Kendra Shank's seven CDs have won numerous “Best of the Year” citations, a New York Times “Critic’s Choice,” Downbeat poll recognition, and accolades for her “delectable voice” (Terry Teachout,TIME magazine). Born in California to an actress mother and playwright father, she was on stage at age 5 and began her music career at 19, busking in Parisian cafés as a folk singer-guitarist. A decade later her passion turned to jazz and she studied with Jay Clayton while honing her craft in Seattle and Paris jazz clubs. She soon caught the attention of Shirley Horn who co-produced Shank’s debut CD and presented her at New York’s Village Vanguard in 1992. Since moving to New York in 1997 Shank has become a prominent figure on the city’s jazz scene, headlining at The Blue Note, Birdland, Jazz Standard, and Iridium, and featured on NPR’s JazzSet and Marian McPartland’s Piano Jazz. She has toured in Europe, Asia, Africa, Australia, Canada and across the U.S. with festival appearances at JVC Jazz, Freihofer’s Saratoga Jazz, Jazz Port Townsend, Jazz à Vienne, Jazz in Marciac, Wangaratta Jazz, Calgary Jazz, Edmonton Jazz, and premier clubs. In addition to leading her group of 18 years with pianist Frank Kimbrough and bassist Dean Johnson, Shank was guest guitarist on Abbey Lincoln’s Over The Years CD, and has performed and/or recorded as a vocalist with Fred Hersch, Geoffrey Keezer, Larry Willis, Joe Locke, Bob Dorough, Jay Clayton, Gary Bartz, Steve Wilson, Peter Leitch, John Stowell, Ben Monder, Victor Lewis, and Matt Wilson, among others.  kendrashank.com

Pianist Frank Kimbrough has been active on the New York jazz scene for 35 years. He has recorded as a leader for Pirouet, Newvelle, Palmetto, OmniTone, Soul Note, Igmod, and Mapleshade. In addition to leading his own trio with bassist Jay Anderson and drummer Jeff Hirshfield, he has played with the Maria Schneider Orchestra, Dewey Redman, Ben Allison, Joe Locke, Ted Nash and numerous others. Frank was a founding member and composer-in-residence of the Jazz Composers Collective (1992 - 2005) and played in nearly 20 of its associated groups. He has been included in the Downbeat Critics Poll each year since 2001 and his recordings are often included in jazz critics' year's-end top-ten lists. Frank's work has received funding from the National Endowment for the Arts, Meet the Composer, and from Chamber Music America's Doris Duke Jazz Ensembles Project, and he is on the faculty at Juilliard.  frankkimbrough.com

Since arriving in New York in 1980, bassist Dean Johnson has performed with a wide variety of artists including Bob Brookmeyer, Randy Brecker, Joe Lovano, Dave Liebman, Phil Woods, Fred Hersch, Dave Douglas, Lee Konitz, Jane Ira Bloom, Nguyen Le, Steve Kuhn, Wynton Marsalis, Art Farmer, Bill Frisell, Art Lande, The New York Voices, Mark Murphy, Sheila Jordan, Helen Merrill, Kendra Shank, and a 10 year association with Gerry Mulligan. Dean has appeared on over 50 recordings with a variety of artists and has traveled extensively throughout the U.S., Canada, Europe, Japan, Brazil, Australia, Mexico, and Israel. His debut recording as a leader titled “Triology,” featuring four different trios, was released in 2016.  deanjohnsonbassist.com

New York based drummer and Grammy nominee Matt Wilson is one of today’s most celebrated jazz artists. He is universally recognized for his musical and melodic drumming style, as well as being a gifted composer, bandleader, producer, and teaching artist. Matt was featured on the covers of both Downbeat and JazzTimes in November 2009, and was voted #1 Rising Star Drummer for five consecutive years in the Downbeat Critic’s Poll. The readers of JazzTimes chose Matt as one of the top four drummers in the 2010 Readers Poll. He has performed with many legends of music including Herbie Hancock, Dewey Redman, Andrew Hill, Bobby Hutcherson, Elvis Costello, Cedar Walton, Kenny Barron, Joe Lovano, Charlie Haden, Wynton Marsalis, Michael Brecker, Pat Metheny, Bill Frisell and Hank Jones. Matt has appeared on 250 CDs as a sideman and has released 9 as a leader for Palmetto Records as well as co-leading 5 additional releases.  mattwilsonjazz.com