Charles McPherson was born in Joplin, Missouri in 1939 and moved to Detroit at age nine. While growing up in Detroit, he studied with the renowned pianist Barry Harris and started playing jazz professionally at age 19. He then moved from Detroit to New York in 1959 in order to be in the heart of the jazz scene. McPherson soon joined bassist Charles Mingus’ band and performed with Mingus from 1960 to 1972. While performing with Mingus, he collaborated frequently with Harris, Lonnie Hillyer, and George Coleman. McPherson remains a strong, viable force on the jazz scene today. Throughout his over six decades of being an integral performer of the music, Charles has not merely remained true to his Bebop origins but has expanded on them. Stanley Crouch says in his New York Times article on Charles, “he is a singular voice who has never sacrificed the fluidity of his melody making and is held in high esteem by musicians both long seasoned and young.” Wynton Marsalis, a longtime admirer says: “Charles is the very definition of excellence in our music. He is the definitive master on this instrument. He plays with exceptional harmonic accuracy and sophistication. He performs free-flowing, melodic and thematically developed solos with unbelievable fire and an unparalleled depth of soul.”

Sean Jones is an internationally recognized educator. He is president of the Jazz Education Network and holds the Richard and Elizabeth Case Chair in Jazz Studies at The John Hopkins University’s Peabody Institute in Baltimore. As well as artistic Director for the NYO JAZZ Program of Carnegie Hall. Previously, he served as chair of the Brass department at Berklee College of Music in Boston. Music and spirituality have always been intertwined in the artistic vision of trumpeter, bandleader, composer, educator, and activist Sean Jones. Jones sang and performed as a child with the church choir in his hometown of Warren, Ohio, and switched from playing the drums to the trumpet at the age of 10. He is a musical chameleon, comfortable in any musical setting no matter the role or genre. After a six-month stint with the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra, Wynton Marsalis offered him a permanent position as lead trumpeter of the ensemble, a post he held from 2004 until 2010.

Jeb Patton, described as both a “young phenomon… on piano” and an “absolute great,” has earned a well-regarded reputation in the international jazz community. The multi-talented Patton is known as a “player of great expression” and “not one to tread the predictable,” as well as a “simpatico accompanist” for The Heath Brothers, an “innovative” arranger, and one who “cuts… [an] impressive swath on his composition, ‘Hanna’s Mood,'” a tribute to his late teacher, Sir Roland Hanna.

Russell Hall was born in Kingston, Jamaica and migrated to the United States in 2007. Under the tutelage of The Commodores, he discovered the bridge between the world of drama and the world of music. He progressed quickly from the electric bass to the double bass through the rigorous programs of The Dillard Center for the Arts and The Juilliard School. Now, he is revered as one of the most in demand artist in New York City, performing with some of the biggest names in music, dance and film.

Billy Drummond is acclaimed by Downbeat as one of the hippest bandleaders now at work, his thrilling, powerful and highly musical playing has also made him one of the most called-for sidemen of his generation. Mentored in the bands of jazz legends Horace Silver, Joe Henderson, Bobby Hutcherson, JJ Johnson and Sonny Rollins, Drummond is now widely acknowledged as one of today’s most versatile drummers, making sideman appearances with a veritable who’s who of jazz greats on over 350 albums.

::club date/restaurant, Keystone Korner Baltimore::