Gui Duvignau

Gui Duvignau is a French-born Brazilian bassist and composer whose multi-cultural background has led to a life of traveling and musical exploration. A jazz musician and improviser in essence, he also draws inspiration from a variety of musical traditions and cultures. He is interested in creative and original music in all its forms, and is particularly dedicated to fostering deep human connection and exchange through music.

His first album Porto, in collaboration with singer Sofia Ribeiro was inspired by his time living in Portugal. The album features compositions by Sofia Ribeiro and Gui Duvignau and was released in 2010 with the support of Portuguese radio station, Antena 2.

His second album Fissura springs from his years in Paris, where it was recorded with Jonathan Orland (alto saxophone & clarinet), Julien Pontvianne (tenor saxophone & clarinet), Federico Casagrande (guitar), Thomas Caillou (guitar) and Thibault Perriard (drums). It was released in April 2016 on the Parisian label Onze Heures Onzes.

His travels led him to New York City, where he attended New York University and studied with, Drew Gress, Billy Drummond, Billy Drewes, Brad Shepik, and Michael Wolff, among others. He received his master's of music degree in May 2020. 
He is also a student of jazz legend and master bassist, Ron Carter.?

His book From the Bottom Up, featuring interviews with Ron Carter, Buster Williams, Ron McClure, Mike Richmond, Jay Anderson, Drew Gress, and Christian McBride was published by Ron Carter Books in September 2020, and in Brazil by Editora Tipografia Musical with the title De Baixo Para Cima in May 2023.

His third album of original compositions, 3,5,8, was released in January 2021 by Sunnyside Records and features Billy Drewes (saxophone), Jeff Hirshfield (drums), Santiago Leibson (piano), and Elias Meister (guitar).

His album Baden is a tribute to the musical universe of legendary Brazilian musician, Baden Powell. Released in January 2022 on Sunnyside Records, it features Billy Drewes (saxophones), Lawrence Fields (piano), Jeff Hirshfield (drums), and special guests Ron Carter on bass and Bill Frisell on guitar. 

His latest album, Live in Red Hook, with pianist Jacob Sacks and drummer Nathan Ellman-Bell also features his original compositions and was released on Sunnyside Records in January 2024.

His upcoming album, Listen In, is the second installment of his trio with pianist Jacob Sacks and drummer Nathan Ellman-Bell. It also features his original compositions and will be released on Adhyâropa Records in October 2025.

He is one of the founding members of the band ContraPunctus with Mike McGinnis, Carmen Staaf, and Hamir Atwal. The band performs regularly in NYC and their debut album is set for release in early 2026.

Duvignau’s music and recordings have been featured on radios across the world, in playlists on Apple Music and Spotify, and in publications such as, The New York Times, Downbeat magazine, JazzTimes, Jazziz, Jazz Magazine, Jazz News, All About Jazz, among others.

Anders Holst

Danish guitarist and composer Anders Holst (b. 1979), based in Copenhagen, has been an integral part of the music scene in Denmark for the last 20 years, working in the field of bridging composition with improvisation. He has performed all over Europe and US with his bands and as a soloist. Besides his work in his own name he is also a founding member of the groups Cirklen (six guitar ensemble, established 2009), Bog Bodies (with Robert Stillman and Sean Carpio, established 2010) and Ektoplasma (with Nils Gröndahl, established 2010). He has released albums on esteemed labels such as Morningside Records, Scissor Tail Records, Tompkins Square Records, Barkhausen Recordings, Blackout, Clang, Kornmod, MIC, Trestle Records, Migro Records and Flydende Rum.

Jay Sanders

Jay Sanders is a guitarist, bassist, composer, producer, and bandleader based in Asheville, N.C. An avid musical explorer with an insatiably curious mind, his music seamlessly fuses jazz, rock, blues, metal, and African influences with years of improvisational study. His compositions range from structured thematic works and soulful grooves to Americana reflections, global soundscapes, and experimental improvisations.

With more than two dozen recordings and performances across 47 U.S. states and six countries, Jay is best known as the longtime bassist for Acoustic Syndicate, widely considered a progenitor of the jam and jamgrass scenes. The North Carolina-bred band has performed at major festivals including Bonnaroo and Farm Aid over their 25-year career. Jay also served as bassist for Americana legends Donna the Buffalo from 2007-2010 and co-leads the avant-garde E.Normus Trio, whose debut Love & Barbiturates earned critical acclaim for its fusion of "jazz-rock, free-jazz and progressive metal-jazz."

Riccardo Cirani

Born: July 20, 1994

Riccardo Cirani makes his appearence in this world on the 20/07/1994 in Monselice (IT). Soon enough something in him became aware of the weakness of his own nature and of the abyss that divide who we are from what we are. Over the years he has found a very direct way to express this tension: through Music.One of the very first instrument he came across at the age of 11 was the guitar and until now it has been his favourite means. A solid practical / ascetic basis was provided by Robert Fripp's Guitar Craft / Guitar Circle, of which he has been part since the 13/01/2014. In this he performed concerts with the "Orchestra of Crafty Guitarists", the "Symphony of Crafty Guitarists" and the "Berlin Guitar Ensemble".

Midnight Channel

Active since: 2022

Midnight Channel (Lethbridge, AB) made a powerful debut with their album “Gemini Sunrise”, hitting #10 on the National Earshot! Jazz Charts, establishing themselves as a rising force in Canada’s jazz scene. Their sound blends the boundary-pushing spirit of 1960s cosmic free jazz with the vibrant energy of modern jazz. Infused with elements of contemporary post-bop, Japanese fusion, and neo-soul grooves, Midnight Channel brings a sound that’s both rooted in tradition yet refreshingly modern—perfect for longtime jazz fans and first-time listeners alike. Their live performances are an explosion of energy, soaring improvisations, and contagious joy, transforming the stage into a sacred space where audiences are held spellbound. 

Carlos S Santistevan

Born: December 4, 1975

Carlos Santistevan is a musician, sounds engineer, conductor, and organizer. Since 2001 he has helped establish an oasis of creative music in the high desert southwest as the director of the High Mayhem Emerging Arts collective based out of Santa Fe, NM. Using an upright bass and electronics he creates soundscapes and spontaneous compositions from the extremes of acoustic and electric music. Early influences of punk rock and free jazz have led him to develop a unique approach to music and improvisation. He is carrying on the Conduction Lexicon developed by Butch Morris in his Folding Space Conduction Ensemble.

Jackson Hillmer

Born: June 16, 1992

Jackson Frye Hillmer is a drummer, songwriter, and educator who grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area, where he developed a deep love of music. He began his journey learning the trumpet and eagerly picked up the tuba and drum set soon after to perform with the Redwood High School jazz and symphonic band. He had the opportunity and good fortune to study with John Mattern (Redwood High School), Alan Hall (Cirque Du Soleil), Jeff Masanari (SF Symphony), and Chris Amberger (Janis Joplin, Rahsaan Roland Kirk). As a member in his early jazz groups, he opened for vocalist Kenny Washington, and played frequent local festivals & weekly gigs. Jackson started teaching drum lessons to beginner students when he was in high school and has continued to teach throughout his music career.

Christian Moser

Born: March 28, 1980

Christian Moser is an oudplayer and improviser. His particular interests concern the cultivating of musical mindsets that go beyond the dualism of tradition/presence, being/becoming, immancence/transcendence. In his youth he studied violin. At the age of 18 he started playing the oud and from 2005-2010 he studied Turkish Music at the I.T.U?. conservatory in Istanbul with Abdi Coskun, Mutlu Torun and Mehmet Bitmez. In 2020 he graduated with a Master of Art in specialized performance / free improvisation. His mentors were Alfred Zimmerlin and Fred Frith. Christian Moser lives and works in Basel, plays in various ensembles throughout Europe, composes music for film and dance.

Dave Fabris

Born: May 9, 1967

The music of guitarist David Fabris has been steeped deeply in an eclectic pool of influences... His new CD, Lettuce Prey (Great Winds/Musea), is music that is supported equally by the three legs of Rock, Jazz and Classical. It has the guts and glory of rock heroes like Jimi Hendrix (whose tune, Angel, is featured as a guitar solo on this CD). It possesses the surprise and intrigue of Jazz improvisation (like Ornette Coleman's Sadness - presented here in a jazz quintet format). Lastly, it exudes the intricacy and depth of contemporary Classical music - Ives, Prokofiev, and Khatchaturian are among the composers presented here. But the intent is for the styles to coalesce...that the heavy guitar bass and drum treatment of Ginastera's String Quartet No. 2, for example, maintains the sublimation of the original while making the listener pump their fist in the air! ??

Sharada Shashidhar

Los Angeles-based vocalist, composer, and producer Sharada Shashidhar has a deep awareness of the cosmos. There’s a distinct tug-of-war in her music, an understanding that scanning the heavens to answer existential queries isn’t quite enough; there are internal depths to plumb as well. Shashidhar’s first album, 2020’s Rahu, found her voice billowing out of smoky, post-beat-scene soundscapes, meditating on the collective unconscious and the energy exchange between all living things. Her newest work, Soft Echoes, is a bold step forward, eschewing her previous work’s hip-hop tilt for expansive compositions that blend jazz and Indian classical influences into a swirling, spiritual whole.

Though she has an extensive resume as a collaborator in LA’s experimental jazz scene, notching work with the likes of Carlos Niño, Zeroh, and the Pan Afrikan Peoples Arkestra, Soft Echoes marks Shashidhar’s first outing as a bandleader. Gathering an ensemble that includes Anna Butters on bass, Julian Rodriguez on keys, Devin Daniels on saxophone, and Timothy Angulo on drums, Shashidhar sought to create a band that ostensibly functioned as an extension of herself. Her primary goals in writing these songs were to “let [her] body do what it wanted to do,” to trust her intuition, and “play without judgment.” Through that process, making Soft Echoes became a practice of presence and exploration, a chance to unlearn rigid structures and rediscover the joy of creating for oneself.

Recording took place over three brief, distinct sessions at Altamira Sound in Alhambra, California. Though the full band wasn’t ever present at the same time, Soft Echoes sounds like the work of a group in complete, mind-meld focus. Splashy drums nudge up against skronkingsaxophone on “Canyon Song,” while mushrooming synth tones stack up behind rippling Rhodes piano on “Luckiest.” Shashidhar’s elegant voice is the anchor for each of these tracks, sometimes gracefully stretching between instruments like a lithe dancer’s limbs, other times scattering through psychedelic delay.

She describes the album as having “two poles,” illustrated by the whimsical, buoyant opener “Soft Echoes” and the darker, more anxiety-ridden closer, “New Echoes.” The songs in between may come from different emotional spaces, but “it’s all really reflective,” she explains. The album can play like a loop, with Shashidhar entering a portal “into the endlessness” during “New Echoes,” only to be transported back to the beginning, full of gratitude and pondering “how strange it is to be alive.” On Soft Echoes, Shashidhar leads us on a journey through her mind, traversing its peaks and canyons in search of greater connection. “I want to take people places,” she says, pausing thoughtfully. “I can’t always guarantee that they’re good places, [but] hopefully you’ll feel something.”