Fondation.

His latest project Travelin' has been released by Universal Music and was included in the Blue Note & Verve Today 2021 compilation.

Heiri Känzig has played on all five continents and performed at renowned jazz festivals such as the North Sea Festival, Sidney, Mabuto, Vienna, Paris, Montreux, Molde, Munich and New York.

Kunzler's jazz lexicon describes Heiri Känzig as a "musician's insider tip who specialises in idiosyncratic but highly melodic lines". "