Drummer Billy Hart was recently named an NEA Jazz Master and with his long and impressive resume, it was surprising that he wasn’t named one before. A first-call sideman for many years, he’s performed and recorded with just about every major figure in the history of jazz (including Herbie Hancock, Jimmy Smith, Wes Montgomery, Pharoah […]

Drummer Jeff Hamilton has been honing his big band skills since the tender age of 8, earning him a presence on the stage with legends like Ella Fitzgerald, the Count Basie Orchestra, Rosemary Clooney, Monty Alexander, and Diana Krall. Featured in nearly 200 recordings – including 16 Grammy® Award-winning titles – with the likes of Natalie Cole, […]

Lewis Nash is one of jazz’s most recorded musicians, appearing on over 500 recordings including 10 Grammy® winners and numerous Grammy® nominees. Nash has the distinction of being the only musician in jazz history featured on the winners in both the “Best Jazz Vocal” and “Best Jazz Instrumental” album categories in two separate years: the […]

Since coming of age in the nurturing environment of a very musical family and a distinguished bloodline of drummers, New Orleans native Herlin Riley emerged from that most creative era of all things rhythmic in the late ‘70s and early ‘80s, to enliven the ensembles of such influential and demanding improvisers as pianist Ahmad Jamal […]

Drummer, composer, arranger Allison Miller is descended from a long line of musicians on the maternal side of her family. Her grandmother was a professional organist in Oklahoma, whose sister was a professional singer. Her mother is a classical pianist and choral director. Miller has a cousin who she described as “a very famous opera singer”. […]

Few musicians embody the spontaneous energy of jazz quite like Matt Wilson. The New York-based drummer combines buoyant zeal, idiosyncratic style, infectious humor, joyous swing, and an indomitable spirit of surprise, making him one of the most in-demand players and educators in jazz today. Wilson was named 2018 Musician of the Year by the Jazz Journalists […]

With over 200 recordings to his credit, the gifted Milwaukee-born, New York-based drummer, sideman, bandleader, entrepreneur, and educator, Carl Allen’s profound and propulsive percolations provided soulful and syncopated support for nearly three decades.  Allen joined trumpeter Freddie Hubbard a year before his graduation,  served as his Musical Director for eight years, and recorded several recordings […]