Banff International Workshop in Jazz & Creative Music | House Program

Composer-pianist VIJAY IYER (pronounced “VID-jay EYE-yer”) has carved out a unique path as an influential, prolific, and shape-shifting presence in modern music. He was described by Pitchfork as "one of the most interesting and vital young pianists in jazz today," by the Los Angeles Weekly as “a boundless and deeply important young star,” and by Minnesota Public Radio as “an American treasure.” He received a MacArthur Fellowship, a U.S. Artists Fellowship, the Doris Duke Performing Artist Award, and the Alpert Award in the Arts. He was recently voted the 2018 Jazz Artist of the Year in the DownBeat International Critics’ Poll (his fourth time receiving that honor), and the 2018 Artist of the Year in the JazzTimes Critics’ and Readers’ Polls. His recent releases on ECM Records include Far From Over (2017) with his sextet, A Cosmic Rhythm with Each Stroke (2016) in duo with Wadada Leo Smith, and Break Stuff (2015) with his trio. His compositions have been premiered by International Contemporary Ensemble, Brentano Quartet, Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, So Percussion, Matt Haimovitz, and Jennifer Koh. He holds a lifetime appointment as the Franklin D. and Florence Rosenblatt Professor of the Arts at Harvard University. He is a Steinway artist. 

Tyshawn Sorey is a composer and musician whose music assimilates and transforms ideas from a broad spectrum of musical idioms and defies distinctions between genres, composition, and improvisation in a singular expression of contemporary music. Sorey was recently named a 2017 MacArthur Fellow and a 2018 United States Artists Fellow. The Spektral Quartet, Ojai Music Festival, International Contemporary Ensemble (ICE), Miller Theater, PRISM Saxophone Quartet, Opera Philadelphia, Carnegie Hall, and Jack Quartet, among many other ensembles and venues, have commissioned his works. He has also released six critically acclaimed recordings that feature his work as a composer, conductor, multi-instrumentalist and conceptualist. As a collaborator he has performed and recorded with many leading creative music figures and contemporary/new music ensembles such as Roscoe Mitchell, Steve Coleman, Muhal Richard Abrams, Vijay Iyer, Anthony Braxton, Ensemble Intercontemporain, John Zorn, Wadada Leo Smith, Butch Morris, Myra Melford, George Lewis, the Lucerne Festival Players, Ikue Mori, WildUp Ensemble, Steve Lehman, Claire Chase, and Marilyn Crispell, among many others. Sorey is an Assistant Professor of Music at Wesleyan University, specializing in creative improvised and avant-garde musical performance practices.

For the more than two decades she’s been on the scene, bassist/vocalist/producer/label owner and now filmmaker Mimi Jones has reigned supreme, as a side woman to an impressive coterie of musicians and as a leader with three CDs on her own label, (Hot Tone Music) featuring the Mimi Jones Band.

Her newest release for the label, Feet in the Mud, is her most powerful, recording to date. “Feet in the Mud refers to being true to one’s own self despite your race, age, gender, size etcetera,” Jones says.

Jones is supported by an engaging and ingenious collection of musicians including pianist Jon Cowherd, drummer Jonathan Barber, and saxophonist Samir Zarif.
Born in New York City of parents from Barbados, and raised in the Bronx, Jones is a graduate of the Manhattan School of Music Conservatory and she has studied with Lisle Atkinson, Ron Carter, Linda McKnight, Milton Hinton and others.

She has toured extensively throughout Africa, Asia, Europe, South America, and the Caribbean Islands and is recognized as a U.S. Jazz Ambassador.  Her vast work as a side woman includes gigs with Kenny Barron, Frank Ocean, Dianne Reeves, Tia Fuller, Ingrid Jensen, Dee Dee Bridgewater, Marc Cary, Toshi Reagon, Rachel Z, Sean Jones, Ravi Coltrane,and Terri Lyne Carrington’sGrammy Award winning Mosaic Project.

Jones also serves as co-director with ArcoIris Sandoval of The D.O.M.E. Experience, a multimedia project created to inspire its audience to become aware of environmental and social issues, within the community and globally through choreography, composition and cinematography.
 

Matana Roberts has been called “a major talent” (The Wire) and “the spokeswoman for a new, politically conscious music scene” (Jazzthetik).  A dynamic saxophonist, composer, improviser, and mixed media sound artist, Roberts’s acclaimed artistic practice aims to expose and celebrate the mystical roots and intuitive spirit-raising traditions of American creative expression. Her innovative work has forged new conceptual approaches to considering narrativity, history, and political expression within music, improvisation and beyond.
 

Trumpeter, santur player, vocalist, and composer Amir ElSaffar has distinguished himself with a mastery of diverse musical traditions and a singular approach to combining Middle Eastern musical languages with jazz and other styles of contemporary music. In addition, he is a purveyor of the centuries old, now endangered, Iraqi maqam tradition, which he performs actively as a vocalist and santur player. As a composer, ElSaffar has used the microtones found in maqam music to create an innovative approach to harmony and melody. 

ElSaffar currently leads four critically-acclaimed ensembles: Two Rivers, which combines the musical languages and instrumentation of Iraqi Maqam and contemporary jazz; the Amir ElSaffar Quintet, performing ElSaffar's microtonal compositions with standard jazz instrumentation; Safaafir, the only ensemble in the US performing and preserving the Iraqi Maqam in its traditional format; and The Alwan Ensemble, the resident ensemble of Alwan for the Arts, specializing in classical music from Egypt, the Levant, and Iraq. 

A recipient of the 2013 Doris Duke Performing Artists Award, ElSaffar has worked with jazz legend Cecil Taylor, and prominent jazz musicians such as Mark Dresser, Gerry Hemingway, Marc Ribot, Henry Grimes, and Oliver Lake. ElSaffar has appeared on numerous recordings, and has released six under his own name, Maqams of Baghdad (2005), Two Rivers (2007), Radif Suite (2010), Inana (2011), Alchemy (2013) and Crisis (2015). 
 

Jazz singer, composer and arranger Carmen Lundy hails from Miami, Florida and received her B.M. degree from the University of Miami.  In 1978, Lundy moved to NYC and in 1985, she released her first solo album entitled Good Morning Kiss, which topped the Billboard chart for 23 weeks.

Currently on the Afrasia Productions label, Carmen released her newest album Code Noir in February 2017, which debuted at #9 on the Billboard Jazz Chart and received both critical and popular acclaim. Carmen’s previous releases including Night and Day, Self Portrait, This Is Carmen Lundy, Jazz and the New Songbook: Live at the Madrid, Come Home, Changes, and Soul To Soul among others, have all topped the Best Albums and Top Ten albums lists on Downbeat and JazzWeek.  As a composer, Ms. Lundy’s catalogue numbers over 100 published songs, one of the few jazz vocalists in history to accomplish such a distinction.  
 

Kyle Austin, professionally known as Hprizm, is an American avant-garde artist, composer, new media artist, and performer whose work spans performance art, pop music, and multimedia projects. Formally trained as a visual artist, Hprizm later developed from the axis of poetry, hip hop, and the experimental arts community of the Lower East Side in the early 90s.

Notably cited for evoking images of Sun Ra and Africa Bambatta at once (Jesse Sewer, XL8R Magazine) Hprizm is the founding member of the critically acclaimed hip hop collective the Antipop Consortium. With a career that spans the last 20 years, he has shared the stages with a wide array of artists ranging from The Roots, Radiohead, and MFDoom to Matthew Shipp, Vijay Iyer, and Steve Lehman, among others. As a composer his pieces have been installed in the Whitney Biennial (NYC) as well as the Mazzoli Gallery (Italy).
 

Brooklyn, NY based sound artist/composer Fay Victor hones a unique vision for the vocalist’s role in jazz and improvised music regarding repertoire, improvisation and composition. Her ‘everything is everything’ aesthetic permeates her work in performance where a standard can lead to free improvisation...and back again. Victor's released nine critically acclaimed albums as a leader, performed with luminaries such as Randy Weston, Archie Schepp, Gary Bartz, Nicole Mitchell, and Marc Ribot. Victor’s latest release is Wet Robots (ESP Disk, July 2018) with her SoundNoiseFUNK project. Wet Robots received 4.5 stars in Downbeat Magazine and placed #4 in the Jazz Vocal Category for NPR’s Jazz Critic’s Poll 2018. 

“She’s essentially invented her own hybrid of song and spoken word, a scat style for today’s avant-garde.”
-Giovanni Russonello, The New York Times
 

Regarded as one of New York City’s most sought after bass players, Yunior Terry is recognized for his big sound, versatility and contagious rhythm. As the youngest son of one of Cuba’s most gifted musical families “Los Terrys”, Yunior began his musical training at age seven, graduating in 1994 from the prestigious National School of Art (ENA) in Havana with a double major in violin and bass. Soon after graduation he joined the National Philharmonic Orchestra, performing works of European and Cuban composers at the Havana National Theater. 

In 1998, Terry moved to California to attend The California Institute of Arts where he received a B.A. with honors in 2002. It was at CalArts where he continued to expand his musical horizon under Charlie Haden, Derek Oles (Poland), Rajeev Taranath (India) and Alfred Ladzekpo (Ghana) by exposing him to a wide variety of music and traditions from around the world. In 2009, Yunior Terry won the Van Lier Fellowship, awarded by Meet The Composer to support the creation of new musical work and community engagement. Since 2017, he has been an Assistant Professor at New York University teaching Cuban music and culture.

Yunior Terry has performed with Steve Coleman, Jerry Gonzales and Fort Apache, Lila Downs, Jeff “Tain” Watts, Eddie Palmieri, the late Hilton Ruiz, Gonzalo Rubalcaba, Steve Turre, Jane Bunnett and his brother Yosvany Terry among many others. In addition to his occupied schedule as a sideman, Terry leads his own band “Son de Altura”, created to innovate as well as preserve the legacy of Cuban music; releasing his first album "Mi Bajo Danzón" published by Palo Santo Music.
 

Guitarist Liberty Ellman has worked with a number of standout creative artists. Some credits include: Vijay Iyer, Rudresh Mahanthappa, Greg Osby, Joe Lovano,, Steve Lehman, Myra Melford, Wadada Leo Smith, JD Allen, Lawrence “Butch” Morris, Nicole Mitchell, Mike Ladd, Nels Cline, Mary Halvorson, Stephan Crump, Jonathan Finlayson, Okkyung Lee, Marty Erlich, Mat and Joe Maneri, and Ches Smith. Mr. Ellman is perhaps best known for his work with Henry Threadgill’s groundbreaking ensemble Zooid. Their most recent recording “In For a Penny, In For a Pound” was awarded a Pulitzer prize in 2016.
 
As a composer and bandleader Mr. Ellman has released four critically acclaimed recordings: Orthodoxy (Red Giant Records, 1998), Tactiles (Pi Recordings, 2003), Ophiuchus Butterfly (Pi Recordings, 2006) and Radiate (Pi Recordings, 2016). Ellman’s compositional style has been described as "At once highly controlled and recklessly inventive,” and “quite original and subtle." Ben Ratliff of the New York Times wrote: “Mr. Ellman's ballads are special, exotic things: their melodies are memorable.” Quote from the Wall Street Journal: “Along with his contemporaries, Mr. Ellman is helping define the sound of jazz in the 21st century.” Mr. Ellman was voted #1 Rising Star Guitarist in the 2016 Downbeat Magazine Critics Poll. 
 

Ingrid Jensen has been hailed as one of the most gifted improvising trumpeters of her generation. After graduating from Berklee College of Music in 1989, Jensen became Bruckner Conservatory’s youngest professor. After three years, she returned to the United States where she is a sought-out teacher, collaborator, and soloist.

Ingrid has recorded six CDs as a leader or co-leader and has been featured prominently on three Grammy-winning discs and numerous Juno-awarded albums, including her own CD, Vernal Fields. Ingrid continues to compose, arrange, and lead her own groups, as well as perform with cutting-edge bands such as Terri-Lyne Carrington’s Mosaic Project, the Christine Jensen Jazz Orchestra, and Darcy James and Secret Society.

Though born in Canada, Jensen has made New York her home for over twenty years. More about Ingrid Jensen can be found on her website. 
 

Yosvany Terry is a musician-composer-educator who regularly performs with the Yosvany Terry Quartet, Yosvany Terry & Afro-Cuban Roots: Ye-dé-gbé, Rubalcaba Quintet, and Eddie Palmieri and the Latin Jazz Ensemble. Hailed by The New York Times as an artist who “helped to redefine Latin jazz as a complex new idiom,” Terry has worked with Chick Corea, Roy Hargrove, Steve Coleman, Chucho Valdes, Silvio Rodriguez, Branford Marsalis, Angelique Kidjo, Rufus Reid, Paquito de Rivera, Meshell Ndegeocello, Cassandra Wilson, Paul Simon, Joshua Bell, and Dave Matthews. 

A talented chekeré player, Terry received training from his father, Eladio “Don Pancho” Terry, violinist and Cuba’s leading player of the chekeré. He received his classical music training from the National School of Arts (ENA) and Amadeo Roldan Conservatory in Havana. Named a Cintas Fellow in 2013, Terry is the recipient of Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors/New York State Music Fund’s Grant through Stanford Jazz Workshop for Yedégbé, a suite of Arará music. Terry was commissioned to write the music of the Opera Makandal with librettist by Carl H. Rux. He was named to the Doris Duke Artist Award class of 2015 and appointed Director of Jazz Ensembles and Senior Lecturer at Harvard University. Terry’s 2012 release “Today’s Opinion” was selected among the Top 10 Albums of the Year by Nate Chinen of The New York Times while his album “New Throned King,” which features music based on Arará cantos and rhythms, received a 2015 Grammy nomination.

Based in New York City, Linda May Han Oh is a bassist and composer who has performed and recorded with artist such as Pat Metheny, Kenny Barron, Joe Lovano, Dave Douglas, Terri Lyne Carrington, Steve Wilson and Geri Allen. 

Originally born in Malaysia and raised in Perth, Western Australia, she has received many awards such as an ASCAP Young Jazz Composer’s award, 2nd place at the BASS2010 Competition and an honorary mention at the 2009 Thelonious Monk Bass Competition. Linda also received the 2010 Bell Award for Young Australian Artist of the Year and was the 2012 Downbeat Critic's Poll "Rising Star" on bass. 

She was voted the 2018 and 2019 Bassist of the Year by the Jazz Journalist’s Association, as well as 2019 Up-and-coming Artist of the Year. Linda recently received a Jerome Foundation Fellowship, as well as the Chamber Music America New Jazz Works Grant for 2019.

After graduating from Manhattan School of Music, she has had five releases as a leader that have received critical acclaim. Her most 2017 release is “Walk Against Wind” features Ben Wendel, Matthew Stevens on guitar and Justin Brown on drums and other guests such as Fabian Almazan and Korean percussionist Minji Park. Her most recent release “Aventurine” is a double quartet album, featuring string quartet and vocal group Invenio. 

Linda has written for large and small ensembles as well as for film, participating in the BMI Film Composers Workshop, Sundance Labs at Skywalker Ranch and Sabrina McCormick's short film, "A Good Egg". 

Linda is based in New York City and is currently on faculty at the New School - School of Jazz and as an active educator she has created a series of lessons for the BassGuru app for iPad and iPhone. Linda is currently bassist of Pat Metheny’s quartet.

Described as “a state-of-the-art musical thinker” and a "dazzling saxophonist,” by The New York Times, Steve Lehman is a composer, performer, educator, and scholar who works across a broad spectrum of experimental musical idioms. His recent recording, "Mise en Abîme", was called the #1 Jazz Album of the year by NPR Music and The Los Angeles Times. 

The recipient of a 2015 Guggenheim Fellowship and a 2014 Doris Duke Artist Award, Lehman is an alto saxophonist who has performed and recorded internationally with his own ensembles and with those led by Anthony Braxton, Vijay Iyer, Bennie Maupin, Jason Moran, Georgia-Anne Muldrow, George Lewis, Meshell Ndegeocello, and HPrizm of Antipop Consortium, among many others. 

He is currently a professor of Music at CalArts, and lives in Los Angeles.
 

A trumpeter who has "proved herself a virtuoso of nonlinear trumpet playing" (Downbeat), Steph Richards has built a compelling presence in the creative music scene, having recorded with pioneering artists ranging from Henry Threadgill, Anthony Braxton and John Zorn to David Byrne, St. Vincent and Yoko Ono.  Her compositions have been featured across the US, Mexico, Canada and Europe and premiered on stages at Carnegie Hall, the Blue-note and Lincoln Center. Alongside trumpeter Dave Douglas, Richards co-curates the FONT Music festival and is on the faculty at UC San Diego. Richards is a Yamaha artist.  

Equally prized as a vocalist, guitarist and composer, Meza has uplifted audiences worldwide with her rare combination of talents: assured and beautiful singing; highly advanced guitar (both self-accompaniment and blistering solo work); and vividly colorful, melodic songwriting that reveals complex layers with every listen. She’s been hailed by The New York Times as “a bright young singer and guitarist with an ear for music of both folkloric and pop intention.” Debuting in 2007 with Skylark, she followed up in 2009 with Retrato, again in 2013 with Prisma and in 2016 with Traces (produced by Matt Pierson). In 2019 she released Ambar, her major label debut on Sony Music Masterworks, producing it herself and proudly unveiling the Nectar Orchestra, a collaboration with bassist and arranger Noam Wiesenberg.
Exposed to a world of music via her siblings, Meza began performing her own compositions in high school and went on to study at the Projazz Institute in her native Santiago, Chile. She had a flourishing career in her home country by age 19 and moved to New York at 23, graduating in 2013 from The New School for Jazz and Contemporary Music, where she studied with Peter Bernstein, Vic Juris, Sam Yahel, Steve Cardenas and Gil Goldstein, among others.

Bringing a sound full of warmth and clarity to the New York jazz scene ever since, she has appeared at leading venues including The Village Vanguard, Jazz Standard and Duc de Lombards (Paris). She is a member of Ryan Keberle’s Catharsis and Fabian Almazan’s Rhizome, and has also worked with Paquito D’Rivera, Aaron Goldberg, Sachal Vasandani and many more. With Catharsis she has recorded for Dave Douglas’s Greenleaf label; with Rhizome she has appeared on Blue Note/ArtistShare. She has appeared at festivals worldwide as well as NPR’s Tiny Desk Concert series and WBGO’s The Checkout, garnering praise from The Village Voice, The Wall St. Journal, JazzTimes, London Jazz News and veteran journalist Marc Myers of JazzWax, among others.
 

Okkyung Lee is a cellist, composer, and improviser who moves freely between of artistic disciples and contingencies. Since moving to New York in 2000 she has worked in disparate contexts as a solo artist and collaborator with creators in a wide range of disciplines. A native of South Korea, Lee has taken a broad array of inspirations—including noise, improvisation, jazz, western classical, and the traditional and popular music of her homeland—and used them to forge a highly distinctive approach. Her curiosity and a determined sense of exploration guide the work she has made in disparate contexts.

Jeff Parker (b. Bridgeport, Connecticut USA, 4/4/67) is recognized as one of contemporary music’s most versatile and innovative electric guitarists and composers - creating works that exploit the contrary relationships between tradition and technology, improvisation and composition, and the familiar and the abstract. 

A longtime member of the influential indie band Tortoise, Parker has been an associate member of the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (AACM) since 1995. A prolific bandleader and collaborator, Jeff has appeared on over 140 commercial recordings. Currently, Parker has been focusing on music production, small ensembles and solo performance. 
 

Jim Anderson is an internationally recognized recording engineer and producer of acoustic music for the recording, radio, television, and film industries. He is the recipient of numerous awards and nominations in the recording industry: his recordings have received ten Grammy and Latin Grammy awards and 27 Grammy and Latin Grammy nominations; his radio recordings have received two George Foster Peabody Awards and there have been two Emmy nominations for television programs. In 2013 and 2018, Jim won the Grammy for Best Surround Album and was nominated for the Best Surround Album in 2014.
 
A graduate of the Duquesne University School of Music in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Jim has studied audio engineering at the Eastman School of Music and Sender Freies Berlin. During the 1970s, he was employed by National Public Radio. Since 1980, Jim has had a career as an independent audio engineer and producer, living in New York City. He has been a frequent lecturer and speaker for the Audio Engineering Society (AES) and master-class guest faculty member at leading international institutes. He is a professor of recorded music with the Clive Davis Institute of Recorded Music in the Tisch School of the Arts at New York University and was the department’s Chair from 2004 – 2008.

He has served as Vice President for Eastern Sections of the AES, chaired the NYC Section and was Chair of the 119th, 123rd, 131st, 135th AES conventions and Co-Chair of the 139th Convention. Jim is a Fellow of the AES, has received five AES’ Board of Governors Awards and was also the President of the Society, 2008-2009.

With his wife, music producer Ulrike Schwarz, he is the engineering part of Anderson Audio New York, a world-wide music production company. 
 

Todd is a recording industry veteran based in New Jersey/New York City with professional engineering experience in all aspects of music production. His wide-ranging discography includes over 500 commercial recordings featuring world-class artists and composers spanning the fields of jazz, world music, crossover, classical, opera, and Broadway cast albums as well as TV and film scoring. His multi-faceted engineering work has garnered nine Grammy Awards in a variety of album categories as well as Emmy and Tony Award winning shows. 

Todd began his career in 1989 as an Assistant Engineer at Power Station Studios, which closed in 1992. He then went to work at Sony Classical Productions as a Remote Recording Engineer and Music Editor. His “big break” came in 1995 as an Engineer at Sony Music Studios by editing and mixing Wynton Marsalis’ Blood On The Fields which was awarded the Pulitzer Prize in Music, a first in jazz. The year 2019 finds Todd still collaborating with Wynton as Producer, Post Producer, Engineer, and Mix Engineer for the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra’s in-house label Blue Engine Records for new works and archival releases.

Recent album releases include Swing Symphony with the St. Louis Symphony and the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra, Bolden! Film Soundtrack featuring Wynton Marsalis, Christian McBride’s New Jawn, Herlin Riley’s Perpetual Optimism, and Jon Batiste’s Anatomy of Angels. Todd’s 2019 Grammy Award winning projects include Cécile McLorin Salvant and Sullivan Fortner’s The Window for Best Jazz Vocal Album and Wayne Shorter’s Emanon for Best Instrumental Jazz Album.

2019 marks Todd’s seventh Audio Residency at the Banff International Workshop in Jazz and Creative Music. 

Kyrie Anderson is a drummer from Adelaide, South Australia. In 2014, Kyrie completed her Honours degree in Jazz Performance from the University of Adelaide. Kyrie is an in-demand session musician, specialising in Jazz, Blues, and Folk music. She is involved with many different projects in which she records and tours regularly around Australia. In 2017-18, Kyrie spent 6 months touring throughout Europe. Recent years have seen Kyrie work with Russian feminist group Pussy Riot! and Luke Creswell, creator of STOMP, performing at major Australian festivals. Kyrie is super passionate about music education for young female musicians.

Colombian bassist graduated from the Antonio María Valencia Conservatory, (where she received a laureate mention at the degree recital) and the Manuel de Falla Conservatory (Argentina). Diana has taken classes and workshops with Hernán Merlo, Jerónimo Carmona, Jeff Bradetich (USA), Klaus Stoll (Germany), among others. He was part of the female orchestra D'caché (Colombia), accompanying Gilberto Santa Rosa on his tours. In Buenos Aires, he participates actively in several projects recording, playing, and travelling with musicians such as Ernesto Jodos, Andrés Boiarsky, and many more. Currently, Diana María is part of the trio Nicolás Boccanera, Yamile Burich and Ladies Jazz, El Dévenir del río and Adrián Iaies and Colegios, leads the Conjunto Tumboró. 

In his five years in Atlanta, guitarist Patrick Arthur has made a swift transition from college student to seasoned creative. While attending Kennesaw State University, Patrick began exploring the music scene in Atlanta and quickly got busy playing and writing with several jazz and experimental artists including Grut, Tyrone Jackson, Morgan Guerin, and Kebbi Williams. Since he began playing music in high school, Patrick’s ambition to make creative, original music has been propelled by a broad spectrum of inspirations and influences, and Atlanta has proven fertile ground to explore the pluralism that has come to define him as a musician. 

Pronounced "important to the future of music as an advanced art form," pianist-accordionist Simone Baron is an instigator of infectious energy whose work focuses on experimenting and reimagining a sound at the junction of the familiar and the avant-garde. Steeped deeply in her Judeo-Roman roots, Simone maintains a highly nomadic existence these days as a performer-composer equally at home in notated and improvised musical contexts. She has performed throughout Europe, Israel, and North America. In 2016 she founded Arco Belo, a genre-fluid chamber ensemble that she composes, arranges for and leads. Simone has held residencies at Strathmore, Banff Centre, Avaloch Farm and Spectrum Toronto, and looks forward to a 2020 NextLook Residency. Deeply committed to building a more inclusive musical community, she currently serves as the curation/co-artistic director for the Boulanger Initiative, an advocacy group based in D.C. that fights gender-based discrimination in programming. 

Sonya Belaya is a Russian-American pianist and singer who divides her time between Michigan and New York. Sonya champions vulnerable art and the development of strong, personal collaborations. Her work centers on the integration of women’s trauma as musical narrative, with a focus on storytelling as a symbol of powerful vulnerability. Sonya has performed as a pianist and singer with members of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, New Music Detroit, Wild Up, Michigan Opera Theatre, Russian Renaissance, and Bang on a Can All-Stars. She recently released her debut album, Songs My Mother Taught Me, a song cycle written for octet centred around the story of Sonya's mother's disappearance. Sonya has been a participant in many notable music festivals, including Bang on Can Summer Festival and Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity. Sonya is an active educator focused on offering music as a means of exploration and self-awareness. She has served as piano faculty at Metropolitan State University at DIME-Detroit, and worked as a dance collaborator at the University of Michigan. Currently, Sonya works as a musician at Mark Morris Dance Center, Martha Graham Dance Company, and Dance Theatre of Harlem. She is also working with storyteller and producer Patricia Wheeler (The Moth RadioHour, Moth StorySlam) to develop a storytelling and music series entitled Songs & Stories, which partners Detroit storytellers with musicians and composers based on curated themes to create a fluid, seamless narrative in a collaborative process. Her favourite coffee is Mockingbird Coffee. 
 

Eddie Bond is a multi-instrumentalist composer and performer based in Portland, Oregon. Since moving to Portland in 2013, Eddie has been active across a broad range of style on on guitar, bass, keyboards, vocals, synthesizers, and electronics. Influences primarily rooted in jazz, rock, and classical, branching out to include the various facets, extensions, and experiments of these genres. Eddie is extremely excited to be here at Banff and is looking forward to some inspiring collaborations.

Federico Calcagno (1995) is a clarinet and bass clarinet player, creative jazz musician, improviser, and composer from Milano, Italy. He studied classical and jazz clarinet in Milano Conservatory and he recently graduated in a Jazz Master in bass clarinet at Amsterdam Conservatory (9 cum laude). His first album From Another Planet, dedicated to Eric Dolphy, was released in 2019 for the Italian label Emme Record. He won the first prize at the Premio del Conservatorio di Milano 2018 with the trio Tri(o)ttico and the 2nd prize in the Keep an Eye International Contest 2019 with his quintet Liquid Identities.

Daniel Cano is a trumpeter and composer from Spain. He has performed at venues as Ronnie Scott’s and jazz festivals in Tangier, San Sebastian, Margate, and Seville to name but a few, with artists such as Doug Sides, Paco Charlín, Chris Kase, Dick Pearce, Peter King, Harris Eisenstadt, and more. A versatile and multifaceted musician, Daniel has been involved in different projects: the free-jazz bands Ornetillos and Southern Free Bunch; the afrobeat group Larsen C & The Millennial and his Flamenco Quartet inspired by the music from Andalusia. His last album Social Music was released in February 2019.

Walter Cano is an New York-based trumpet player, composer, and arranger. Born of Peruvian immigrants, Cano converges his passion for traditional jazz trumpet with his Peruvian roots, presenting a unique sound that continues to resonate globally. In addition to leading, directing, and contributing in several ensembles across the United States, Cano has conducted clinics in Seattle, Cleveland, and Detroit, while maintaining a private studio. Cano holds a MM in Jazz Studies from Michigan State University and works as a freelancer, performing with Etienne Charles, Ulysses Owens Jr., Rodney Whitaker, and the Dr. Phillips Center Jazz Orchestra, while leading the Walter Cano 8tet.

Flora Carbo is a Melbourne based saxophonist. She began playing at 12 years old and has since performed extensively in Melbourne, working with renowned artists including pianists Barney McAll and Andrea Keller, as well as leading and co-leading projects including Carbo Carter Gunnoo and the Flora Carbo Trio (album Erica out in 2018). Flora was the recipient of the James Morrison Scholarship (2017), a finalist in the National Jazz Awards (2016), and was nominated for the Freedman Jazz Fellowship (2018), while touring internationally with circus company Company 2. Flora is completing her Degree with Honours at the University of Melbourne.

Sofia Carbonara is a percussionist based in Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States currently pursuing her Bachelor of Music in Performance at the University of Michigan. Some of Sofia’s current projects include Plant the Seed (ptsimprov.org), an all-arts improvisation presenting organization based in Southeast Michigan, and Virago (viragomusic.org), a sextet melding contemporary chamber music and improvisation. 

Becket Cerny is a drummer, producer, and composer from Los Angeles. With an upbringing in jazz drum set, deep studies of Ewe and Akan drumming and hip hop production appear in his own compositions. Beyond drumming, he’s produced, engineered, and composed for plays like How I Learned to Drive by Paula Vogel (dir. Emma Pasarow), short films like the Capra prize-winning Karaoke Superstar (2019), and pop releases like San Diego by Daphne Gampel. Most recently, his undergraduate thesis work on post-J Dilla drum set style has provided a backdrop for new electro-acoustic jazz- and hip hop-influenced compositions. 

American native Eddie Codrington is a saxophonist and composer whose presence in the modern jazz scene is rapidly growing. Codrington’s improvisational style is rooted heavily in the subtle melodicism of the cool jazz tradition and extends to the bold, complex nature of the modern electronic jazz scene. His latest works include The Archangel Suite, a four-movement collection written for electronic jazz ensemble and accompanied by live visual projections, and Obsidian Galaxy, for which he won the Herb Alpert Young Jazz Composer Award. Codrington also won Downbeat Magazine’s award for best collegiate solo in the blues/rock/pop category.

Niran Dasika is an Australian trumpeter, originally from Melbourne but currently living in Perth, Western Australia. While based in Tokyo from 2016-17 Niran recorded on several albums from Blue Note Records, Sony Music, Diskunion Records, and others including his latest of three albums as the band leader of Suzaku. In 2018, Niran performed at the Wangaratta Jazz Festival, Perth International Jazz Festival, Melbourne International Jazz Festival and Tokyo Jazz Festival, and placed 2nd at the 2017 National Jazz Awards (Australia). Niran’s music has been described as "like birds singing in a placid twilight… glows with a luminescent reverence,” AllAboutJazz.

Dominican-american, composer, and multi-instrumentalist, Nicole Davis found her passion in music at a young age. She grew up in Washington Heights, a small Dominican neighbourhood in New York City, where she was immersed in Merengue, Bachata, and Salsa. Playing this music every day in a community band allowed her to hone her craft and go on to study at SUNY Purchase on a full scholarship. Since graduating, Nicole has booked an East Coast tour with her quintet. She has worked with Amy Helm, Corey Glover of Living Color, Matt Lavelle’s 12 Houses, and HUMA Dance Company. Most recently, Nicole has started a new project called WAIL, A free improvised duo in which she plays synthesizer and trumpet and sings. 

Daniel Durst, an improvising bassist and composer from San Francisco, moved to New York in 2011 to attend the New School where he studied with Ben Street, Bob Cranshaw, and Jane Ira Bloom. Known for his soft touch and meditative approach to improvisation, Daniel brings his musical personality across a variety of genres from jazz to noise to indie rock. He has played at the Bern Jazz Festival in Switzerland and has worked as a sideman in various clubs throughout New York. Daniel is also a member of some of New York’s most creative rock and punk bands. 

Ethan Fisher (United States) is a vibraphonist and composer currently residing in Philadelphia. Ethan has performed at The Cape May Exit Zero Jazz Festival, Longwood Gardens Jazz Festival, Rehoboth Beach Jazz Festival, Philadelphia Center City Jazz Festival, Community Unity Music Festival, The Metropolitan Opera Philadelphia, The Mann Music Center, The Kimmel Center, and the Free Library of Philadelphia with compositions featured on 90.1 WRTI, 88.5 WXPN and a new work premiered by Prism Quartet. Ethan holds a Degree in Jazz Studies from Temple University and is a student of Vibraphonist Warren Wolf.

Matt Forker is a guitarist, trombonist, composer-arranger, improviser, and recording engineer based in Brooklyn, New York. Embodying the steadfastly individual ethos of the city, Matt has continually blazed his own trail, tenaciously chasing a unique and focused vision. Drawing on the legacy of the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians as well as from the contemporary innovations of classical music and modern jazz, Matt’s deft handling of large ensembles showcases his clear compositional vision and adventurous improvisational language. This May, Matt received the Gwen Livingston Pokora Prize for Composition from Wesleyan University, and his debut album is due out in Winter 2020.

Tyné is an American vocalist, composer, and multi-instrumentalist. She has released six independent records, and has performed throughout the United States and internationally. Tyné was a 2013 YoungArts national winner, as well as a selected performer in the Kennedy Center's 2015 Millennium Stage Series. Her most recent album, Bridges, was a finalist in the 2018 Independent Music Awards. Tyné has been featured in Seventeen Magazine and is a contributing author in various publications, including  two Billion Under 20 (St. Martin’s Press, 2015). She completed her undergraduate Degree at Dartmouth College in 2017, and remained to earn her Master’s degree this past June.

Jacob Hiser is a versatile pianist who studies many musical traditions. He has performed at venues and festivals across the United States, as well as France, Hungary, and Germany. Originally from Missouri, where he graduated from Missouri State University with a bachelor’s in Jazz Studies, he now lives in Boston, having completed a Master’s degree in Contemporary Improvisation at New England Conservatory in 2016. His past teachers include Ran Blake, Joe Morris, Bruce Brubaker, and Jason Moran. He is currently adjunct piano faculty at University of Massachusetts Lowell and an accompanist for Boston Children's Chorus and New England Conservatory Preparatory School choirs.

Mỹ Tâm (née Tammy Huỳnh) is a Vietnamese-American vocalist and composer that aspires to write music that unites her unique, diverse personal, and musical experiences into compelling narratives. She holds the importance of storytelling as paramount and strives to write music that is intelligent, approachable, and empathetic. In May 2018, Mỹ Tâm received her B.M. in Jazz Studies, Vocal Performance from Temple University’s Honors College. She was initially accepted as a classical piano major but found herself more involved in and drawn to jazz. She had the privilege to study under noted jazz vocalist Sachal Vasandani and later, Sara Serpa. 
 

Maxx Katz is a multi-instrumentalist and composer whose work simultaneously uses vocabulary from metal, jazz, classical, free improvisation, and performance. A classically trained flutist with an M.A. in Critical and Comparative Studies in Music from the University of Virginia, she has toured extensively in experimental bands across the US and Europe. She uses primarily flute, electric guitar, and voice in a restless negotiation of the limits of communication. Her solo project Floom is an experiment in doom metal and improvisation. 

Maya Keren is a pianist and composer from Philadelphia currently pursuing a Bachelor of Arts in Music at Princeton University. Recognized by the National YoungArts Foundation for her musicianship, Keren has studied at the Jazz at Lincoln Center Summer Jazz Academy and the Kimmel Center Creative Music Program under Anthony Tidd. At Princeton, under the direction of Rudresh Mahanthappa, she studies with Kris Davis and has performed with Ingrid Jensen, Tia Fuller, Terri Lyne Carrington, and Mahanthappa. Her current interests include Messiaen’s study of bird calls, Steve Coleman’s ideas on negative harmony, and the physics of tuning and temperament.

Summer Kodama is an aspiring composer, arranger, producer, and bassist from Las Vegas. Some of her notable achievements and performances include performing occasionally with Post Modern Jukebox for their current residency in Las Vegas, being awarded the bass spot in Jazz Education Network’s 2019 Sisters in Jazz Collegiate Combo, and being awarded a position in the 2018 Disneyland All-American College Band. In the future, she hopes to facilitate a musical outreach program for individuals with mental disabilities. She is currently in a masters program on scholarship at McGill University.
 

I am French trumpet player, first classicaly trained, before being introduced at a young age into jazz and improvisation by playing in a large ensemble led by François Raulin. I performed with various artists in different musical context, from jazz with artists such as Riccardo Del Fra, to free improvisation in Eve Risser's White Desert Orchestra. I also composes for various ensembles, with uncommon instrumentation such as a trio piano double bass trumpet, or a septet with two double basses, cello, guitar, saxophone, drums, and trumpet. I study jazz at the French National Conservatoire since September 2018.
 

Alexander Mansour is a composer, pianist, and cellist from Los Angeles California. As a pianist, Alex most recently arranged and played for Arturo Sandoval's Christmas album, performing with him at Walt Disney Concert Hall. As a cellist, Alex joined the New York String Orchestra Seminar for their Christmas concerts in Carnegie Hall, and has also appeared on NPR's From the Top. Alex’s compositions have been performed at various music festivals, and he scored an AFI Documentary Selection for Hesburgh, which just finished its theatrical distribution. Alex will attend the USC Thornton School of Music for a Master's degree in Composition this fall.

Naledi Masilo is a passionate vocalist, composer, and humanitarian who was born and raised in Johannesburg, South Africa. Rooted in her exploration of the jazz tradition and her African heritage influences, Naledi seeks to grow herself and her music to reflect the world that she sees and exists in. After pursuing her Bachelor's degree in Social Sciences, Naledi went on to pursue her passion for jazz at the New England Conservatory in 2018. In 2017, Naledi was selected as part of the South African Standard Bank National Youth Band. She is an alumni of the Betty Carter’s Jazz Ahead Program, where she was mentored by the likes of Dee Dee Bridgwater, Casey Benjamin, and Jason Moran. Naledi has performed in renowned venues in South Africa, Boston, Washington D.C., and California, including the Kennedy Center (United States), Artscape Theater (Cape Town), and the Museum of African American Art (United States).

Liany Mateo was born and raised in Jersey City, New Jersey. For the past six years, she has been playing the upright bass and pursuing a career in jazz music. Through her endeavors, she has been able to travel across the world for workshops, camps, and performances. Recently, this includes a project entitled The Becoming Quintet that has recorded on pos-tone records and playing at high-level venues like Smalls Jazz Club (New York City) with Michael Dease and the Dirty Dog Jazz Cafe (Detroit) with Randy Napeleon. Mateo has also worked with Winard Harper, Ettiene Charles, Diego Rivera, and currently studies with Rodney Whitaker.

Naomi McCarroll-Butler (she/they) is a saxophonist, clarinettist, and composer living in Toronto, Canada. Naomi leads two of her own groups: saxophone duo The Silent Shout (with Patrick Smith, debut release incoming July 2019) and The Band Named Crow, a large improvising ensemble that premiers music based on the surreal worlds of Japanese novelist Haruki Murakami. She is also a member of the folk group decoration day and an active collaborator in many overlapping scenes of Toronto. Her compositions have been performed in Toronto Creative Music Lab and Spectrum Music.

Multi-Instrumentalist Christian X. M. McGhee, 20, is from St. Louis, Missouri. Christian plays drums, piano, vibes, classical and hand percussion, and composes, arranges and teaches. He wrote his first piece for Jazz Philharmonic Orchestra this year and it was performed by the MSM Jazz Philharmonic Orchestra. He is also an aspiring film composer. He recently premiered his score to the short film Upstate at Manhattan School of Music’s Annual short film showing. He attends Manhattan School of Music and studies drum-set with John Riley. One of his current projects is an innovative solo show playing drums and keyboard at the same time. 
 

Lesley Mok is a Brooklyn-based drummer and composer. She has performed in venues and festivals in the United States and abroad, including TedxSanDiego, the Ringling Museum of Art, and the Panama Jazz Festival. While her work has its roots in jazz and improvised music, it often finds itself in between 21st-century classical music, Afro-Cuban music, and Black American experimental music. As a composer, Lesley currently leads The Living Collection, a contemporary ensemble that exclusively performs her music. Lesley received her undergraduate and Master's degree at Berklee College of Music, where she studied with Danilo Pérez, Terri Lyne Carrington, Joe Lovano, and Ben Street.

Camila Nebbia is a sax player, composer, improviser, and visual artist from Buenos Aires, Argentina. Studied classical saxophone at the Astor Piazzolla Conservatory and later studied the jazz career at the Manuel de Falla Conservatory. She also obtained a Degree in Film Director at the Universidad Del Cine. At the present time, she participates in several music groups in Buenos Aires, including her own tentet with whom she will be soon recording her second solo album. Creator and curator of the independent festival of women improvers called La Jaula se ha vuelto pájaro y se ha volado.

Julian Terrell Otis is a multidisciplinary artist, creative vocalist/improviser, and composer. He has performed with the American Contemporary Music Ensemble, the International Contemporary Ensemble (ICE), Imani Winds, and Nicole Mitchell’s Black Earth Ensemble. He originated the role of soloist in George E. Lewis’ chamber opera Afterword. Most recently, he has performed with Angel Bat Dawid's The Brothahood, a spiritual jazz ensemble dedicated to continuing the legacy of Great Black Music. They have appeared most notably at Rewire Festival (Netherlands) and will be embarking on a European tour in the fall.

Hyuna Park’s musical universe is both deeply connected to New York and its vibrant jazz tradition while at the same time embracing her Korean and classical roots. She has graced the stage with Grammy award-winners such as Luis Bonilla and Vincent Herring. Hyuna formed a trio in 2018 as a non-traditional band that infuses various styles and musical elements into their core jazz repertoire. Hyuna and her band are regulars at jazz venues in New York City such as Birdland, Zinc bar, and Iridium. 
 

Anthony Pearlman is a New York City based pianist and composer with a recent Bachelor's degree from The New School of Jazz and Contemporary Music. With influences that range from Thelonious Monk and Ornette Coleman, to Ryuchi Sakamoto and Claude Debussy, it has given Pearlman a diverse skill set that he is able to bring to any musical situation regardless of genre. In addition, these personal heroes have taught Pearlman universally appreciated musical attributes that are based on patience, listening, and developmental improvisation. During his career, Pearlman has had the opportunity to perform regularly in New York and abroad.
 

Audrey Powne is a prolific young trumpeter, vocalist, and composer from Melbourne, Australia who has turned her hand to many musical endeavours. Audrey is known best to audiences as the lead singer of Melbourne Alt, RnB outfit Leisure Centre, and genre defying electronic duo Au Dré, a project with her long-time collaborator Keyboardist/Producer James Bowers. In addition to these projects, you can add her impressive career as a freelance trumpeter and vocalist which has seen her perform with artists including Maceo Parker, Masta Ace, Vince Jones, Leroy Jones, and many more.
 

Francesca Remigi (1996) is a drummer,  jazz musician, improviser, and composer from Bergamo, Italy. After obtaining a Bachelor diploma in Jazz Drums from the Conservatorio G.Verdi of Milano, she is currently attending a Master in jazz drums at the Koninklijk Conservatorium Brussels, under the guidance of the drummer Stéphane Galland. She performed with different bands in many festivals all over Europe, such as the Cross Current Festival (Maastricht) and the North Sea Jazz Festival (Rotterdam), when she was attending an Erasmus Program in the Netherlands in 2017, the Brussels Jazz Weekend 2019 and the JAZZMI2015 and PianoCity in Milano. 

Selma Savolainen (b.1993) is an aspiring vocalist and composer hailing from Helsinki, Finland. While her musical roots lay in jazz, diverse influences from other genres can be heard in her singing and writing. Savolainen writes music for different projects she’s involved in such as MINE, vocal quartet Sign” and Paris-based Crystal Sound Project. Her debut album with the group Selma Juudit Alessandra will be released later this year. Savolainen is currently studying at the prestigious Sibelius Academy in Helsinki. In 2016 Savolainen was selected to participate in the Betty Carter’s Jazz Ahead residency in Washington, D.C.
 

Secches has been playing live in many world's stages, since 2010. She was crowned as best soloist in the 10th Beatle Week of Latin America, which would make her Argentina's representative in the International Beatle Week of Liverpool 2011 (United Kingdom) and then, continuing her career, she became consecrated again as the winner of the Bienal de Arte Joven de Buenos Aires, in 2013.

It was said of her debut album Carte Postale: "She is a mix of Björk with Keith Jarrett and Boris Vian," La Nación argentina. "She composes in 3 languages, sings, and plays the piano like gods. She is unique," Andrés Mayo, Argentine Audio Engineer specialized in Mastering and audio post-production.

She is currently working on her second album of own songs. 
 

Evan Shay is a saxophonist and composer in Montréal, Québec. Originally from Seattle, WA, he moved to Montréal in 2010 to study at McGill University, where he completed his Bachelor’s Degree in 2014 and his Master’s in 2018. He has studied with John Hollenbeck, Remi Bolduc, Chet Doxas, Jean-Michel Pilc, and Chris McCann. In 2017, Evan was named one of the 35 Best Canadian Jazz Artists Under 35 by CBC Music. Evan’s project Lawful Citizen released their first EP in 2017, and their debut record, Internal Combustion, in November 2018.

Helen Svoboda is a double bassist, composer, and nature-enthusiast. "With a deep awareness of extra-musical concepts that shape inventive improvisation and great art," (Steve Newcomb, Australia), she draws influence mainly from vegetables, flowers, and the genres of minimalist neo-classical music to experimental jazz. Originally born in Finland, Svoboda grew up in Brisbane, Australia, before relocating to Maastricht, Netherlands to study a Master's degree in Music. With a passion for unusual combinations of instrumentation, she is defined not by genre, but by her addiction to music, strange sonic frequencies, and her love of exciting creative environments (both plant and non-plant related).
 

Calgarian guitarist Joel Untinen is currently living in New York City and working towards his Master of Music in Jazz Performance under guitarist Peter Bernstein at New York University. Prior to his studies in New York, Joel earned his Bachelor of Music from Ambrose University in Calgary, where he studied with guitarist Ralf Buschmeyer. In addition to performing alongside many of Calgary’s lead jazz musicians, Joel performs original compositions with his trio and has been an ongoing member of the Tributary Quartet. He can be heard playing on the Nate Waters Quartet album, Fact/Contrafact, which has received consistent radio play on Alberta radio stations since its release in 2017. In his spare time, Joel enjoys volunteering by playing at seniors homes, reading, and writing, and has been training in martial arts for the past nine years. In 2018, Joel was a recipient of the Individual Artist Grant from the Alberta Foundation for the Arts.

Evan Vietorisz is an American guitarist and bassist enrolled in his third year of the Harvard/New England Conservatory Dual Degree Program, where he is pursuing a B.A. in physics and an M.M. in jazz performance, respectively. He has studied under the direction of Dominique Eade, Ran Blake, Brad Shepik, and Yosvany Terry. In the summer of 2018, he received a fellowship from the Harvard Office for the Arts to participate in summer festivals and workshops at the Conservatory of Amsterdam, Conservatory of Siena, Italy, and the School for Improvised music in Brooklyn, New York.

Jay Yoo is a guitarist, composer, and arranger originally from South Korea, and now based and active in Toronto. He started out as a blues guitarist and finished his Jazz Performance undergrad at University of Toronto in 2018. Having studied with a number of renowned musicians such as Geoff Young, Mike Murley, Terry Promane, and many more, he is an open minded and versatile musician, being involved in different genres such as funk, rock, jazz, pop, and so on. He has performed in various popular venues and events in and around Toronto, such as the Rex Hotel Jazz and Blues Bar, Koerner Hall, and Beaches Jazz Festival to name a few.

Umar Zakaria is a New Zealand bassist and composer filled with hope for the future. His music unites diverse musical traditions, particularly Malay music and jazz improvisation, in an effort to inspire communication and cooperation across ideological boundaries. A graduate of the New Zealand School of Music and the New England Conservatory, he was awarded 2nd place at the BASS2014 International Jazz Bass Competition. Umar also participated in the Betty Carter Jazz Ahead program at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. in 2016. In 2018, he was named Best Jazz Artist by Recorded Music New Zealand.
 

Hailing from Berkeley, California, Timothy Angulo is an emerging artist in drumming and composition. Since completing his fellowship at the Brubeck Institute at the University of the Pacific, Angulo attends the New School under the instruction of master drummer Michael Carvin. At 22 years old, Angulo has already toured and performed with artists such as Kamasi Washington, Charenee Wade, Jonathan Finlayson, and many others. Rooted in the history of black creative music and the arts, Angulo is passionate about expressing the sentiments of the present day and the future for his generation through sound.

Gabriel Fraivillig (USA) is a trombonist and composer from Doylestown, Pennsylvania. In high school, he participated in the creative music program at the Kimmel center led by bassist and composer Anthony Tidd. Gabriel attended NYU, where he studied with Elliot Mason, Alan Ferber, and Lenny White. His most recent musical conquest has been the Flugelbone (marching valve trombone) and trying to implant this strange instrument into various contexts. Gabriel releases music under the moniker Kount Spacey, which he describes as huckleberry finn finding technology.

Tommaso Gambini is a guitar player and composer based in Brooklyn, New York. He has performed internationally both as a leader and as a sideman with the likes of Miguel Zenon, Dayna Stephens, Joe Lovano, and Ben Van Gelder. His debut album, set out to be released this fall, features original compositions inspired by the dystopian novel The Machine Stops by English writer Edward Forster. He graduated from Berklee College of Music, where he studied with Hal Crook, Mick Goodrick, George Garzone, and Ben Street. He is also interested in music synthesis and recording technology.