Ted Taforo is a Los Angeles-based musician. He is also a two-time recipient of the ASCAP Young Jazz Composer Award, who is known for his versatility, unique compositions, and powerful saxophone sound. He first attended the Eastman School of Music where he studied jazz and saxophone. It wasn’t until he arrived at CalArts in 2012, that he started fusing that background with other genres such as Javanese gamelan music and the flourishing beat scene coming out of Los Angeles. Taking courses in Ableton while discovering keyboards such as the Casio MT 100, Ted began making beats and producing music with an electronic sound palette.

https://ffm.to/between_dreams

https://www.weekinpop.com/features/between-dreams-ted-taforo?fbclid=IwAR0mumj6fmtyMlBwo01UpNo6ZEAYHNOWCgyvuWskwnp8Z186cgFQmLH5JDc

http://www.tedtaforo.com

ArcoIris Sandoval - piano, composition

Marty Kenney - bass

Allan Mednard - drums

https://sonicasylum.bandcamp.com/album/arcoiris-sandoval-sonic-asylum-first-voyage

ArcoIris Sandoval is a jazz pianist, composer and Fulbright award recipient currently residing in New York City and originally from Tucson, Arizona. She obtained her Master's degree in jazz piano performance from the Manhattan School of Music, and has won 2013 and 2015 ASCAP young jazz composer awards in addition to being a semifinalist at in the Montreux Solo Jazz Piano competition in 2012, a participant in the Mary Lou Williams Festival, Betty Carter Jazz Ahead and the Metropole Orkest Arrangers Workshop directed by Vince Mendoza featuring Richard Bona. One of her arrangements was performed by the Metropole Orkest at the 2016 BBC Proms tribute to Quincy Jones. She has also performed at major festivals throughout the world including Umbria Jazz Festival, Winter Jazz Fest in NYC, Angra Jazz Festival, Monty Alexander Jazz Festival, the Telluride Jazz Festival, the Tucson Jazz Festival with Lonnie Plaxico opening for Tower of Power in 2017 as well in 2015 at the Tucson Jazz Festival with Jimmy Cobb, and many others throughout China, Europe, India, South America, and Mexico. She was also a finalist at the inaugural Ellis Marsalis Jazz Piano Competition in summer 2018.

ArcoIris and bassist Mimi Jones are the Co-directors and composers for The D.O.M.E. Experience which is an award winning environmentally and socially motivated orchestra featuring cinematography as well as dance and has featured a roster of acclaimed musicians and renowned choreographers throughout the years. DOME has been the two time recipient of The Bronx Council of the Arts Award, The Puffin Foundation Grant, and the 2020 New Music USA Grant.

She is actively performing and touring with several ensembles including with acclaimed jazz vocalist Allan Harris, Shirazette Tinnin’s “Sonic Wallpaper”, and her own Sonic Asylum trio and quintet project which performs locally in NYC even during the pandemic and has performed at the Kennedy Center and Vermont Jazz Emerging Artist festival. She released her debut Sonic Asylum Trio album in summer 2018 with MEII Enterprises entitled “First Voyage” featuring Marty Kenney on bass and Allan Mednard on drums which won a 2018 Global Music Award.

Composition by Angela Morris, featuring the Webber/Morris Big Band.

Solos by Anna Webber (tenor saxophone) and Patricia Brennan (vibraphone)

Find the entire album here: https://webbermorrisbigband.bandcamp.com/album/both-are-true

Purchase sheet music here: angelamorrismusic.com/bigband

Personnel:

Angela Morris: conductor, tenor saxophone, flute

Anna Webber: conductor, tenor saxophone, flute

Jay Rattman: alto saxophone, soprano saxophone, flute

Charlotte Greve: alto saxophone, clarinet

Adam Schneit: tenor saxophone, clarinet

Lisa Parrott: baritone saxophone, bass clarinet

John Lake: trumpet, flugelhorn

Jake Henry: trumpet, flugelhorn

Adam O’Farrill: trumpet, flugelhorn

Kenny Warren: trumpet, flugelhorn

Tim Vaughn: trombone

Nick Grinder: trombone

Jen Baker: trombone

Reginald Chapman: bass trombone

Patricia Brennan: vibraphone

Dustin Carlson: guitar

Marc Hannaford: piano

Adam Hopkins: bass

Jeff Davis: drums

From Leibson's solo piano EP "La Cancel," inspired by the great novel El Silenciero by the Argentinian author Antonio Di Benedetto.

"La cancel da directamente al menguado patio de baldosas. Yo abro la cancel y encuentro el ruido" Antonio Di Benedetto - El Silenciero //

"The cancel opens directly onto the diminished tile patio. I open the gate and find the noise" Antonio Di Benedetto - The Silencer

Hear and purchase the entire album:

https://santiagoleibson.bandcamp.com/album/la-cancel

Featuring Michaël Attias (alto saxophone), Samuel Blaser (trombone),

Sebastien Ammann (piano), Noah Garabedian (bass), Nathan Ellman-Bell (drums)

From Amman:

"Yayoi" is inspired by the work of Japanese visual artist Yayoi Kusama. In this piece, the aim was to create a narrative by connecting sections that have different textures and creating a flow in the composition. From the album Resilience (Skirl Records, 2020).

Chris Ziemba is a jazz pianist, composer, and educator based on the East Coast. He holds Bachelors of Music in Jazz and Contemporary Media as well as Music Education from the Eastman School of Music, where he studied with pianists Harold Danko and Paul Hofmann. He also holds a Masters of Music in Jazz and Contemporary Media from Eastman. Before leaving Rochester to establish himself in New York City, Ziemba won first place in the 2011 Jacksonville Jazz Piano Competition. In New York, he earned an Artist Diploma in Jazz Studies from The Juilliard School, where he studied with pianist Frank Kimbrough, famed for his work as a leader as well as with the Maria Schneider Jazz Orchestra. In 2013 he recorded Chakra with the Ted

Nash Big Band. He has also performed with the Grammy-winning Gil Evans Project, led by Ryan Truesdell. Other highlights of his time in New York include performances with such renowned artists as Kurt Elling, Carl Allen, Marcus Printup, Ron Blake, and Karrin Allyson, among others. In

2016, Ziemba released his debut album, Manhattan Lullaby. The album features his original compositions and arrangements as played by saxophonist Michael Thomas, bassist Hans Glawischnig and drummer Jimmy Macbride. In 2017, Ziemba became the pianist for the Airmen of Note, the premier jazz ensemble of the United States Air Force Band based in Washington, D.C. He continues to regularly perform and record.

Website: https://www.chrisziemba.com

Manhattan Lullaby (debut album): https://tinyurl.com/y252qpum

Mailing list: https://eepurl.com/gDrH2f

For more information, visit www.chrisziemba.com

Pundit was written during the 2016 election as a reflection of political pundits who change their opinions and narratives on a dime.

Gabe Terracciano - violin

Davie Pietro - alto saxophone

Adam Rogers - guitar

Matt Pavolka - bass

Mark Ferber - drums

Originally from Portland, Maine, Gabriel Terracciano is an award winning violinist, composer, and educator.  Classically trained from a young age, Gabe has spent his career focusing on playing the violin in a variety of non-classical genres. He has been a member of the two-time Grammy award winning Turtle Island String Quartet since 2018, and is a member of numerous New York-based groups in addition to leading his own trios and quartets. He has played throughout the United States as well as Internationally, including concerts throughout Ghana as a member of the Ghanaian National Symphony Orchestra, and was the recipient of both third prize at the 2018 Zbigniew Seifert Jazz Violin Competition and first prize at the 2018 Freshgrass Festval Fiddle Contest. He has played, recorded, and/or studied with the likes of John Scofield, Cecil McBee, Tanya Kalmanovitch, Dave Holland, Billy Hart, George Cables, Victor Lewis, Ron McClure, Ari Hoenig, Noah Preminger, Jason Moran, Jerry Bergonzi, and Frank Carlberg. He lives in Brooklyn, New York.

"The Reiki Practitioner" was originally written for quintet and was featured on Jonathan's debut album, "First Vision", which was released at Smalls Jazz Club in New York City for the Blue Truffle Music record label.

What started as a small-group original work was soon adapted for jazz orchestra and would be debuted at the 2009 Carmine Caruso Jazz Trumpet Competition presented by the International Trumpet Guild and premiered by the U.S. Army Blues.

It has since been performed by multi-award winning ensembles such as the Eco-Music Big Band, the Liberte Big Band, the Erica Seguine/Shannon Baker Jazz Orchestra, and most recently, the University of Colorado, Boulder Concert Jazz Ensemble. Venues it has been performed at include The Tea Lounge, Trumpets Jazz Club and The Iridium in New York, as well as Grusin Hall at CU Boulder.

The piece was recently recognized by the International Society of Jazz Arrangers and Composers, which awarded Jonathan a commission to complete a new composition by winter of 2020.

Recorded in April 2019 at Mighty Fine Studios, Denver CO

Engineered by Colin Bricker

Saxophones

Lexi Nomikos

Rhiannon Dewey

Wyatt Wear

Michael Gutierrez

Jake Conway

Trumpets

Jonathan Saraga

Joey Blunk

Erik Ondrejko

Aaron MacGilvray

Sonya Walker

Trombones

Brian Woodbury

Matteo Bassani

Allison Orthel

Bryan Powell

Rhythm Section

Adam Hernandez, guitar

Annie Booth, piano

Leo Arguello, bass

Michael D'Angelo, drums

Rocco Williams, vibes

From John Lake's new album, Seven Angels.

https://johnlakejazz.bandcamp.com/album/seven-angels-2

John Lake - trumpet and composer

Michael Thomas - Alto Saxophone

Paul Jones - Tenor Saxophone

Steven Feifke - Piano

Marcos Varela - Bass

Jeff Davis - Drums

"The record date was about three weeks out, and I knew I needed something fresh, something with a lot of energy. I had the day off from gigs, and I was aching to go outside and take a walk, maybe meet a friend. But I promised myself I would write this new tune today. That sparked a memory of the classic short story of Anton Chekhov, “The Bet,” where two professionals make a wager that one of them can’t stay isolated in a room for a period of so many years. I don’t want to spoil the ending for anyone, but that was the feeling I had. Once I had that inspiration, the song just poured out of me as I was sitting at the Rhodes piano, and then at my computer. It’s one of my favorite songs to play from the record, and it was the first single that we put out."

The third and final (or first and foremost?) track from the newest Cowboys & Frenchmen album, Sweet Moments. This track is about the future. Watch the accompanying video, newly posted, here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iMJCYcMLuR8&list=PLpoChljCRd-TB1gUGVBkDPwqHmJjbxo0t&index=3

After losing our entire 2020 touring and recording schedule, and deeply missing the joys of performing with each other and for our audiences, we decided to record a short album and share it with you. Sweet Moments was recorded remotely from our separate apartments with cell phones, handheld recorders, and many email exchanges. Each song is unique in character, but all are reflections on moments in time, and the way these moments are colored by our emotions. There is one song about the future, one about the present, and one about the past. We hope you enjoy. We are donating half of everything we make on this album to NAACP Legal Defense Fund.

Ethan Helm - alto saxophone, soprano saxophone, flute, alto flute

Owen Broder - alto saxophone, bass clarinet

Addison Frei - piano

Ethan O’Reilly - bass

Matt Honor - drums

All compositions by Ethan Helm

c. 2020 Sagamusic

Mixed and Mastered by Juanma Trujillo.