Tim Fitzgerald

Tim Fitzgerald is a Chicago based jazz guitarist, bandleader, educator and author. Named “Wes Montgomery scholar and visionary” by DownBeat Magazine, he is also the recipient of Chicago's 2021 Individual Artist Program Grant, a grant provided by the Illinois Arts Council Agency and the National Endowment for the Arts.

As a performer, Tim has played the Chicago Jazz Festival, the Woodstock Jazz Festival, the Gene Harris Jazz Festival, and the Chi-Town Jazz Festival, among others. Tim has played clubs across the country from New York City's Mezzrow to Memphis' Crosstown Arts to Chicago's Green Mill to Seattle's Tula's to Alice's in Homer, Alaska. 

Paul Westlake

Born: April 10

Paul Westlake: Basses and Guitar

Born outside Los Angeles, Paul, son of a pianist, started piano as a child, becoming focused on bass at 13. Paul has a bachelor’s degree from The University of North Florida in Jazz Studies. Paul has performed with Nat Adderly, Jimmy Bruno, Ira Sullivan, Harold Blanchard, Lynne Arialle, Jim Snidero, Conrad Herwig and more.

Performance venues include but are not limited to, Disney’s Pleasure Island Jazz Club, the Jacksonville Jazz Festival, Ormond Beach Jazz Festival, Springing in The Blues jazz and blues festival, LaSalle Jazz Festival, Sharp Nine Jazz, and more.

Discography

Hey Rim Jeon

Born: July 10, 1978

Described as a “brilliant pianist” by legendary saxophonist Benny Golson, a jazz pianist, composer, arranger and educator, Hey Rim Jeon has just released her fifth album as a bandleader, “Groovitude” (Sony/Orchard distribution, October 2022) featuring Multi-Grammy-Award-Winning drummer and producer, Terri Lyne Carrington. “Groovitude“ has been one of the Top 20 albums on the National Jazz Radio Chart for several consecutive weeks. 

Ms. Jeon has been featured on numerous TV and radio shows, including NBC’s Weekend Today in New York, and KBN, Korea’s National TV network channel. As leader of her own band, Hey Rim Jeon and Friends, she has performed both nationally and internationally. 

Alan Regardin

Alan Regardin develops a singular take on his instrument, both acoustic and electric.  He focuses his approach on the nature of sound and its vibrational spaces in the field of experimental,  from free jazz to minimalism by way of noise and traditional musics...

Michael A Levy

Born: July 2, 1948

My early musical influesnes were entirely classical. Primarily Chopin. Actually, my mom taught me my first stride bass tune, St.Louis  Blues. In my teens I started playing in bands and acquired copies of the then “illegal” fake books. The world of standards opened up and I learned lots of them, comping basic chords in  my left hand. 

Around 15 I became exposed to the jazz genre. Miles, Monk, Brubeck, MJQ. Those sounds became my jazz foundation. I tried to improvise but it was unguided and not very adventurous. Of course I listened to a lot of lesser luminaries, but still great… Horace Silver, Yusef Lateef, Ahmad Jamal, Ravi Shankar, etc. 

Cecilie Grundt

Born: July 13, 1991

Cecilie Grundt has performed and recorded with artists such as Vigleik Storaas, Knut Riisnæs, Trondheim Jazz Orchestra & Come Shine, Nils-Olav Johansen, Benny Bennack III, Bjørn Vidar Solli, ØyvindLAND, Cosmic Swing Orchestra and Alternatilla All Woman Jazz Band. As a solo leader, she has toured extensively in Europe and released four solo albums 'Contemporary Old School' (2019), 'Order and Chaos' (2020), 'Cecilie Grundt & Vigleik Storaas' (2022) and 'Live At Dokkhuset' (2024) to critical acclaim. On October 18, 2024, she will release her fifth album, 'Illuminate'.

Gwendolyn Kassenaar

Gwendolyn Kassenaar is a Dutch visual artist & performer based in London. A graduate from Chelsea College of Art, she collaborates with dancers and musicians in her live-art performances and studio-based work. She improvises in the moment to express the intangible poetry of that ephemeral moment. She embraces experimentation in her quest to fuse visual art, rhythm, colour, sound and movement.

Synaesthesia makes Gwendolyn experience sound as shapes and colours in her mind’s eye, particularly relating to an instrument’s timbre or the music’s rhythm. They emerge, overlap and fade like a psychedelic animation.

Greg Osby

Born: August 3, 1960

Saxophonist, composer, producer, educator and curator Greg Osby has been a formidable presence on the international music scene as a leader of his own ensembles and as a guest artist with other acclaimed groups for the past 39 years. Highly regarded for his insightful and innovative approach to composition and performance, Osby is an inspired voice among the ranks of improvising musicians. He has earned numerous awards and critical acclaim for his recorded works and passionate live appearances and has been recognized by The New York Times as one of the "most provocative musical thinkers of his generation".

Jo?o Gato

Born: February 13, 2000

Born in 2000, João Gato started taking Jazz saxophone seriously whilst studying with the altoist Ricardo Toscano, at the Hotclub of Portugal. At age 18, he finished the practical course, after taking 3 years of classes with Toscano.

In 2018, he started his Bachelor Degree in Jazz saxophone in at ESML, where he studied with prestigious portuguese musicians such as Gonçalo Marques, Desidério Lázaro, Pedro Moreira, Afonso Pais and Nelson Cascais. He finished his degree in 2021.

Since August 2023 he has been undertaking the NOCOM (Nordic Master: Composing Musician), a joint master in the RMC (Coppenhagen), NMH (Oslo) and HSM (Gottemburg), where he has studied with Lotte Anker, Peter Bruun, Kasper Tranberg and Torben Snekkestad.

Ann Hampton Callaway

Born: May 30, 1959

Ann Hampton Callaway is one America's most gifted and prolific artists. A leading champion of the great American Songbook, she's made her mark as a singer, pianist, composer, lyricist, arranger, actress, educator, TV host and producer. Voted by Broadwayworld.com as "Performer of the Year" and two years in a row as "Best Jazz Vocalist," Ann is born entertainer. Her unique singing style that blends jazz and traditional pop, making her a mainstay in concert halls, theaters and jazz clubs as well as in the recording studio, on television, and in film. She is best known for Tony-nominated performance in the hit Broadway musical "Swing!" and for writing and singing the theme song to the hit TV series "The Nanny." Callaway is a Platinum Award winning writer whose songs are featured on seven of Barbra Streisand's recent CD's