Multi-Grammy Award

winning composer Maria Schneider has been referred to as "one of America’s leading composers."? Maria Schneider’s music has been hailed by critics as “evocative, majestic, magical, heartstoppingly gorgeous, and beyond categorization.” She and her orchestra became widely known starting in 1994 when they released their first recording, Evanescence.? With that recording, Schneider began to develop her personal way of writing for her 18-member collective, tailoring her compositions to distinctly highlight the unique voices of the group. The Maria Schneider Orchestra has performed at festivals and concert halls worldwide. She herself has received numerous commissions and guest conducting invites, working with over 85 groups from over 30 countries spanning Europe, South America, Australia, Asia and North America. Schneider has become a strong voice for music advocacy and in 2014, testified before the US Congressional Subcommittee on Intellectual Property about digital rights.

Renée Fleming is one of the most acclaimed singers of our time, performing on the stages of the world’s greatest opera houses and concert halls. Honored with five Grammy® awards and the US National Medal of Arts, she has sung for momentous occasions from the Nobel Peace Prize ceremony to the Super Bowl.

Renée’s current concert calendar includes appearances in London, Milan, Paris, and at Carnegie Hall. In November, she starred in the world premiere staging of The Hours, a new opera based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel and award-winning film, at the Metropolitan Opera. She won the 2023 Grammy Award for Best Classical Vocal Solo Album for Voice of Nature: the Anthropocene.

A leading advocate for research at the intersection of arts and health, Renée launched the first ongoing collaboration between The Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and the NIH. She is a founding advisor for the Sound Health Network at UCSF. www.reneefleming.com

NEA Jazz Master

Jim Hall (1930-2013) influenced an entire generation of Jazz musicians and is considered by many to be one of the greatest ever Jazz guitarists. From his early work with Jimmy Guiffre and Chico Hamilton to his now legendary collaborations with Sonny Rollins, Paul Desmond, Ron Carter and Art Farmer, Hall was a major figure in the legacy of American music. 

Billy Childs

was born in Los Angeles on March 8th, 1957, to Joseph and Mable Childs. At age six, he was enrolled in piano lessons by his parents, both fervent music lovers. The younger Childs developed rapidly, and at age sixteen entered the Community School of the Performing Arts, a preparatory music program sponsored by the University of Southern California. Although the initial focus of his energies had been piano performance, he was so inspired by the teachings of his theory professor, Marienne Uzsler, that he shifted his attention to composition. Soon after graduating, Childs began touring with Freddie Hubbard and went on to record or perform with other influential jazz musicians such as J.J. Johnson, Joe Henderson, and Wynton Marsalis.

He went on to record numerous albums under his own name while simultaneously occupying a parallel niche as an in-demand composer. His commission credits include Esa-Pekka Salonen and the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, the Los Angeles Master Chorale, and others. Childs has garnered 13 GRAMMY nominations and four awards as well as a Chamber Music America Composer’s Grant, a Guggenheim Fellowship, the Doris Duke Performing Artist Award, and an award from The American Academy of Arts and Letters.

The Clayton Brothers,

originally founded in 1977, continue to share a common musical vision.  

John Clayton is a Grammy winning bassist/composer/arranger/conductor and has written and arranged music for Milt Jackson, Nancy Wilson, Ray Brown, Regina Carter, McCoy Tyner, Carmen McRae, Quincy Jones, Diana Krall, Kurt Elling, Dee Dee Bridgewater Gladys Knight, Natalie Cole, Michael Buble' and many others.

Jeff Clayton has recorded with Stevie Wonder, Gladys Knight, Kenny Rogers, Michael Jackson, Patti Labelle, Earth Wind & Fire, and solo'd on Madonna's recording "Back in Business."  As a jazz musician, he has worked with Frank Sinatra, Sammy Davis Jr., Ella Fitzgerald, Woody Harmon, Lionel Hampton, Lena Horne, McCoy Toner, Dee Dee Bridgewater and many others.

Currently, the quintet consists of John's son, Gerald Clayton on piano (also Grammy© nominated for his 2009 CD  “Two Shade”, for Best Instrumental Composition, “Battle Circle” from The Clayton Brothers’ “The New Song and Dance” CD and in 2011 for Best Jazz Instrumental Album for “Bond: The Paris Sessions”) .

Multi-Grammy® Award winning Spanish Harlem Orchestra

founder Oscar Hernández is all about tradition. Born into a large Puerto Rican family living in the Bronx, it was the nearby Spanish Harlem neighborhood that shaped his cultural musical sensibilities. The soundtrack to this bustling enclave in the ‘60s, emanating from any given window on any given day, was a mix of Latin Jazz and American pop radio.  In the spirit of this tradition the Spanish Harlem Orchestra was born.

With each album, and every Grammy nomination, this Latin Jazz powerhouse knows it is crucial to continually push themselves and raise the bar. We are very proud to host Oscar and the members of this world class ensemble on here ArtistShare.

Born in the province of Pinar del Río, Cuba, Steinway Artist, pianist and composer Elio Villafranca is a 2021 Guggenheim Fellowship recipient; a two-time Grammy nominee; 2019 Downbeat Critic’s Poll Rising Stars Pianist; winner of the 2018 Downbeat Critic’s Poll Rising Stars Keyboard; first Cuban born recipient of the Sunshine Award (2017), founded to recognize excellence in the performing arts, education, science and sports of the various Caribbean countries, South America, Centro America, and Africa; and a recipient of the first Jazz at Lincoln Center (JALC) Millennium Swing Award! in 2014.

Over the years Elio Villafranca has recorded and performed nationally and internationally as a leader, featuring jazz master artists such as Pat Martino, Wynton Marsalis, Christian McBride, Paquito D’Rivera, Chick Corea, Jon Faddis, and Johnny Pacheco, among others. He is based in New York City and he is a jazz faculty member at The Juilliard School of Music, Manhattan School of Music, and Temple University in Philadelphia.

A world-class soloist, accomplished composer and formidable bandleader,

saxophonist Chris Potter has emerged as a leading light of his generation. Down Beat called him "One of the most studied (and copied) saxophonists on the planet" while Jazz Times identified him as "a figure of international renown."

Born in Chicago on New Year’s Day 1971, Chris Potter took up the alto sax at the age of ten and played on his first jazz gig at the age of 13. His education took him to New York City’s New School and Manhattan School of Music. Graduating from Manhattan in 1993, Potter began a long series of sideman activities with top names like the Mingus Big Band, Paul Motion, Ray Brown, Jim Hall, James Moody, Dave Douglas, Mike Mainieri and many more. Although he’s performed extensively with the incredible bassist/composer Dave Holland’s various ensembles, Potter has been performing all over the world with his own groups since the release of "Gratitude" early 2001. Potter has consistently appeared in the Down Beat Critic’s and Reader’s Polls and has been named Tenor Saxophonist of the Year by the Jazz Journalists Association. He received a Grammy nomitation for Best Instrumental Solo for his playing on Joanne Brackeen’s "Pink Elephant Magic."

Grammy® nominated composer/trombonist

Bob Brookmeyer (1929-2011) was named as one the National Endowment for the Arts' 2006 Jazz Masters. He was best known for his writing, especially his arrangements for big bands, which captured the spirit of past masters like Duke Ellington and Count Basie while remaining thoroughly contemporary. His charts in the 1960s for Mulligan’s Concert Jazz Band and the Thad Jones-Mel Lewis Jazz Orchestra helped invigorate the big-band genre at a time when many critics considered it moribund. As a valve trombonist, Bob worked with artists such as Gerry Mulligan, Stan Getz, Clark Terry, Jimmy Guiffre, and Clark Terry. Also an accomplished pianist, he recorded a two-piano album with Bill Evans in 1959. Highly respected as a teacher, he taught classes at the New England Conservatory. ArtistShare was fortunate enough to have recorded and released two monumental recordings by this Jazz master, "Spirit Music" and "The Standards Project." Bob passed away on December 15, 2011 and will be greatly missed by us all.

Ryan Truesdell

is a GRAMMY® winning producer, composer, arranger and one of the foremost scholars on the music of Gil Evans. He has produced two GRAMMY® nominated albums with his award-winning Gil Evans Project – Centennial and Lines of Color – as well as award-winning recording projects for Maria Schneider and Bob Brookmeyer.

Truesdell is also an in-demand clinician, educator and guest artist, and works with many highly regarded programs around the world.

Trombonist Robin Eubanks

has an impressive list of performance credits, including Slide Hampton, Sun Ra, Stevie Wonder, Art Blakey, Bobby Previte, Steve Turre, Dave Holland, Eric Harland, Mark Turner, Avishai Cohen, Miguel Zenón, Stefon Harris, Edward Simon, Matt Penman, The Tonight Show Band, and the Saturday Night Live band. Robin teaches at the New England Conservatory in Boston, Oberlin Conservatory in Ohio, and New York University. He won Grammys for his performances on Michael Brecker’s Wide Angles and Dave Holland’s What Goes Around and Overtime. And in 2014, Robin won the Jazz Times Critics Poll for Best Trombonist and is a multiple winner of Downbeat’s Readers and Critics Polls for Trombonist of the Year. He’s also won compositional grants from Chamber Music America and an ASCAP Composer’s grant. Robin comes from a musical family which includes his brothers guitarist Kevin Eubanks and trumpeter Duane Eubanks.

Manhattan-born and raised Rachel Nicolazzo (aka Rachel Z)

had music practically ingrained in her genetic code. Groomed to follow in her mother’s operatic footsteps, she began voice lessons at two, started classical piano lessons at seven and attended the opera by age nine.

Listening to Herbie Hancock’s harmonies over Wayne Shorter’s compositions helped her bridge the gap from her classical training to jazz. After launching a quintet called Nardis, she studied with Joanne Brackeen and Richie Beirach. Rachel Z graduated from the New England Conservatory with a ‘Distinction in Performance’ award while working professionally in the Boston area with performers like Bob Moses, Miroslav Vitous and George Garzone.

She began performing and recording steadily with the classic fusion band Steps Ahead from 1988 through 1996. Rachel also worked with Al Di Meola, Larry Coryell, Special EFX, and Angela Bofill, and began a fruitful association with producer/vibraphonist Mike Mainieri. She worked with Wayne Shorter on his hit comeback album "High Life," for which she built a synthesized orchestral framework to crystallize his musical vision. She played piano on the recording served as the musical director for the tour that followed. The album won a Grammy for Best Contemporary Jazz Album.

Danilo Pérez

started his musical studies when he was three years old with his father, a bandleader and singer. He went on to study at the National Conservatory in Panama and the Berklee College of Music. While still a student, he worked as a sideman with Jon Hendricks, Terence Blanchard, Slide Hampton, Claudio Roditi and Paquito D’Rivera, and went on to perform with the likes legends Wayne Shorter, Steve Lacy, and Roy Haynes.

Perez has released eight ablums a leader, earning Grammy® and Latin Grammy® nominations for "Central Avenue (1989)," "Motherland (2000)," and "Across The Crystal Sea (2008)." As a composer he has been commissioned by The Lincoln Center, Chicago Jazz Festival, Carnegie Hall and Imani Winds Quintet among others.

Pérez, who served as Goodwill Ambassador to UNICEF, has received a variety of awards for his musical achievements, activism and social work efforts. He currently serves as UNESCO Artist for Peace, Cultural Ambassador to the Republic of Panama, Founder and Artistic Director of the Panama Jazz Festival, and Artistic Director of the Berklee Global Jazz Institute in Boston’s Berklee College of Music.

Grammy© Award Winner

Brian Lynch is a vital force and emergent legend within both the hardcore straight ahead and Latin Jazz communities. He is as comfortable negotiating the complexities of clave with Afro-Caribbean pioneer Eddie Palmieri as he is swinging through advanced harmony with bebop maestro Phil Woods. A honored graduate of two of the jazz world’s most distinguished academies, Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers and the Horace Silver Quintet, he has been a valued collaborator with jazz artists such as Benny Golson, Toshiko Akiyoshi, and Charles McPherson; Latin music icons as diverse as Hector LaVoe and Lila Downs; and pop luminaries such as Prince. As a bandleader and recording artist he has released 19 critically acclaimed CDs featuring his distinctive composing and arranging, and toured the world with various ensembles reflecting the wide sweep of his music. He currently is Professor of Jazz Trumpet at the Frost School Of Music, University of Miami as well as conducting clinics, residencies and workshops at prestigious institutions of learning the world over. His talents have been recognized by top placing in the Downbeat Critics and Readers Polls (#3 Trumpet 2011 Critics Poll), 2005 and 2007 Grammy award nominations, and grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, Chamber Music America, and Meet The Composer.

Ingrid Jensen

has been hailed as one of the most gifted trumpeters of her generation. After graduating from Berklee College of Music in 1989, she recorded three highly acclaimed CDs for the ENJA record label, soon becoming one of the most in-demand trumpet players in the global jazz scene. After a teaching stint in Europe in her early twenties (as the youngest professor in the history of the Bruckner Conservatory in Linz, Austria), Ingrid settled in New York City in the mid-1990s where she joined the innovative jazz orchestras of Maria Schneider and Darcy James Argue. More recently, Ingrid has been performing with the Grammy- winning Terri-Lyne Carrington and her Mosaic Project. Ingrid is a featured soloist on the Christine Jensen Jazz Orchestra’s JUNO award winning album Treelines (2011), and its successor, Habitat (2013). She has performed with a multi-generational cast of jazz legends ranging from Clark Terry to Esperanza Spalding. Ingrid has also performed alongside British R&B artist Corrine Bailey Rae on Saturday Night Live and recorded with Canadian pop icon Sarah McLachlan. In addition to her busy sideman and featured soloist schedule, Ingrid leads her own quintet, quartet and organ trio. Her own bands have garnered glowing reviews and a loyal fan base in Australia, South Africa, Europe, Canada, the US, South America (including Brazil, Peru and Chile), Japan and Mexico. Ingrid won the Carmine Caruso Trumpet Competition in 1991 and has twice served on the judges' panel.

Donny McCaslin

picked up the saxophone at an early age and has explored the extensive stylistic possibilities of the instrument, from modern jazz to funk to lush ballads. At the age of 12, McCaslin began playing with a group led by his father, a vibraphonist. As a senior at Berklee, he joined vibraphonist Gary Burton’s quartet and toured internationally with the group for four years. McCaslin went on to work with Steps Ahead, the Maria Schneider Orchestra, the Gil Evans Orchestra, George Gruntz Concert Jazz Band, The Danilo Perez Quartet, and Santi Debriano’s Panamaniacs. He was also a member of the experimental jazz group Lan Xang. McCaslin has released numerous records under his own name and has received three Grammy nominations. 

Scott Colley

graduated from CalArts with a Bachelor of Music degree in 1988. He has been the bassist of choice for such jazz legends as Herbie Hancock, Jim Hall, Andrew Hill, and Michael Brecker.

His remarkably empathetic skills, strong melodic sense and improvisational abilities have served him well in groups led by colleagues Chris Potter, Adam Rogers, Brian Blade, David Binney, and Kenny Werner. Colley has flourished as a composer and bandleader, starting with his 1996 release, “Portable Universe.” Colley has appeared on more than 200 albums to date.

A native New Yorker, saxophonist and composer Jon Gordon

was born into a musical family and began playing at age ten. He attended Performing Arts High School and won numerous competitions, including the Julius Grossman, Goldman Band, and Performing Arts Concerto competitions. This led to performances as a soloist with the Julius Grossman Orchestra, Goldman Band and the Performing Arts Orchestra.

Since that time, he has worked with Maria Schneider, Ron McClure, Clark Terry, Benny Carter, Phil Woods, T.S. Monk, TanaReid, Bill Mays, The Vanguard orchestra, Bill Charlap, Ray Barreto, Mark Turner, George Colligan, Chico Hamilton, Jimmy Cobb, Ben Riley, Harry Connick jr., Bob Mintzer, Bill Mobley, and the N.Y. Pops Orchestra, among many others. Jon also appears regularly as a member of the Jazz Nativity, whose other featured artists have included Tito Puente, Ron Carter, Dave Brubeck, Savion Glover, Slide Hampton, and Harold Nicholas.

Additionally, Jon has led his own groups at various European, Canadian and U.S. jazz festivals and clubs, including Ronnie Scott’s and The Pizza Express, The Sunside, The Sunset, LA Villa, The Brecon Jazz Festival, and others. In November of 1996, Jon won the Thelonious Monk International Jazz Saxophone Competition.

Geoffrey Keezer

was playing in jazz clubs as a teenager, holding down the piano chair for Art Blakey at age 18, and touring in the company of Joshua Redman, Benny Golson and Ray Brown in his 20s. More recently he has toured with David Sanborn, Chris Botti, Joe Locke and Christian McBride; worked with vocalist Denise Donatelli on projects garnering three GRAMMY® nominations, and released a series of albums drawing influences from Hawaiian, Okinawan and Afro-Peruvian folk traditions. Perhaps the most exciting turn in Geoffrey’s career is his recent focus on solo piano and his first solo release in thirteen years, "Heart of the Piano." Geoffrey Keezer’s singular style of intellectually abstract lyricism woven over exotically complex rhythms and harmonies makes him one of the most sought-after artists on the modern jazz scene.

Kate Schutt

is a singer, songwriter, guitarist and producer living in New York City. Raised in Chadds Ford, PA, Kate was schooled in Boston, both in Harvard’s English department, where she studied the influence of jazz on modern poetry, and at Berklee College of Music, where she studied jazz guitar. A constant collaborator, Kate has worked with John Ellis (Charlie Hunter), Terri Lyne Carrington (Herbie Hancock), and Viktor Krauss (Lyle Lovett, Bill Frisell), to name only a few. In 2007 & 2009 Kate was the John Lennon Songwriting Contest Winner in the Jazz Category and received the ASCAP Plus Awards for Jazz Composition from 2006- 2009.

Nominated for the Pulitzer Prize

for composing the orchestral work An American Concerto, he has won two GRAMMYs for his jazz arrangements, four Emmys for his television music, an Oscar nomination for film composition, and the Richard Kirk Award from BMI.

Williams has scored more than 200 films, including Breaking Away, which received a 1978 Oscar nomination; All of Me, Swing Shift, Cuba, Casey's Shadow, and The Grass Harp. For television, his music has graced such classics as Columbo, Lou Grant, The Mary Tyler Moore Show, The Streets of San Francisco, and The Days and Nights of Molly Dodd. In addition to his 4 Emmys, he has received 23 nominations.

Several of Williams' recordings are considered contemporary big-band standards, including Threshold, which won a 1974 GRAMMY; Too Hip for the Room, a GRAMMY nominee in 1983; Tenth Avenue, a double GRAMMY nominee in 1987; and Sinatraland, a tribute to the singer which was GRAMMY-nominated in 1998. Williams has received 16 GRAMMY nominations for his compositions and arrangements.

Julian Lage

emerged on the music scene at a young age. The young San Francisco Bay Area-based musician was offered record deals on numerous occasions. Playing a unique style that melded blues, classical, folk and jazz influences, Lage decided to wait for the right moment to document his own music. He chooses instead to become a sideman with established instrumentalists like Gary Burton and to collaborate with contemporaries such as pianist Taylor Eigsti. He also went on to perform with Pat Metheny, Kenney Werner, Toots Thielemans, Martin Taylor, and others. He performed at the 2000 Grammy Awards.
 Along the way, Lage received recognition from musical luminaries, including Herbie Hancock and Béla Fleck, and patiently waited until he was ready to go into a studio with a band of like-minded players to realize his own musical vision. He graduated from the Berklee College of Music in 2008 and has since released nine albums as a leader or co-leader.

Fabian Almazan

is an award-winning Cuban-born American pianist and composer based in New York City.  Fabian is a graduate of the New World School of the Arts High School in Miami, FL, the Brubeck Institute, and the Manhattan School of Music. He has been a touring member of the Terence Blanchard Group for a number of years, and has also worked with artists such as Gretchen Parlato, Paquito D'Rivera, Christian Scott, Chris Dingman, David Sanchez, Stefon Harris, Kendrick Scott, and Ambrose Akinmusire among others.

Fabian received the Cintas Foundation 2010/11 Brandon Fradd Award in Music Composition, and he was selected to participate in the Sundance Composers’ Lab in 2011. He was voted #1 Rising Piano Star on the Downbeat Magazine Critics 2014 Poll and was granted the Chamber Music America 2014 NEW Jazz Works commission. Fabian was recently nominated for a Grammy for his work on Terence Blanchard’s "Breathless."

The Kentucky-born, New Orleans-schooled, New York-based

pianist/composer Jon Cowherd is best known for his long-running partnership with drummer/bandleader Brian Blade, with whom he co-founded the Brian Blade Fellowship, whose acclaimed, influential albums showcase Jon's keyboard work and compositions. When not recording and touring with the Fellowship, Cowherd has worked extensively with a broad array of players, singers, and ensembles from the jazz, pop, classical, and rock worlds including Cassandra Wilson's band, Rosanne Cash, Lizz Wright, Iggy Pop, Marc Cohn, Mark Olson and Victoria Williams, Daniel Lanois, Joni Mitchell, John Leventhal, Kurt Rosenwinkel, Dave Easley, Delfeayo Marsalis, Jeff Parker, Marcus Strickland, Jack Wilkins, the New Orleans Ballet, and the New Orleans Symphony and Opera. As a producer, Cowherd has overseen albums by Lizz Wright, Alyssa Graham and The Local NYC.

Grammy nominated multi-instrumentalist

Gonzalo Grau established himself through performances with Venezuelan music projects like Maroa, Schola Cantorum de Venezuela, Camerata de Caracas and the Simón Bolivar National Youth Orchestra, jazz icon Maria Schneider and the Latin jazz giant Timbalaye. A Berklee College Suma Cum Laude, Gonzalo developed skills in many instruments, including the viola da gamaba, the cello, and the flamenco cajón. As a music director he leads two projects of his own, "Plural" (Latin jazz-Flamenco-Venezuelan fusion) and "La Clave Secreta" (salsa fusion), which was nominated for the 2008 Grammys in the Best Tropical Album category. As a recording artist, Grau has participated in over eighty productions that bridge both classical and popular music worlds. His most recent productions include the studio recording of Golijov's "La Pasión Según San Marcos" (winner of the ECHO award 2010), the album "México of Rolando Villazón" (winner of the ECHO award 2011), and "Nazareno" with pianists Katia and Marielle Labeque. He has also produced a performance of "West Side Story" with the Labeque sisters (winner of the Choc the Classica). As a composer he has collaborated with the legendary Osvaldo Golijov for the opera Ainadamar and La Pasion Segun San Marcos. He has been commissioned by the Atlanta Symphony, the Chicago Symphony, the Bach Academy Natural, pianists Katia & Marielle Labeque, and others.