Billy Martin: ‍

Born in NYC in 1963 to a Radio City Rockette and a concert violinist.  At age 17, he devoted himself to music and dove into Manhattan’s thriving, eclectic musical landscape.  In the years to follow, he honed his craft everywhere from Broadway orchestra pits to Brazilian nightclubs and burgeoning underground performance spaces. In the late 1980’s East Village Martin found his home (and his artistic voice) playing at the original  Knitting Factory on Houston Street with John Lurie’s Lounge Lizards, The John Lurie National Orchestra, John Zorn’s Cobra ensembles, Samm Bennett, Ned Rothenberg, and many other uncompromising musical groups.
From the roots of the downtown scene he emerged with Medeski Martin and Wood, bridging the harmonic complexity of jazz, the conversational fluency of free improvisation, and the groove and swagger of classic R&B and funk. A series of albums and high-profile collaborations with  Iggy Pop, Sinead O’Connor, Burning Spear, John Scofield, John Zorn, Natalie Merchant, and others, brought the band international acclaim. Martin has relentlessly pursued diverse musical contexts, from free improvisation to chamber compositions to film scores.

‍

Steven Berstein:

An impactful presence on the New York scene over the past 30 years, trumpeter, composer, arranger and bandleader Steven Bernstein has immersed himself in such a wide array of music with his bands Sexmob, Millennial Territory Orchestra, Diaspora Soul, Universal Melody Brass Band, Spanish Fly, Blue Campfire and the Butler-Bernstein Hot 9 that he defies easy categorization. A former member of the Lounge Lizards and Levon Helm’s Midnight Ramble Band, Bernstein has also composed works for film, theater and dance in addition to doing arrangements for a diverse list of artists ranging from Lou Reed to Lee “Scratch” Perry, Allen Toussaint, Marianne Faithfull, Linda Ronstadt, Rufus Wainwright, Darlene Love, Mario Pavone, Bill Frisell, John Lurie and the Kansas City All-Stars. His lengthy list of sideman credits includes recent recordings by Laurie Anderson (Heart of a Dog), Roswell Rudd (Trombone for Lovers), Mostly Other People Do The Killing (Loafer’s Hollow), Antony and the Johnsons (Turning) and Nels Cline (Lovers). He also continues to perform with Ray Anderson’s Pocket Brass Band, Omaha Diner and the Kamikaze Ground Crew.

Steve Gorn:

Grammy winner, and five time Grammy nominee, Steve Gorn is creating a new idiom, a music that combines the essence of classical Indian tradition with a contemporary world music sensibility. The strength of this music arises from a virtuoso mastery, generating a vibrant fusion, alive and accessible to western ears. From Indian classical music to world music and jazz projects with Paul Simon, Jack DeJohnette, Paul Winter and others, Steve infuses great mastery with a haunting, lyrical sweetness to bring the healing breath of the sacred to our demanding contemporary lives

Steve’s first steps on this path were taken as a young jazz musician studying composition at Penn State. He noticed how John Coltrane and Charles Lloyd had begun to incorporate aspects of Indian music into their playing. He investigated modal music and listened to Bismallah Khan who played the shenai, (Indian oboe), and to Ravi Shankar and Ali Akbar Khan who were then only beginning to become known to Western audiences. Drawn by these sounds, he followed the music east and found himself in Benares, India in 1969, in a boat on the Ganges with the famous sarangi master, Gopal Misra, listening to his classical raga float out over the water in the evening light.

Cyro Baptista:

Cyro Baptista is a Brazilian born percussionist and composer whose vast talent and penchant for innovation brought him to be praised as one of the most respected musicians in the world. Cyro’s endless sonic curiosity and intense rhythmic led him to create several musical ensembles and record many albums of his own. He has also lent his sounds to several GRAMMY award-winning records and to over 300 CDs with many of the most beloved musicians in the world. Cyro’s credits read like a "Who’s Who" of modern music. His talent and versatility have led to associations with a wide range of leading jazz, rock, pop, classical, avant-garde and Brazilian artists. From Paul Simon to Yo-Yo-Ma, Herbie Hancock to Kathleen Battle, Trey Anastasio( from Phish) to John Zorn, Wynton Marsalis to Laurie Anderson, from the legendary Brazilians Milton Nascimento and Caetano Veloso to Sting –  they all wanted Cyro’s magic touch on their recordings or live performances. Baptista leads four different ensembles with ten released albums under his name. He tours continuously throughout the world with them. He conducts master classes at major musical institutions, such as Juilliard School, Berklee College of Music, New York University, Mannes College of Music, The New School, Holy Cross University, New World Symphony Orchestra, University of Vermont, University of Buffalo, Kimmel Center Jazz Camp, and K-12 schools across the country. Baptista has a great interest in education and sharing his knowledge and experiences, especially to underserved factions of society through his “Sound of Community” initiative.

Kirk Knuffke:

“One of modern jazz’s most skilled navigators of the divide between inside and outside, freedom and swing," Cornetist and Composer Kirk Knuffke has “full command of his most demanding instrument” (All About Jazz). Accolades for Knuffke include NPR’s Best Jazz Album of the Year for 2017’s Cherryco (SteepleChase),winner of DownBeat Magazine’s “Rising Star” critics poll in 2015, and recipient of the Jerome Foundation Composers grant. In 2016, he placed 2nd in the European El Intruso Critics poll for trumpet. Knuffke has released 18 recordings as leader or co-leader and is featured as a sideman on over 50 recordings with leaders Matt Wilson, Allison Miller, Butch Morris, Uri Caine, Pierre Dorge and Michael Formanek to name a few. It’s no wonder the New York Times tagged Knuffke as “one of New York City’s Busiest Musicians.”

‍