About the Musicians

Saxophonist John Ellis was born in North Carolina. He took piano lessons as a child, soon switched to clarinet, and became seriously drawn to music when he heard the music of legendary ragtime composer Scott Joplin. After moving to New Orleans, Ellis's jazz chops improved radically as he gigged with the likes of Ellis Marsalis and Walter Payton. After three years he went north to New York City, graduating from the New School and settling into the city's thriving jazz scene. Along the way, Ellis spent six years as a member of jazz guitarist Charlie Hunter's group, cutting four albums with them while developing his own sound. In 2002 he released the critically acclaimed Roots, Branches and Leaves. That was followed by One Foot in the Swamp (2005), By a Thread (2006), and 2008's Dance Like There's No Tomorrow, with John Ellis & Double-Wide.

Grandpa Musselman & His Syncopators is a New York City group performing masterpieces from the first generation of jazz. Led by trombonist Matt Musselman, the ensemble consists of six conservatory-trained musicians assembled in a classic New Orleans configuration (trumpet, trombone, soprano saxophone, piano, tuba and drums) exploring vintage repertoire spanning 1900s ragtime to 1950s swing. The Syncopators formed in 2006 when Mr. Musselman organized his classmates at the Manhattan School of Music to play original Jelly Roll Morton stock-arrangements from the Library of Congress. Since that time they have played at the MoMA, the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the South Street Seaport Museum, the Slipper Room, the Gershwin Hotel, Bryant Park, and Bargemusic.

Roaring out of Brooklyn comes the Hungry March Band, NYC's legendary street brass band with the anarchic style that has become their trademark. The Hungry March Band has earned a reputation for mythical revelry, having performed at guerilla art events, mermaid parades, rural raves, subway parties, eccentric weddings, community affairs, protests, high art events, the Staten Island Ferry, Brighton Beach Boardwalks, MoMA, Lincoln Center, steps of the NYC Post Office, and playing themselves in the final scene of John Cameron Mitchell's recent film "Shortbus."

Since arriving in New Orleans in 1992, Matt Perine has crossed many musical boundaries. A triple threat, excelling on upright bass, acoustic bass and sousaphone, his reputation as a consummate musician has opened doors into almost every genre in the New Orleans musical arena. His work on the sousaphone with bands such as the New Orleans Nightcrawlers, Bonerama, OK-Go, The Indigo Girls, Pete Fountain, Better Than Ezra and Bruce Hornsby has garnered him much attention. In 2007, Matt released his first solo record, "Sunflower City," featuring a who's-who of New Orleans finest musicians. It was nominated for Album of the Year by Gambit Magazine.

One of the few jazz musicians to play the unwieldy euphonium, Kiane Zawadi is also an accomplished trombonist. He was born Bernard McKinney to a large, musically-inclined family; several of his nine siblings also became musicians. His first professional gig was with pianist Barry Harris and saxophonist Sonny Stitt in 1951. During the mid-'50s Zawadi worked with drummer Art Blakey, saxophonist Yusef Lateef, and trumpeter Donald Byrd. He went to New York with Lateef in 1959 and decided to stay; there he worked with saxophonist Illinois Jacquet and trombonist Slide Hampton. He also recorded with baritone saxophonist Pepper Adams, pianist/bandleader Sun Ra, trumpeter Freddie Hubbard, saxophonist James Moody and trombonist Curtis Fuller in the late '50s and early '60s, taking the name Kiane Zawadi. During the '70s he recorded and performed in a variety of styles with such musicians as saxophonists Archie Shepp, Carlos Garnett, Harold Vick, and Frank Foster and trumpeter Charles Tolliver, as well as pianists Dollar Brand and McCoy Tyner. Zawadi has also played with percussionist Mongo Santamaria, trumpeters Dizzy Gillespie and Clark Terry, saxophonist Joe Henderson, and singer Aretha Franklin, among others.