As a pianist and artistic director of ensembles, Jon Jang has toured at major concert halls and music festivals in China, South Africa (1994), Europe, Canada and the United States. At the same time Jang has been a consistent presence in the community here in the San Francisco Bay Area as a California Arts Council Artist in Residence 1990-1993, Meet The Composer New Resident 2000-2003 and founder and director of his resident company Jon Jang Performances.  With over ten recordings as a leader or collaborator, Jang has recorded with distinguished artists such as Max Roach, Maxine Hong Kingston, James Newton, David Murray, Zhang Yan and Jiebing Chen. As a composer, Jang has received commissions from the Sacramento Philharmonic and Oakland East Bay Symphony (Chinese American Symphony), the National Endowment for the Arts, The Library of Congress, Kronos Quartet, Berkeley Repertory Theatre, Chanticleer, Brava! for Women in the Arts, Kulintang Arts and others. www.jonjang.com, photo by Francisco Garcia

Marcus Anthony Shelby is an accomplished teacher, composer, arranger, and bassist who currently lives in San Francisco, California. Over the past 20 years, he has built a diverse biography. From 1990-1996, Shelby was bandleader of Columbia Records and GRP Impulse! Recording Artists Black/Note and is currently the Artistic Director and leader of The Marcus Shelby Orchestra, The Marcus Shelby Hot 7, and the The Marcus Shelby Trio. Shelby was awarded a 2009 Black Metropolis Research Consortium Fellowship in Chicago for summer 2009 to conduct research for his commission to compose "Soul of the Movement". Shelby was also a 2006 Fellow in the Resident Dialogues Program of the Committee for Black Performing Arts at Stanford University to conduct research for his commission to compose "Harriet Tubman". Shelby also has had the honor of arranging for and conducting the Count Basie Orchestra featuring Ledisi, performing with Tom Waits, and receiving the City Flight Magazine 2005 award as one of the "Top Ten Most Influential African Americans in the Bay Area". As the 1991 winner of the Charles Mingus Scholarship, Shelby's studies include work under the tutelage of composer James Newton and legendary bassist Charlie Haden. www.marcusshelby.com

Howard Wiley www.howardwiley.com

Francis Wong www.franciswong.net