Regina Bain Regina Bain serves as the Executive Director of the nationally landmarked Louis Armstrong House Museum (LAHM). The Museum promotes the legacy of Louis Armstrong – jazz pioneer and America’s first Black popular music icon. The museum recently opened the new Louis Armstrong Center, a state-of-the-art performance and education space across the street from the historic home. The Center houses a multimedia exhibit curated by Jason Moran, a 75-seat performance space, and the 60,000-piece Armstrong Archives -- the largest of any jazz musician. With new space comes new vision. The Center’s signature programs feature musicians, multi-disciplinary artists and contemporary thinkers as they create innovative performances and new works for both local and global communities. Bain’s ongoing work spans leadership development, artistic excellence and program design with over 20 years of experience building non-profit capacity for organizational growth. Bain is co-chair of Culture @3’s anti-racism working group and recently served on the Yale Board of Governors. Previous to her appointment at LAHM, Ms. Bain served as Associate Vice President of the Posse Foundation -- a national leadership and college access program where she provided oversight for executive directors in all 10 site offices, helmed the Training and Evaluation department, helped expand to new cities, and led the increase in Posse's national student graduation rates for four consecutive years. Ms. Bain is a graduate of Yale University and the Yale School of Drama.

Angélika Beener Angélika Beener is DJ, host, producer, and award-winning journalist. Angélika has contributed her work to TIDAL, The Huffington Post, Downbeat, NPR Music, Jazz at Lincoln Center, and National Public Radio. In addition, she has contributed liner notes to several acclaimed recording projects, including two GRAMMY®-winning albums. A journalist who writes about music and culture at the intersections of race, gender, and generation, her work in public radio was recognized by The Corporation for Public Broadcasting and The New York Association of Black Journalists. Additionally, you can find her name attached to various notable recording projects including Droppin’ Science: Greatest Samples from the Blue Note Lab; Marcus Strickland’s People Of the Sun; and legendary bassist Ron Carter’s Dear Miles. An advocate for gender and racial equity, particularly in the arts, Angélika served as a dedicated member of the Board of Directors for Willie Mae Rock Camp, a nonprofit organization dedicated to empowering girls and gender-expansive youth through music education and mentorship. In 2019, Angélika was Consulting Producer for the award-winning documentary Digging for Weldon Irvine, an unsung father of jazz fusion. As host, Angelika has emceed the Jazz Journalists Association (JJA) Awards three times and in 2021, she co-hosted Jazz Foundation of America’s “Spotlight Jazz” mini gala at City Winery with legendary actor, producer, and activist Danny Glover. In summer of 2023, Angélika emceed the Mutual Mentorship for Musicians event and awards ceremony at the National Jazz Museum in Harlem. Angélika has been a guest panelist for several occasions including Marvin Gaye and the Legacy of What’s Going On: Christian McBride in Conversation, which included fellow panelists Janis Gaye, David Ritz, Nelson George, and Steven Reineke, presented by 92Y. In November 2022, Angélika directed and co-produced Represent! A Night of Hip Hop, Jazz and Spoken Word at New Jersey Performing Arts Center (NJPAC) with NJPAC Jazz Advisor and musical director Christian McBride. The historic program brought these artistic mediums together with an illustrious line-up including Black Thought (The Roots), Speech (Arrested Development), Councilman Dupre “Doitall” Kelly (Lords of the Underground) and legendary poets and spoken word performers Nikki Giovanni, jessica Care moore, Mayor Ras Baraka, and The Last Poets. Angélika is the producer and host of Milestones: Celebrating the Culture, a popular podcast series in partnership with WBGO, where she and special guests thoughtfully examine a curated selection of landmark albums, books, events, and people celebrating milestone anniversaries. As a DJ and music curator, Angélika has performed at several notable NYC venues, including Le Poisson Rouge (LPR), Nublu, Madam X, Time Out New York, Brooklyn’s 2022 Dumbo Drop and Ginny’s Supper Club. She was the featured DJ at Jazz at Lincoln Center’s 2020 Worldwide Concert for Our Culture gala after-party and for The National Jazz Museum in Harlem gala in 2022. Angélika is a New York City native and proud mom.

Lakecia Benjamin 3x Grammy® Nominated and Voted by 2020 Downbeat Critics Poll Rising Star Alto Saxophonist and Up and Coming Artist of the Year by the Jazz Journalists Association, charismatic and dynamic saxophonist Lakecia Benjamin fuses traditional conceptions of Jazz, HipHop, and Soul. In addition to touring with her own band both domestically and internationally in 2023, Lakecia performed in more than 20 cities with the Monterey Jazz Festival All Stars, sharing the front line with Dee Dee Bridgewater, Kurt Elling and the Christian Sands Trio.  She served as the Guest Artistic Director for the Burlington Jazz Festival, presiding over one of the largest audiences in their history.  She served as Artistic Director for the John and Alice Coltrane Jazz Festival in Philadelphia at the University of Pennsylvania and was named Artist in Residence at the 66th Annual Monterey Jazz Festival.  Recently she was named “Jazz Scholar” by the Library of Congress for 2023. Lakecia’s latest CD “Phoenix” produced by Terri Lyne Carrington, garnered 7 magazine covers and a New York Times cover of the Arts and Leisure Section.  The album features Dianne Reeves, Angela Davis, Sonia Sanchez, Patrice Rushen, Georgia Anne Muldrow, and Wayne Shorter.   A streetwise New York City native born and raised in Washington Heights; Lakecia Benjamin first picked up the saxophone at Fiorello LaGuardia High School for the Performing Arts. From there she graduated from the renowned jazz program at New York’s New School University.

Mike Bindraban Mike Bindraban LL.M. (1980) is MD, Creative Director and co-founder of renown international music & arts agency Good Music Company (GMC), project supervisor and strategic advisor at the City of Rotterdam for the Program on Colonial & Slavery History and for the parliaments of The Netherlands, Curacao, Saint Martin and Aruba. He is also member of the Supervisory Board of Rotterdam Festivals, Artistic Director of Mondriaan Jazz Festival (The Hague, NL), Advisor at the Dutch Performing Arts Fund and was invited as special program curator for the 2023 edition of the North Sea Jazz Festival, where he curated the Sounds of Diversity program and created The Diaspora Suite. Mike was also former Head of Program for Festival Jazz International Rotterdam (Rotterdam, NL) and Het Concertgebouw Amsterdam. Mike finished two Masters in Law in 2004 (Criminal Law and International Human Rights Law) after which he worked as an attorney on Saint Maarten (Caribbean), where he grew up as a child from parents from Surinamese/Indian descendants. In 2011 he founded Good Music Company together with his business partner and long-time friend Jurjen Mooiweer and shifted his career towards building his international company and his passion for (jazz) music. Based in Rotterdam (NL), the company represents, manages, books an exclusive roster of internationally acclaimed and award winning artists in (jazz) music in all its progressive and contemporary crossovers. The artist clients they exclusively represent include highly acclaimed, multi-award winning artists like Snarky Puppy, Dawn Richard, The Bad Plus, Makaya McCraven, Nate Smith, Avishai Cohen (t), Brandee Younger, Ben Wendel, Shai Maestro, Mark Guiliana, Erik Truffaz, Matt Johnson (Jamiroquai) & many more. GMC has also worked with a.o., Cory Henry, GoGo Penguin, Cory Wong, Ledisi, Pharoah Sanders, Hermeto Pascoal, Bobby McFerrin, India.Arie & more. Mike works closely together with acclaimed orchestras like the Metropole Orkest, London Contemporary Orchestra, Tokyo Phil, Stockholm Phil & more.

Dee Dee Bridgewater
Over the course of a multifaceted career spanning four decades, Grammy and Tony Award-winning Jazz giant Dee Dee Bridgewater has ascended to the upper echelon of vocalists, putting her unique spin on standards, as well as taking intrepid leaps of faith in re-envisioning jazz classics. A multi-hyphenate polymath and fearless voyager, explorer, pioneer and keeper of tradition, the three-time Grammy-winner most recently won the Grammy for Best Jazz Vocal Album for Eleanora Fagan (1915-1959): To Billie With Love From Dee Dee. Bridgewater’s career has always bridged musical genres. As a Goodwill Ambassador to the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), Bridgewater continues to appeal for international solidarity to finance global grassroots projects in the fight against world hunger. In April 2017, she was the recipient of an NEA Jazz Masters Fellows Award with honors bestowed at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. In December 2017, Bridgewater was presented with the ASCAP Foundation Champions award acknowledging her charitable contributions. In 2018, Bridgewater received the prestigious Doris Duke Artist Award. 2019 brought her induction in the Memphis Music Hall of Fame in recognition of her contributions to music and in celebration of her latest CD, Memphis, Yes...I'm Ready. That same year, Bridgewater launched The Woodshed Network, a non-profit partnership with 651 Arts created to mentor, connect, support, and educate women in Jazz. Bridgewater serves as Artistic Director with lead support by the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation. 2020 found Dee Dee hosting the first virtual NEA Jazz Masters Virtual Tribute Concert. Following the success of the event, in 2021, she again hosted the 2021 Jazz Masters Virtual Tribute Concert, this time alongside venerable actor Delroy Lindo. In 2022, Lindo again joined Bridgewater to host the inaugural Jazz Music Awards. In 2023, Bridgewater oversaw the 4th year of The Woodshed Network program and can be found touring worldwide with her Dee Dee Bridgewater Big Band, Quartet, and in duo with Grammy-winning pianist Bill Charlap.

Susan Brink
Susan Brink lives in upstate New York and is the music director for Jazz Sanctuary on the Hudson Mohawk Radio Network. She serves on the Board of Directors of the Jazz Journalists Association and A Place for Jazz.

Monifa Brown Monifa Brown is a veteran music publicist and radio broadcaster. Her foray into the PR world began interning at Shore Fire Media. She is currently the Vice President of Publicity for renowned independent record label Shanachie Entertainment, where she has spearheaded press efforts for the label’s multi-genre artist roster for the past 22 years. A graduate of Temple University, the Brooklyn native and Music and Art alum, earned a degree in Music Therapy with a concentration in classical voice. It was at Temple, where Brown fell in love with radio and launched her career at WRTI FM. In 2021 Monifa Brown celebrated her 25th Anniversary on-air at WBGO-FM. She can currently be heard weekly hosting “Saturday Evening Jazz.” During her tenure at the station, Brown also served as Assistant and later Associate Producer of the syndicated program “JazzSet with Branford Marsalis.” Her credits also include work at such esteemed organizations as DL Media and George Wein’s Festival Productions. As a freelancer, she has written numerous liner notes and articles for both Essence and Down Beat Magazine, among other outlets, as well as reporting for BET’s “Future Wave” hosted by Herbie Hancock.

Terri Lyne Carrington
NEA Jazz Master and three-time Grammy award-winning drummer, producer, and educator Terri Lyne Carrington started her professional career as a “kid wonder” while studying under a full scholarship at Berklee College of Music in Boston. In the mid 1980s she worked as an in-demand drummer in New York before gaining national recognition on late-night TV as the house drummer for both the Arsenio Hall Show and Quincy Jones’ VIBE TV show. To date Ms. Carrington has performed on over 100 recordings and has toured or recorded with luminary artists such as Al Jarreau, Stan Getz, Woody Shaw, Diana Krall, Cassandra Wilson, Dianne Reeves, James Moody, Yellowjackets, Esperanza Spalding, and many more. Additionally, Ms. Carrington is an honorary doctorate recipient from Berklee and currently serves as Founder and Artistic Director for the Berklee Institute of Jazz and Gender Justice. In 2019 Ms. Carrington was granted the Doris Duke Artist Award, a prestigious acknowledgment in recognition of her past and ongoing contributions to jazz music.

Marysol Cerdeira Marysol's deep love and respect for Latin music and dance motivated her to DJ professionally.  An audiophile and dancer since childhood, Marysol already had an extensive music collection when she ventured out into the male-dominated arena of DJing. Commitment and perseverance gained her tenure and success. As a DJ, Marysol enjoys putting music sets together that please dancers and music lovers alike. She uses this same formula to DJ in nightclubs and events across the country, as well as on the NYC radio airwaves as host, engineer and producer on WFDU 89.1’s “Que Viva La Música. Marysol is proud to have been the only female to host two concurrent on-air Latin music programs on terrestrial radio in New York City, as host/producer of WBAI 99.5fm’s “Montuneando Con Marysol” and WFDU’s “Que Viva La Musica”. As a radio host, Marysol has interviewed a myriad of award-winning legendary Latin music stars, including Eddie Palmieri, Giovanni Hidalgo, Ray Santos, Larry Harlow, Oscar Hernandez and dozens of others. She has MC’d at Lehman Center, SOB’s and other popular NYC venues. In October 2019, Marysol produced the “Abrazo Musical - NY Musician’s Tribute to Cuba’s La Orquesta Aragon” live music event at SOB’s in NYC, honoring the iconic orchestra and paying homage to legendary musicians Pupi Legaretta and Lewis Kahn with live performances by Eddie Palmieri, Tipica 73, Son del Monte, Sweet Plantain and Siglo 20. In March 2020, Marysol was invited by the Caribbean Cultural Center African Diaspora Institute and NY State Assembly as part of an expert panel in Albany, NY to discuss the African influence in Latin music. Marysol maintains an ongoing collaboration with Lincoln Center, the New York International Salsa Congress and the 111th Street Old Timers Stickball and Music Festival in NYC. She prides herself on representing Latina DJs and women in radio, using media and art as tools to empower and restore others.

Larry Clothier Born on a farm in the middle of Kansas and then raised in Colorado, music was always in the forefront of everyday life. Singing, Dancing, Performing. Then the "JAZZ BUG" bit him. After moving to San Francisco in 1962 to go to college and meeting Carmen McRae, Dizzy Gillespie, James Moody, Sarah Vaughan,  Benny Carter, Clothier was then invited to work with & tour the world with them (Sarah Vaughan until a few months before her death in 1990, and Carmen McRae, right up until her death in 1994). He then worked for 30 years with Roy Hargrove until his passing in 2018. Clothier continues to work with the wonderful vocalist, Roberta Gambarini.

Pedro Cravinho Dr. Cravinho got a music education on classical double bass and studied jazz (electric bass and double bass) before starting a career as a freelance bassist and educator. After taking a degree in Musicology (BMus) and a PhD in Ethnomusicology/Jazz Studies, became a full-time researcher. Cravinho is a Senior Research Fellow at Birmingham Centre for Media and Cultural Research, and the Keeper of the Archives at the Faculty of Arts, Design & Media. He researches and writes about jazz, media, and archives, with primary focus on the twentieth-century jazz diaspora social, political, and musical history.

Mary Foster Conklin
Praised as “a potent advocate for women in jazz,” NYC-based Mary Foster Conklin hosts a weekly radio show called “A Broad Spectrum – the Ladies of Jazz” celebrating women composers and lyricists on WFDU 89.1 FM based at Fairleigh Dickinson University in Teaneck, New Jersey, streaming on the HD2 Channel at http://www.wfdu.fm.  As a vocalist, she is a master storyteller with an affinity for uncovering hidden gems deserving attention. Her fifth and most recent recording, These Precious Days (MockTurtle Music), was praised as “a treasure” by JAZZLIVES and “A winning new collection of songs… by a vocalist equally effective on suspects usual and otherwise,” JAZZTIMES.  www.maryfosterconklin.com  

Adriana P. Cuervo Adriana Cuervo has been the Head of Archival Collections and Services at the John Cotton Dana Library at Rutgers University – Newark since January of 2019. She is responsible for the day-to-day operations of the Institute of Jazz Studies—the largest and most comprehensive jazz research facility in the world—as well as the newly established Rutgers Newark Archives, a collection of materials documenting the history of Rutgers–Newark as an anchor institution in its host city.

Ian Davis Ian Davis is a creative powerhouse who honed his skills at some of the world's top advertising agencies, including Wieden + Kennedy and McCann Erickson. With a passion for helping creatives and excellence, he took his deep understanding of the creative process, leveraged that expertise and established a unique platform that empowers emerging and award-winning talents to achieve their full potential, through his consultancy, Age of The Creative.  But Ian's passion to serve doesn't stop there - he is also an IMTA certified mindfulness and meditation teacher, providing creatives with the tools and resources they need to integrate consistent mindful practices into their daily lives and creative processes. He's a game-changer, and his focus on delivering results with a mindful approach has put him at the forefront of the industry's most respected leaders

Lonnie Davis Born in Landstuhl, Germany, Davis has proud 300-year-old Louisiana Creole roots in her home of New Orleans. Following Hurricane Katrina, Davis and her family relocated to Charlotte, NC, where she became President/CEO and Co-founder of the 501(c)3 education and presenting organization, JazzArts Charlotte (JazzArts). Davis began studying music at an early age and had the privilege of attending Louisiana’s prestigious arts conservatory, NOCCA (New Orleans Center for the Creative Arts), and the University of New Orleans under the direction of Ellis Marsalis, where her passion for jazz was cultivated. Davis has a B.A. in Psychology with a minor in music and additional graduate work in Urban and Regional Planning. She is a flutist, arts advocate, and community leader, currently serving on numerous committees and Boards. These positions include volunteer leadership roles with both Arts NC and the National Association for Music Educators (NAfME), as well as Jazz Education Network (JEN) where she serves as current Board President.  Davis has led the development of a thriving jazz audience in Charlotte, NC, cultivating enrichment in the lives of many and the transformation of the city’s culture through her vision and work at JazzArts, now recognized as having the region’s “most diverse arts audience” in a recent research study. Under her leadership, JazzArts now operates with budget of over $1 million annually and serves thousands of students of all ages and audience members each year through various educational and performance-based programs and partnerships. Lonnie has been recognized for her work in the arts community locally and nationally. Southern Living Magazine listed Lonnie in the top “50 People Who Are Changing the South”. Davis was also featured by BELK, Inc. for their Modern Southern Music Campaign, reaching over 5 million readers nationwide and on Lucky Brand displays in Belk department across the country. Davis has been recognized in many publications and the recipient of numerous awards over the past decade, including the Jazz Journalists Association “Jazz Heroes Award.”

Simon Dixon Dr. Dixon is the Director of the UKRI Centre for Doctoral Training in Artificial Intelligence and Music, Queen Mary University of London, UK. His research interests are in the fields of music information retrieval, artificial intelligence, computer music, music signal processing, digital audio and music cognition. He is also an accomplished and classically trained guitarist with degrees from the Sydney Conservatory of Music.

Ken Druker Ken Druker has been professionally involved in jazz for over 35 years as a record executive, educator, presenter and radio host. Most recently, he produced “Evenings At The Village Gate: John Coltrane with Eric Dolphy” and worked with Samara Joy on her Grammy-winning album “Linger Awhile”. He is currently Senior Vice President, Jazz Development at the Verve Label Group where, among other things, he oversees a vast catalog that includes the historic Verve, Impulse, Mercury, Decca, Commodore and Argo/Cadet labels.

Keanna Faircloth Since 2003, Keanna Faircloth has worked as a radio personality, writer, and artist advocate. From 2019-2022, she served as the host of Afternoon Jazz on WBGO 88.3 FM in Newark, NJ. While at WBGO, Keanna created and produced the widely acclaimed interview series, The Pulse. Most recently, she has signed on with Yamaha as the Artist Relations Coordinator for jazz and classical piano. Keanna got her start in jazz radio during her Sophomore at Howard University as an intern at WPFW, where she quickly became a regular on-air host. She would remain a fixture on the air there for 16 years. In 2018, she created the podcast Artimacy where she has interviewed artists like Robert Glasper, Dionne Warwick, Wynton Marsalis, Melba Moore, and countless others. The culmination of her radio work led to being named a “Future African American Leader in Radio” by Radio Ink Magazine in 2019. She has amassed literally hundreds of interviews and hosts festivals both nationally and internationally-- from the DC Jazz Festival to the NYC Winter JazzFest, to JazzFest Berlin. Keanna has been featured in national publications, and has been published by WBGO, WRTI, The New York Times, and NPR Music. She is also a contributor on NPR’s New Music Friday edition of All Songs Considered, and a music contributor on NPR’s Here and Now.

Jon Fine Jon Fine is a filmmaker and musician. His work has taken him around the globe, filming Carlos Santana’s Peace Tour throughout Japan, Chaka Khan’s trip to India with MLK III, UNESCO's historic Jazz Day celebration in Cuba with Will Smith and Quincy Jones, and rap legend Andre 3000’s excursion into US politics. He spent a year on the road with Herbie Hancock & Wayne Shorter for “Possibilities" and went deep inside of the coal mines of Slab Fork, West Virginia for “Still Bill”, the award-winning feature he produced, shot and edited about Bill Withers.  His footage of mass arrests during the 2004 Republican National Convention became integral to “The Afterparty” a film he produced, catalyzing a landmark lawsuit for journalist's rights. He executive produced “River of Gold” about illegal gold mining and has been nominated for Emmy's for his work as editor of “Matthew Whitaker: About Tomorrow” and as composer for “The Office of Missing Children.” In his work in advertising from 2010–2017, he was lead editor in Apple’s notoriously secretive Media Arts Lab cutting dozens of their iconic launch films.  He’s created campaigns for UNICEF, Peace Corps, Rainforest Alliance, Amazon Aid and (RED).  He's consulted with Google’s Empathy Lab on a series exploring AI, edited a 200-screen installation for the 2015 World Expo and has directed 10 years of UNESCO's historic International Jazz Day concerts.  As a musician, Jon’s played with NYC afrobeat band Antibalas, produced a song with legendary singer Angelique Kidjo, and created "Holy Forest” an acclaimed album featuring collaborations with artists from the US, Senegal & The Gambia.  Now living in upstate NY, Jon’s finishing up editing the upcoming Neon documentary “Seeking Mavis Beacon’ and diving into post-production on "Optimistic Chaos" about Wayne Shorter & Esperanza Spalding's opera ‘iphigenia

Madelyn Gardner Madelyn Gardner, a passionate individual from New Jersey, now calls Brooklyn, NY, home. Graduating with an English Communications degree from Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts in 2013, Madelyn's journey led her to thrive in the arts. With a background in performance, marketing, and arts management, she spent 4 impactful years as a Marketing Manager & Publicist at Berkshire Theatre Group in Western Massachusetts, contributing to the success of two Broadway show transfers. Currently, Madelyn serves as the Assistant Director of PR & External Communications at Jazz at Lincoln Center, where she has worked for the past 5 years showcasing her dedication to the vibrant world of performing arts.

Vincent Gardner Vincent Gardner, raised in Hampton, Virginia, was born in Chicago in 1972. After much early musical exposure singing and playing piano, violin, saxophone, and French horn, he ultimately decided to pursue the trombone at the age of 12. Vincent attended Florida A&M University and the University of North Florida where he majored in jazz studies and graduated in 1996.  He earned his master's degree in jazz history and research from Rutgers University in 2013.  While at Florida A&M, he caught the ear of Mercer Ellington, who hired Gardner for his first professional job. After college, he moved to Brooklyn, New York.  One of his first jobs was a world tour with Lauryn Hill, then in 2000, he joined the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra. Vincent has served as instructor at The Juilliard School, as visiting instructor at Florida State and Michigan State universities, and as adjunct instructor at The New School. Most recently he completed a four-year tenure as Trombone Instructor at Northwestern University. An accomplished composer and arranger, he has contributed many arrangements to the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra and other ensembles.  In 2009, he was commissioned by Jazz at Lincoln Center to compose “The Jesse B. Semple Suite,” a 60-minute piece inspired by the short stories of Langston Hughes. Vincent is featured on a number of notable recordings and has recorded five CDs as a bandleader for Steeplechase Records. He has performed with The Duke Ellington Orchestra, Bobby McFerrin, Harry Connick, Jr., The Saturday Night Live Band, Chaka Khan, A Tribe Called Quest, and many others. He remains a member of the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra and is the founding Artistic and Education Director of Jazz Houston.

Stefon Harris Stefon Harris is a Grammy-nominated jazz vibraphonist, educator, app developer, and thought leader. He has been heralded as “one of the most important artists in jazz” (Los Angeles Times) and is a recipient of the prestigious Doris Duke Artist Award and the Martin E. Segal Award from Lincoln Center. He has been named Best Mallet Player eight times by the Jazz Journalist Association and Best Vibes Player in DownBeat Magazine’s Critics Poll. Harris currently tours with his Grammy-nominated band, Blackout, and has released eleven albums as a leader. He has also recorded and performed with The Classical Jazz Quartet, Kenny Barron, Ron Carter, Lewis Nash, the SFJAZZ Collective, Joe Henderson, Wynton Marsalis, Milt Jackson, Lionel Hampton, Herbie Hancock, Wayne Shorter, Bobby Hutcherson, Cassandra Wilson, Diana Krall, Max Roach, Chaka Khan, Kurt Elling, Buster Williams, Dianne Reeves, Common, and Pablo Zeigler. Along with performing, Harris has taught at universities throughout the world, led curriculum development at the Brubeck Institute, served as a part of the jazz faculty at New York University for a decade, and formerly served as the Associate Dean and Director of Jazz Arts at Manhattan School of Music. He is currently Artistic Director of Jazz Education at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center (NJPAC) and is an Associate Professor of Music at Rutgers University – Newark. As a thought leader, Harris leads transformative presentations on corporate leadership and team empowerment for Fortune 100 companies using jazz as a metaphor. His 2012 TED Talk, “There Are No Mistakes on the Bandstand,” has gained nearly 900,000 views. In 2013, he co-founded The Melodic Progression Institute (MPI) and created an ear training app called Harmony Cloud which is widely used by musicians across multiple genres.

Ian Hendrickson-Smith New York City based saxophonist and flutist Ian Hendrickson-Smith is mostly noted for his remarkable tone, soulful approach and blues driven melodies. Equally adept on all the saxophones, Ian stays very busy doing what he loves and loves staying busy! Currently you can find Ian playing on the road with The Roots or on The Tonight Show starring Jimmy Fallon. Hendrickson-Smith’s extensive recording experience includes the release of twelve jazz records as a leader. His most recent, The Lowdown topped out at #7 on the national jazz charts. In May of 2023 Ian opened a live music venue in Brewster, NY named "Uncle Cheef" (his stage moniker). With 100 seats, a full kitchen and bar service the club is NYC jazz artist leaning but additionally presents some local blues and singer songwriter talent. Hendrickson-Smith has worked and/or recorded with: Dr Lonnie Smith, Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings, Amy Winehouse, Mark Ronson, Al Green, Lady Gaga, Ed Sheeran, Rufus Wainright, The Roots, Bob Dylan, Celine Dion, Phish, Mofro, Queen Latifah, Robbie Williams, Boyz 2 Men, St Vincent, The Heavy, Michael Buble, The Charles Mingus Big Band Workshop, Phillip Harper, Etta Jones, David Hazeltine, Lee Fields, Sturgill Simpson and more.

Conrad Herwig New York jazz trombonist Conrad Herwig has recorded 28 albums as a leader, receiving four Grammy nominations. He has also been voted #1 Jazz Trombonist  three times in the  DownBeat “Jazz Critic’s Poll.” and nominated for “Trombonist of the Year” by the Jazz Journalists Association on numerous occasions. In constant demand as a sideman, Herwig has performed with Joe Henderson, Horace Silver, McCoy Tyner, and Joe Lovano (featured as a soloist on Lovano’s GRAMMY Award winning 52nd St. Themes CD). In the Afro-Caribbean genre he has toured with legends such as Eddie Palmieri, Tito Puente, Paquito D'Rivera, and Michel Camilo. He is a longtime member of the the Mingus Big Band (where he has served as musical director and arranger including on the 2011 GRAMMY- winning Live at the Jazz Standard CD). In other big band settings Herwig has also performed and/or recorded with Clark Terry, Buddy Rich, Frank Sinatra, Miles Davis & Quincy Jones, and the Gil Evans Orchestra. All told Herwig has appeared on more than 200 albums in what is now a 40-plus-year career. Conrad Herwig performs exclusively on Michael Rath Trombones, England.

Willard Jenkins Willard Jenkins serves as Artistic Director of the DC Jazz Festival. A graduate of Kent State University, Willard has served in many capacities within the academic, arts, media and entertainment industries acting as a consultant, arts administrator, artistic director, writer, journalist, broadcaster, educator and oral historian. Willard has served as artistic director of the Tri-C JazzFest (Cleveland, OH), the BeanTown Jazz Festival (Boston, MA), Tribeca Performing Arts Center (New York, NY), and as artistic consultant to the Mid-Atlantic Jazz Festival (MD), 651 Arts (Brooklyn, NY), Harlem Stage/Aaron Davis Hall (New York, NY) and the Smithsonian Institution (Washington, DC). As a jazz educator, he has taught history courses at Kent State University and Cleveland State University. He served as the executive director for the National Jazz Service Organization and as an administrator for Arts Midwest and the Great Lakes Arts Alliance. Willard is an experienced broadcaster having served as program host and producer at WPFW-FM (Washington, DC), WWOZ-FM (New Orleans, LA), KFAI-FM (Minneapolis, MN), XM Satellite Radio and BET. He is a skilled interviewer having conducted in-depth oral history interviews for the Smithsonian Institution, the Rhythm and Blues Foundation and the Weeksville Heritage Center. Willard is the author of the 2010 book African Rhythms, the autobiography of NEA Jazz Master Randy Weston. In addition, he continues to be a prolific and sought-after writer and journalist, having contributed chapters to several books, written a series of how-to technical assistance books for the jazz community, and contributed articles to numerous local, national and international publications, including daily newspapers and periodic journals, and publishes the blog Independent Ear on his site: www.openskyjazz.com. He was recently named recipient of the 2024 NEA Jazz Masters A.B. Spellman award for Advocacy.  He lives in Rockville, Maryland with his wife Suzan Jenkins, who serves as CEO of the Arts and Humanities Council of Montgomery County.

Kevin Jiang Kevin Jiang is a software engineer and musician working at the intersection of art and artificial intelligence. He graduated from Columbia University, where he studied Computer Science while immersing himself in the New York jazz scene. An alum of Jazz at Lincoln Center’s Essentially Ellington program, his musical identity was profoundly shaped by mentors such as Julius Tolentino and Vincent Gardner. Most recently, he has collaborated with Stefon Harris on Harmony Cloud, building a live-performance adaptation of the software and modernizing the mobile app for today’s AI-driven era.

Harold Jones Harold Jones is a classic American jazz drummer, born in Richmond, Indiana on February 27, 1940. He has lived in Chicago, New York City, and Los Angeles. Harold recorded on the first jazz album to sell 1 million records, Exodus to Jazz, in 1961. He performed in the first jazz band at the White House with the Paul Winter Sextet for John F. Kennedy in 1962. He is the first big band drummer to win the DownBeat International Critics “New Star” Poll in 1972. Harold is the drummer on 13 Grammy award-winning albums. He has traveled internationally with Count Basie, Tony Bennett, Ella Fitzgerald, Sarah Vaughan, Natalie Cole, Ray Charles, B.B. King, Lady Gaga, Benny Carter, Gene Harris, Nancy Wilson, Carmen McRae, Paul Winter, Eddie Harris, and many more. You can learn more about Harold in his book, The Singer’s Drummer. Harold currently lives in Marin County, CA with his wife Denise and enjoys golfing in his free time.

Karen Kennedy Karen Kennedy, is the owner and President of 24/Seven Artist Development, a leading artist management firm founded in1992 that has successfully guided the careers of award-winning international jazz artists. Ms. Kennedy began her marketing career at A&M Records where she launched the Y.E.S. To Jobs national internship program and later became President of Perspective Records and Product Manager at Silas/MCA Records. She previously was Director of the Southern California Environmental Internship Program, and held various college administrative and teaching positions at Pitzer College, Loyola Marymount University and University of Southern California. She has taught the music business courses at The Julliard School, Manhattan School of Music and is a returning lecturer at the Herbie Hancock Institute of Jazz in Los Angeles. Karen is the current President of North American Performing Arts Managers & Agents (NAPAMA) and has served on the Board of Advisors to Jazz Congress at Jazz at Lincoln Center, the Board of Directors of YES TO JOBS and the International Association of African-American Music (IAAAM). She is a Mentor in several arts programs including Women of Color in the Arts (WOCA), Next Jazz Legacy and The Woodshed Project. She holds a B.A. in Psychology from UCLA, a M.A. in Counseling and College Administration from the University of Southern California and is a Ph.D. candidate in Higher Education at UCLA.

Philip Klint Philip Klint is an Emmy Award-winning journalist who helped launch NY1 Noticias in 2003. During his tenure, he has covered the funeral for Celia Cruz, the Yankees season opener in Tokyo, Pope Benedict XVI’s visit to New York, the 2010 earthquake in Haiti and 5 presidential elections. For many years he hosted a weekly arts segment, interviewing and profiling artists and writers such as Rubén Blades, Chucho Valdés, Paquito D'Rivera, Gilberto Santa Rosa, Alvaro Enrigue, Elena Poniatowska and many others. He also contributed to the VIVA section of the Daily News and has written pieces on Os Mutantes, Quiara Alegría Hudes, Lila Downs and the Ice Hockey in Harlem program. He received an MA from Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism in 1994. As an undergraduate, Klint studied International Relations and Latin American politics at York University in Toronto, where he hosted Ondas Latinas – one of the first Latino radio programs in the city. Klint was born in the Netherlands and has also lived in Brazil, Mexico, Indonesia and Canada. 

Derrick Lucas As Host and Music Director of WGMC JAZZ 90.1, Derrick Lucas is on the air more than 40 hours a week and handles the station's sales, social media and marketing. Lucas is a three-time Jazzweek Programmer of The Year and a contributor to NPR and Gannett newspapers. Now armed with mobile devices and smart speakers our listeners and followers can and do connect with us over the airwaves, online, or on social media at any time they like. Truly, the sun never sets on the jazz empire. The challenge is that everyday we must build on that empire. That is done by what we say, play, write, promote and post about how this music brings us together, which is more important than ever.

Nduduzo Makhathini Nduduzo Makhathini grew up in the lush and rugged hillscapes of umGungundlovu in South Africa, a peri-urban landscape in which music and ritual practices were symbiotically linked. Active as an educator and researcher, Makhathini is the head of the music department at Fort Hare University in the Eastern Cape. He has performed at renowned festivals including the Cape Town International Jazz Festival and the Essence Festival (in both New Orleans and South Africa), and in 2019 made his debut appearances the Blue Note Jazz Club in New York City, as well as Jazz at Lincoln Center where he was a featured guest with Wynton Marsalis and the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra on their 3-night musical celebration, The South African Songbook, in Rose Theater. He is a member of Shabaka Hutchings’ band Shabaka and the Ancestors appearing on their 2016 album Wisdom of Elders, and has also collaborated with artists including Logan Richardson, Nasheet Waits, Tarus Mateen, Stefon Harris, Billy Harper, Azar Lawrence, and Ernest Dawkins. In addition to producing albums for his peers (such as Thandiswa Mazwai’s Belede and Tumi Mogorosi’s Project Elo), Makhathini has released eight albums of his own since 2014 when he founded the label Gundu Entertainment in partnership with his wife and vocalist Omagugu Makhathini. Those albums earned him multiple awards and include Sketches of Tomorrow (2014). Mother Tongue (2014). Listening to the Ground (2015), Matunda Ya Kwanza (2015); Icilongo: The African Peace Suite (2016) Inner Dimensions (2016), and Reflections (2016). His 2017 album Ikhambi was the first to be released on Universal Music South Africa and won Best Jazz Album at the South African Music Awards (SAMA) in 2018. His Blue Note debut Modes of Communication: Letters from the Underworlds was released in 2020 to wide critical acclaim earning many end of the year “Best Of” lists.

René Marie
In a career spanning two decades, 11 recordings, and countless stage performances, vocalist René Marie has cemented her reputation as not only a singer but also a composer, arranger, theatrical performer, and teacher. Guided and tempered by powerful life lessons and rooted in jazz traditions laid down by Ella Fitzgerald, Dinah Washington, and other leading ladies of past generations, she borrows various elements of folk, R&B, and even classical and country to create a captivating hybrid style. Her body of work is musical, but it’s more than just music. It’s an exploration of the bright and dark corners of the human experience, and an affirmation of the power of the human spirit.

Tatiana “LadyMay” Mayfield Tatiana “LadyMay” Mayfield is a jazz/soul vocalist, musician, composer, and educator from Fort Worth, Texas. LadyMay has performed in various venues and festivals throughout the U.S. and abroad, which have earned her rave reviews from listeners and musicians in addition to numerous awards. In 2023, LadyMay was named as an awardee for the “Next Jazz Legacy” grant program created by NEA Jazz Master, Terri Lyne Carrington in partnership with the Berklee Institute of Jazz and Gender Justice and New Music USA with funding from the Mellon Foundation. Through this program, she has been mentored by pianist/vocalist/composer Patrice Rushen and jazz/soul harpist/composer Brandee Younger. Other highlights of her career include performing on NPR’s “Tiny Desk” series with Brandee Younger, performing with the Cincinnati POPS Orchestra and other orchestras around the country, having a number one song on the UK Soul Chart, performing and teaching in Zhuhai, China, and being the first woman and African American person to receive a M.M. in Jazz Composition from the University of Texas in Arlington. LadyMay has recorded three albums, From All Directions (2009), A Portrait Of LadyMay (2012), and The Next Chapter (2018). She has also provided vocals in various styles for several artists’ albums, television shows, and films. As an educator, Mayfield is the Assistant Professor of Contemporary Popular Music in the Lamont School of Music at the University of Denver.

Katherine McVicker
Katherine McVicker is a well-established professional in the music industry. She has launched the touring careers of several artists including Norah Jones, developing Jones’ European profile for 7 years. After three decades in the music industry as an agent developing the touring careers for dozens of internationally renowned jazz and world artists alive today, Katherine founded boutique agency Music Works International (MWI) in 2014. Today, with agents based in Europe, the United States, and Latin America, MWI books over 500 performances each year worldwide and represents over 40 of the top jazz, Americana, and world music artists performing today. 

Mark G. Meadows Mark G. Meadows is an award-winning pianist, vocalist and composer. With jazz as his foundation, Meadows seamlessly blends R&B, Pop, Soul, and Folk to create a distinctly unique and uplifting sound and a sense of freedom among his collaborators. The son of a gospel and jazz vocalist, Mark G. Meadows began his musical odyssey at the age of three with the gift of a toy keyboard. At age five, he started formal piano lessons under the tutelage of renowned Russian classical pianist and pedagogue Rosalie LeVant. Then, at age 13, he expanded his training to include jazz piano with the equally renowned Julie Bonk. You can hear Mark’s genius in his 5 self-produced albums, Be the Change (2019), To the People (2016), Somethin’ Good (2014), and A Child is Born (2008). His latest album (September 2023), Only Time, is his most personal work to date. Drawing heavily on his jazz roots, Meadows seamlessly blends R&B, Pop, Soul, and Folk to reveal the raw human terrain of navigating the pandemic lockdown - and life itself. He has performed alongside world-renowned artists such as Cynthia Erivo, Renee Fleming, Dee Dee Bridgewater, Bobby McFerrin, Terence Blanchard, Kurt Elling, and Warren Wolf. He has headlined at premier venues including Jazz at Lincoln Center, Blues Alley, and The Kennedy Center. Meadows is the 2023 recipient of the Helen Hayes Award for Best Musical Direction (The Color Purple, Signature Theater); the 2016 Washington City Paper “Best Composer” and “Recording of the Year; ” 2016 “2nd Best DC Jazz Album” from CapitalBop; 2016; and Washington City Paper’s 2014 “Artist of the Year” and “Composer of the Year” awards. DownBeat Magazine twice awarded Meadows honors for his work, first in 2007, dubbing his song Groovalicious “2nd Best Pop Rock Composition in North America.” In 2008, Downbeat named his performance of In The Groove “Best Pop Rock Solo in North America.” Mark currently serves as Associate Music Director and keyboardist for “The Outsiders,” set for Broadway March 2024. 

Haftor Medboe Dr. Medboe is a professor of music at and founder of the Scottish Jazz Archives, Edinburgh Napier University, UK. Prior to being appointed full-time lecturer at Edinburgh Napier in 2008, Haftor enjoyed a twenty-year career in the music industries as a composer for film, television, theatre and contemporary dance for, amongst others, Channel 4, ITV, Tern TV, Scottish Ballet and Scottish Dance Theatre. Haftor remains active as a musician and composer on the international jazz circuit having released numerous albums with his eponymous group and together with other international musical collaborators. Haftor tours extensively in the UK and abroad and runs his own record label, Copperfly.

Chris Mees Chris Mees's journey to becoming one of the jazz world’s leading influencers began with a career as a bassist through which Chris shared stages with acclaimed musicians like Geri Allen, Jimmy Cobb, Billy Hart, and Sullivan Fortner, to name a few. After five years of performing in NYC, Chris was introduced to Pat Philips of Strata Phillips Productions. This was the beginning of his work in production and project management. Soon thereafter, Chris was hired to assist Seth Abramson, artistic director of Jazz Standard. After two years of running the daily operations and presenting top-level artists seven nights a week in NYC, Chris decided he was ready to venture out on his own. In 2014, Chris founded B Natural Management, Inc and became director of Management & Booking at  J. Chriss & Company, a New York-based booking agency recognized for over 30 years of representing internationally acclaimed jazz artists. In 2017 Chris rebranded his company and visibly launched B Natural, Inc which is a premiere artist booking agency in NYC. B Natural artists can be found on main stages and festivals around the world. Chris serves as an agent of change in the music industry and is highly sought after as a consultant. A native of Cody, Wyoming, Chris attended Oberlin Conservatory on a Wendell Logan Scholarship, which earned him a B. Mus. in Bass Performance/Jazz Studies. 

Ed Morales Ed Morales is an author and journalist who writes for The Nation, The New York Times, and CNN Opinions. He was Latin Music columnist for Newsday from 2001-2009 and is the author of Fantasy Island (Bold Type Books) Latinx: The New Force in Politics and Culture (Verso Books), and The Latin Beat: The Rhythm and Roots of Latin Music From Bossa Nova to Salsa and Beyond (Da Capo/Basic Books). He is a lecturer at Columbia University’s Center for the Study of Ethnicity and Race and a Mellon Foundation Fellow at the Center for Puerto Rican Studies.

China Moses Singer, songwriter and producer China Moses evolves her artistry in truth. Defiantly real, her music resists what so many labels and critics desire: category, drawing inspiration from endless styles in the expansive lineage of Black American music. And listeners fortunate to observe her in live performance know the depth of her song interpretation.  She has issued seven leader releases and, in 2008, founded her own production company MadeInChina, home to her most recent leader releases This One’s for Dinah (2009), Crazy Blues (2012), Nightintales (2017) and & the Vibe Tribe EP (2021).  Provocative as her musical experiences, China’s broadcasting resumé currently features host-producer positions at celebrated radio shows “Made in China” on TSF Jazz (France) and “Late Night with China Moses” On Jazz FM (UK). She’s one of few women of color to host multiple radio shows across European and UK airwaves. Daughter of legendary activist and director Gilbert Moses III and internationally acclaimed musician Dee Dee Bridgewater, China understands the music and its surrounding culture from the inside out. The Los Angeles-born artist turned life-long Parisian has performed all over the world and appeared on international television and film projects, including cult episode of “Moesha”: Songs in the Key of Strife, Julie Delpy’s “Lolo,” “The Princess and the Frog” (VO in French), Aurore Aubin’s “Sammy by Sammy” (VO) and “The Lion King 2019 The Circle of Life” (VO in French). China’s theatre credits include “Sally Bowles” in Cabaret and “Billie Holiday” in Cafe Society Swing. A global artist and citizen, China has performed in more than 800 shows across six continents in the past 12 years. China’s commitment to authentic representation and inclusive perspectives has garnered critical acclaim and peer acknowledgment. She’s a member of the 2013 Young Leader graduating class of the French American Foundation, in 2023 she was knighted in the French National Order of Merit and holds the title Knight of St Emillion & Bergerac. She has lent her expertise as a mentor at the 2020 Montreux Jazz Academy and the 2023 MIDEM, she is the on committee of the Villa Albertine. She is also the co-founder and artistic director of the Tahiti Soul Jazz Festival & and founder and artistic director of the Paris Soul Fest, dedicated to the homegrown French soul scene. Moses’ new album “it’s complicated...” co-produced with Troy Miller is due later 2024.

Arturo O’Farrill Arturo O’Farrill, a pianist, composer, and educator, was born in Mexico and grew up in New York City. Arturo’s professional career began with the Carla Bley Band and continued as a solo performer with a wide spectrum of artists including Dizzy Gillespie, Lester Bowie, Wynton Marsalis, and Harry Belafonte. In 2007, he founded the Afro Latin Jazz Alliance as a not-for-profit organization dedicated to the performance, education, and preservation of Afro Latin music.  An avid supporter of all the Arts, Arturo has performed with Ballet Hispanico, Ron Brown’s EVIDENCE Dance company, and the Malpaso Dance Company, for whom he has written several ballets.  Arturo’s well-reviewed and highly praised “Afro-Latin Jazz Suite” from the album CUBA: The Conversation Continues (Motéma) took the 2016 Grammy Award for Best Instrumental Composition as well as the 2016 Latin Grammy for Best Latin Jazz Recording. In addition, his composition “Three Revolutions” from the album Familia-Tribute to Chico and Bebo also received the Best Instrumental Composition Grammy in 2018. Arturo’s album, “Fandango at the Wall in New York” won yet another Grammy award in 2023. Arturo has been a Steinway Artist for many years and is a Blue Note Records Recording Artist.

Paul Pace Ronnie Scott's has remained a central constant in Paul's lifelong love affair with jazz. He first visited the club to see the seemingly effortlessly swinging US tenor sax legend Zoot Sims in 1972. Since then, Paul has experienced a countless number of astonishing performances there from the likes of Stephane Grappelli, Dizzy Gillespie, Bill Evans, Roland Kirk, Freddie Hubbard, Machito, Woody Shaw, Nina Simone, Stan Getz, Art Blakey, Buddy Rich, Horace Silver, Oscar Peterson, Anita O'Day and of course on many occasions the guv'nor himself Ronnie Scott - his jokes as well as his storming quintet. Over the past 15 years, Paul has made focused efforts to present European jazz in London particularly collaborations with Norwegian, Czech, Latvian and Dutch-based musicians and is keen to further links with the vibrant global scene as well as the currently burgeoning UK scene. Paul sat on the judging panel of the international Riga Jazz Stage contest for 10 consecutive years and visits overseas festivals regularly. Before joining the Ronnie's music bookings team in 2009, Paul worked in architecture and illustration, but the pull of the music was so powerful that as a jazz fan and semi-pro singer he became more involved with live jazz promotion, particularly his longstanding residency at the Spice of Life, Soho (25 years). He also possesses extensive experience in specialist record retail (9 years at Ray's Jazz), is an avid collector and unwavering champion of the music. In 2008 he received the All-Party Parliamentary Award for Services to Jazz.

Patricia Zarate Perez Saxophonist and Music Therapist Patricia Zarate Perez teaches Global Jazz and Social Activism and advises Master Students at Berklee College of Music's Global Jazz Institute. Her latest publications include the book on the complex relationship between the United States and Panama through the study of jazz history, Reimagining Panama's Musical and Cultural Narratives of Jazz: Panamanian Suite (Lexington Books). Other writings include the publication about how music helps with gender transition seen from a music therapist/performer perspective and co-written with Berklee Global Jazz Institute alumni Wenjun Wu, Invisible Silence, Loud Music: The Transmusical Journey of a Jazz Musician (Oxford Handbook for Queer and Trans Music Therapy). Patricia Zarate has studied with Jerry Bergonzi and Jackie McLean, and her life has been profoundly influenced by Wayne Shorter (via her husband, pianist Danilo Perez). She has advocated for music therapy in Latin America for over 25 years and has founded the Latin American Music Therapy Symposium and Music Therapy Centers in Panama, Chile, and Boston. She serves as president of the Association of Music Therapy of Panama (APAMU) and vice president of the Music Therapy Committee for Latin America (CLAM). She currently works as Executive Director of the Panama Jazz Festival, Founder and Director of the Global Jazz Club (Boston), and tours worldwide with her bands Global Jazz Womxn and Las Hijas del Jazz Orquestra.

Matt Pierson Award-winning producer/executive Matt Pierson’s discography reads as an overview of the best that contemporary jazz has to offer, including the likes of Samara Joy, Brad Mehldau, Joshua Redman, Pat Metheny, Bob James, Kirk Whalum, and countless others. As an executive, Matt led Blue Note’s marketing and A&R departments before being called on by industry legend Mo Ostin to run Jazz A&R for Warner Bros. Records. He signed and in most cases produced a roster of heavyweights, eventually being elevated to Executive VP/GM for the label while making Warner an industry leader, garnering dozens of Grammys and countless #1 singles and albums.

Al Pryor Al Pryor is a veteran Producer, Record Executive and Broadcaster. His career has included stints at Sony Music, Gramavision Records, Blue Jackel Entertainment, the Mack Avenue Music Group, and with Harry Belafonte at Belafonte Enterprises. During his time with Belafonte, Pryor co-produced a box set, The Long Road To Freedom, tracing the history of African American music. Pryor has worked with other veteran artists from Horace Silver, Joe Zawinul, Nancy Wilson, and gospel singer Tramaine Hawkins to more recent stars producing records for Sean Jones, Danilo Perez, Tia Fuller, Aaron Diehl, and most notably three-time Grammy winning vocalist Cécile McLorin Salvant.  Pryor’s connection to the tri-state NY/NJ/CT area and the nation-wide public broadcasting audience is deeply rooted in his work as the founding music and program director; building the all-jazz format of WBGO. 

Kenny Rampton Kenny Rampton joined the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra in 2010. In addition to performing in the JLCO, Rampton leads his own projects. He released his debut leader record Moon Over Babylon in 2013. Rampton also serves as the trumpet voice for the popular PBS TV series Sesame Street. In the summer of 2010, Rampton performed with the Scottish National Jazz Orchestra at the Edinburgh International Festival and was the featured soloist on the Miles Davis/Gil Evans classic version of Porgy and Bess. Rampton has been a regular member of the Mingus Big Band/Orchestra/ Dynasty, Mingus Epitaph (under the direction of Gunther Schuller), The George Gruntz Concert Jazz Band, Chico O’Farrill’s Afro-Cuban Jazz Orchestra, Bebo Valdés’ Latin Jazz All-Stars, and the Manhattan Jazz Orchestra. He has toured extensively with the Ray Charles Orchestra, The Jimmy McGriff Quartet, and legendary jazz drummer Panama Francis (and the Savoy Sultans), as well as Jon Hendricks, Lionel Hampton, and Illinois Jacquet. As a side person, Rampton has also performed with Dr. John, Christian McBride, The Maria Schneider Orchestra, Charles Earland, Geoff Keezer, and a host of others. Some of Rampton’s Broadway credits include Anything Goes, Finian’s Rainbow, The Wiz, Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, Young Frankenstein, and The Color Purple.

Guthrie Ramsey A Guggenheim Fellow and a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, Guthrie P. Ramsey, Jr. is a music historian, pianist, composer, and Professor Emeritus of Music at the University of Pennsylvania. A widely-published writer, he’s the author of Who Hears Here: On Black Music Pasts and Present (2022), The Amazing Bud Powell: Black Genius, Jazz History and the Challenge of Bebop (2013), and Race Music: Black Cultures from Bebop to Hip-Hop (2003). He edited and wrote a foreword for Rae Linda Brown’s The Heart of a Woman: The Life and Music of Florence B. Price (2020) and co-authored with Melanie Zeck, Samuel A. Floyd, Jr.’s The Transformation of Black Music (2017). As a producer, label head, and bandleader, Guthrie has released five recording projects, including A Spiritual Vibe, vol. 1 and has performed at The Blue Note, The Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts, and Harlem Stage. He recently scored the 2019 prize-winning documentary Making Sweet Tea and his documentary Amazing: The Tests and Triumph of Bud Powell (2015) was a selection of the BlackStar Film Festival. Ramsey co-curated the National Museum of African American History and Culture’s 2009 exhibition Ain’t Nothing Like the Real Thing: How the Apollo Theater Shaped American Entertainment and was a consultant and narrator in the 2020 Emmy Award winning HBO documentary Apollo: The Soul of American Culture.  Guthrie is the CEO of Musiqology Media Group, a production and consulting agency that helps artists from all communities produce their best work and to tell their story successfully.

Vanessa Reed Vanessa Reed is a passionate leader and changemaker with over 25 years’ experience of curating programs and leading policy which support artists and organizations to realize their potential. Vanessa became President and CEO of New Music USA in 2019. This followed a decade as CEO of PRS Foundation (UK) where she founded the award-winning Keychange program that unites over 500 music organizations in a pledge towards gender equity in music. Since joining New Music USA, Vanessa has launched a number of new initiatives which address inequities in the music industry including the Reel Change fund for diversity in Film scoring and Next Jazz Legacy in partnership with the Berklee Institute of Jazz and Gender Justice and Classical version.

Bobby Sanabria “Bobby Sanabria is equally adept at the swinging big band sounds of drummers Buddy Rich and Louis Bellson along with another boyhood hero, fusion pioneer Billy Cobham and timbale titan Tito Puente." - Bill Milkowski, Jazz Times A graduate of the Berklee College of Music, drummer, percussionist, composer, arranger, documentary film producer, activist, radio host, writer, and multi-Grammy nominated as a leader, Bobby Sanabria is a native Nuyorican son of the South Bronx. His versatility as both a drummer and percussionist has become legendary. He's performed and recorded with every major figure in the history of Latin jazz, jazz, and salsa, with such legends as Dizzy Gillespie, Tito Puente, Mongo Santamaria, Eddie Palmieri, Paquito D'Rivera, Candido, Charles McPherson, Larry Harlow, Ruben Blades, Celia Cruz, and the Father of Afro-Cuban jazz, Mario Bauzá as his drummer for 9 years touring and recording on his major Grammy nominated albums. He is the leader of Quarteto Aché, Sexteto Ibiano, Ascensión, and his Multiverse Big Band. His big band albums have all been nominated for Grammys for a total of nine, including Afro-Cuban Dream: Live & In Clave!!!, Big Band Urban FolkTales, Multiverse (double Grammy nominated), and West Side Story Reimagined which was awarded the Jazz Journalists Record of the Year Award for 2019 and hailed as a masterpiece by the Wall Street Journal, as well as Kenya Revisited Live!!! and Tito Puente Masterworks Live!!!, with Bobby conducting the Manhattan School of Music Afro-Cuban Jazz Orchestra, including his most recent Grammy nomination for VOX HUMANA with his Multiverse Big Band for the 2024 Grammys. DRUM! Magazine named him Percussionist of the Year (2005); he was named Percussionist of the Year by the Jazz Journalists Association in 2011 and 2013. He has been named one of the top ten percussionists in the world by the readers and critics of Downbeat magazine for the last 10 years and is a member of Max Roach's legendary percussion ensemble M'BOOM. Mr. Sanabria has composed the music for several award winning, critically acclaimed documentaries - From Mambo to Hip Hip: A South Bronx Tale (2006) where he was also a producer, consultant and on air personality, Some Girls (2017), and La Madrina: The Savage Life of Loraine Padilla (2020). Other documentaries he has been featured in on screen and acted as a consultant, producer are, The Palladium: Where Mambo Was King (2003), Latin Music U.S.A. (2006), We Like It Like That: The Story of Latin Boogaloo (2015), and Let's Get The Rhythm 2016). In 2012 Maestro Sanabria was selected by legendary jazz pianist Herbie Hancock to represent Latin jazz with his Quarteto Ache' as part of the first Annual UNESCO International Day of Jazz at the United Nations. Among his numerous awards include induction into the 2006 Bronx Walk of Fame, the 2018 Jazz Education Network's LeJENS of Latin Jazz Award and being honored by his name being read into the U.S. Congressional Record by Congressman Dennis Kucinich of Ohio in 2008. In 2019 he was named Godfather/Padrino of the National Puerto Rican Day Parade in New York City. He was recently bestowed an Honorary Doctorate by Lehman College in New York. He is on the faculty of New School University (his 28th year), is the Co-Artistic Director of the Bronx Music Heritage Center/Bronx Music Hall, and is the host of the Latin Jazz Cruise on WBGO FM, America's leading jazz station. His lifetime dedication to spreading the history, culture, of jazz and Latin jazz to the general public as a performer, as well as educating a new generation of players, composers, arrangers, has no parallel. His new critically acclaimed double CD with his Multiverse Big Band, VOX HUMANA, recorded live at Dizzy's, NYC features vocalists Janis Siegel, Antoinette Montague and Jennifer Jade Ledesna has been recently nominated for a Grammy for Best Latin Jazz recording (2024). 

Shabaka Shabaka’s work transcends conventional notions of genre and draws from a vast pallet of cultural influences. Whilst he’s undeniably a pioneering voice in the renaissance of British Jazz, his remit is much broader: he has also performed classical concertos with world-leading orchestras; led several hugely influential bands (Sons of Kemet, The Comet is Coming, Shabaka and The Ancestors) and has recently released a critically lauded solo album; Afrikan Culture, a work of exceptional beauty and urgency, focussed around the eastern Asian instrument, the Shakuhachi, of which Shabaka is a major exponent.

Sara Serpa Sara Serpa, co-founder of Mutual Mentorship for Musicians, is from Lisboa, Portugal. Serpa is a singer, composer, improviser, who through her practice and performance, explores the use of the voice as an instrument. Described by the New York Times as “a singer of silvery poise and cosmopolitan outlook,” and by the JazzTimes magazine as “a master of wordless landscapes,” her ethereal music draws from a broad variety of inspirations including literature, film, visual arts as well as history and nature. As a leader, she has produced and released ten albums, the latest being Intimate Strangers (2021) and Recognition (2020). Serpa was voted 2020 NPR Jazz Vocalist, Rising Star-Female Vocalist 2019 by the Downbeat Magazine Critics Poll, and teaches at The New School. Between 2019-2022 Serpa was Artist-In-Residence at Park Avenue Armory, in New York and she is a recipient of the 2022 NYFA Artist Fellowship, 2022 Copland’s Recording Fund, 2021 Herb Alpert/Ragdale Prize in Composition.

Gabriel Solis Solis is an ethnomusicologist and music historian whose work focuses on music, memory, and racialization in the 20th and 21st centuries. He has been a professor of music at the University of Illinois for 20 years, with affiliate appointments in African American Studies, American Indian Studies, and Anthropology. Solis’s research in jazz, popular music, and contemporary Indigenous music in Australia and Melanesia has been supported by fellowships and grants from the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH), Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC), and Mellon Foundation. He is currently the Divisional Dean of the Arts at the College of Arts & Sciences, University of Washington, USA.

esperanza spalding Born in 1984 in Portland, Oregon, esperanza spalding (a.k.a. irma nejando) is an eaabibacliitoti* artist, trained and initiated in the North American (masculine) jazz lineage and tradition. Her work interweaves through various combinations of instrumental music, improvisation, singing, composition, poetry, dance, therapeutic research, storytelling, teaching, regenerative agriculture, urban land & artist-sanctuary custodianship, and growing in love as a daughter, sister, cousin, niece, auntie, great-auntie, friend, while collaboratively decolonizing within and through her hometown community. She co-founded and serves as lead curator for Prismid Inc., a non-profit that creates and stewards artist residency, performance, and workshop space in Portland, Oregon. With her dance company Off Brand gOdds (co-founded with Antonio Brown) and the Songwrights Apothecary Lab she leads multi-week performance, teaching, workshop, and therapeutic-arts research residencies in collaboration with colleges and arts venues across the Americas, and throughout the world.

 *European-African ancestored being influenced by American cultures living in Indigenous Territories of Turtle Island

Brad Stone Dr. Bradley M. (“Brad”) Stone has been a jazz radio programmer and host for over 45 years. He was actively involved at several non-commercial (university and community) radio stations, including KSJS, KKUP, KUCI and WQAX. He has worn many hats, as music director, producer, faculty advisor and DJ/show host – but his real passion and expertise has been in jazz music programming. He is a multiple national award winner for his work as a music director, including a 10-time winner of national “Jazz Programmer of the Year” awards at the annual JazzWeek Summit and Gavin Seminars (including a 3-time winner of the Bobby Jackson Award for Internet Radio Programming). He was also the recipient of the prestigious “Duke DuBois Humanitarian Award” by JazzWeek in 2008, a national award for lifetime achievement and service to the jazz and jazz radio communities. He has served as an invited panelist, moderator and organizer at many jazz conventions over the years, including the JazzWeek Summit, the Gavin Seminar, the International Association for Jazz Education’s (IAJE) Annual International Conference, and the JazzConnect, Jazz Times and Jazz Improv conferences. Most recently he has been a regular annual producer, moderator and host of the “Jazz Jukebox Jury” panels at the annual Jazz Congress meetings in New York. Having grown up in Chicago, Stone believes that jazz and the blues are “in his blood” from birth. Stone now hosts “The Creative Source” (featuring new jazz releases) on the SoulandJazz.com internet platform.

Sunny Sumter Sunny Sumter is President and CEO of the DC Jazz Festival, a nonprofit service organization established in 2004 to present jazz-related cultural and educational programs in the nation’s capital. Its’ signature programs are the annual DC JazzFest, DC Jazz Festival Education, and the Charles Fishman Embassy Series. DC Jazz Festival is the recipient of the DC Mayor’s Art Award for Excellence in Creative Industries. Sumter has been a thought leader on jazz with the U.S. Department of State, DC Deputy Mayor’s Office of Planning and Economic Development, Jazz Philadelphia Summit, and Jazz Congress, among others. Prior to her tenure at DC Jazz Festival, Sumter held management/director positions with the Aspen Institute, National Foundation for Teaching Entrepreneurship, Smithsonian Institution, and Rhythm and Blues Foundation. She was awarded the Aspen Institute’s Staff Achievement Award for Excellence. Sumter earned her bachelor’s degree in music business from Howard University where she minored in jazz studies/voice. She is a recipient of a Howard University Benny Golson Award, the Sitar Arts Center Visionary Award, the Jazz Journalists Association Jazz Heroes Award, a DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities Fellowship, and a Mid-Atlantic Arts Foundation Emerging Artist Award. She was host of Jazz Central on the BET network. As a professional vocalist, Sumter has performed at some of the finest festivals, concert venues, and clubs in the U.S. and internationally. She currently serves on the boards of the HBCU-Jazz Education Initiative, the International Society of Jazz Arrangers and Composers, and the North American Performing Art Managers and Agents. She is a member of Americans for the Arts, National Academy for Recording Arts and Sciences; and served as a program director member of the National Collaboration for Youth. Sumter is a Fellow graduate of the prestigious DeVos Institute of Arts Management at the University of Maryland Business School; and is one of the “exceptional leaders” selected for National Arts Strategies’ celebrated Chief Executive Program.

Camille Thurman As an accomplished composer, esteemed saxophonist, vocalist, and unique interpreter of the jazz tradition, Camille Thurman is quickly becoming one of the leading standard bearers of the art form, making a considerable and dynamic contribution to the legacy of jazz while paying tribute to its heroes. Camille is known for her distinct musical approach to classic and original repertoire that highlights her powerhouse ability as both a virtuosic saxophonist and vocalist. The New York City native has amassed several distinctive honors for her musicianship: NAACP Image Award Nominee for Outstanding Jazz Album, recipient of the SOUTH Arts Creative Jazz Road Artistic Residency Grant, Downbeat Magazine’s Critics Poll Nominee for Rising Star Tenor Saxophonist, Female Vocalist and Jazz Artist (2023, 2022, 2021 & 2020), two-time winner of the ASCAP Herb Alpert Young Jazz Composers Award, a recipient of the Fulbright Scholars Cultural Ambassador Grant and Chamber Music of America Performance Plus Grant (Sponsored by the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation) among others. Thurman also has four full-length recordings as a leader to her credit. Her upcoming project, “Fortitude,” is a collaboration with master drummer Darrell Green and his quartet. Thurman was the first woman in 30 years to tour and perform full-time internationally with the world-renowned Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra as a saxophonist/woodwind doubler (2018-2020 season). A respected bandleader, she has headlined numerous notable concert venues and jazz festivals worldwide, including the Kennedy Center and Alice Tully Hall. Thurman was chosen by the U.S. State Department under the Fulbright Scholarship grant to tour and perform in Paraguay and Nicaragua as a bandleader. American Music Abroad Cultural Exchange Program and the U.S. State Department recently selected her to travel and perform in Africa as a U.S. Cultural Ambassador: Cameroon, Mozambique, Nigeria, Senegal, and Mauritania. In May 2020, Camille founded “The Haven Hang: Young Lioness Musician Q&A/ Virtual Mentorship Series.” The Haven Hang serves as a virtual mentorship platform for young female musicians, with an initiative to mentor, share advice, and support young women pursuing careers in music and the performing arts. Currently, she is an Assistant Professor of Jazz Performance at McGill University. The dynamic musician endorses D’Addario Woodwinds & Co. saxophone reeds, Henri Selmer Paris saxophones, and Key Leaves saxophone products. For more information on Camille Thurman, please visit www.camillethurmanmusic.com.

Piotr Turkiewicz Since 2008 Piotr Turkiewicz has been Artistic Director of the Jazztopad Festival in Wroclaw, Poland. Its most distinctive feature is commitment to commissioning new music, presenting special projects tailored for the festival and hosting the most important jazz and improvised music artists. Since 2015, the festival has its annual edition in New York. Since 2018 Piotr has been Curator of Jazz and Improvised Music at Pierre Boulez Saal in Berlin. Additionally, Piotr has been programming jazz, world music, dance, special projects at the National Forum of Music in Wrocław, Poland. From 2012 until January 2020 he was on the Board of Directors of ISPA (International Society for the Performing Arts) and served as a co-chair of the Programme Committee and a Chair of Pitch New Works of that organization. Between 2014-2018 he was the Vice-President of the Europe Jazz Network. He has been invited as a speaker to numerous international conferences, including ISPA congress in Toronto and Bogota, a seminar at The Juilliard School in New York, a conference of the Asian Performing Arts Festivals in Shanghai and Live! Conference in Singapore. He represented Poland during the 2nd conference Asia-Europe Young Urban Leaders Dialogue in Shanghai. 

Melissa Walker
Melissa Walker is a visionary, results-oriented leader and arts education advocate. In 2002, her passion for performing and working with young people led her to establish Jazz House Kids, a nationally recognized jazz education and performance organization. A Brown University graduate and Grammy Award-winning jazz vocalist, Walker was recognized by NJBiz as one of New Jersey’s Best 50 Women in Business and received the Jazz Journalists Association's Jazz Hero Award.

Tillman Weyde Dr. Weyde is the head of the Machine Intelligence and Media Informatics Research Group at the Department of Computer Science, City University of London, UK. His research interest include machine learning and signal processing methods for data analysis with applications in finance, audio, NLP, music, health, security and education. His latest research focuses on creating inductive biases in neural networks for rule-learning, extrapolation, generalization, and interpretability.

 Steven A. Williams Steven A. Williams is President and CEO of Newark Public Radio WBGO. Williams has a rich and extensive background in broadcast and digital media, holding leadership roles within a diverse range of programming formats and markets including Detroit, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Washington DC, and New York City where over the course of 30 years, he's played key roles in the history of the most listened to jazz radio stations on Earth - WQCD, and WBGO. Williams studied at American University and is a native of Cincinnati, Ohio. He has received national recognition and numerous awards during nearly 50 years as a broadcaster. 

Brandee Younger The sonically innovative harpist, Brandee Younger, is revolutionizing harp for the digital era. Over the past fifteen years, she has worked relentlessly to stretch boundaries and limitations for harpists.  In 2022, she made history by becoming the first Black woman to be nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Instrumental Composition. That same year, she was also nominated for an NAACP Image Award. Ever-expanding as an artist, she has worked with cultural icons including Common, Lauryn Hill, John Legend,  Pharoah Sanders and Christian McBride.   Her original composition “Hortense” was featured in the Netflix Concert-Documentary, Beyoncé: Homecoming and in 2019, Brandee was selected to perform her original music as a featured performer for Quincy Jones and Steve McQueens’ “Soundtrack of America”. Brandee is often noted for standing on the shoulders of the very women who ushered in the harp as a clear and distinct voice in jazz & popular styles - particularly Detroit natives Dorothy Ashby & Alice Coltrane.  Her new album, Brand New Life, builds on her already rich oeuvre, and cements the harp’s place in pop culture.  As the title of the album suggests, Brand New Life is about forging new paths–artistic, personal, political, and spiritual.  Younger's music is imbued with a sense of purpose and respect of legacy, creating a larger platform for the harp to reach newer and wider audiences than ever before.   In addition to performing and recording, Brandee Younger is on the faculty at New York University, Steinhardt School and The New School College of Performing Arts.