Parker Sibley

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Parker Sibley was born in Lincoln, Nebraska to a musical family. He began taking drum lessons at age 5, as well as picking up cello at 9 and trumpet at 10. From a young age, he was exposed to a wide variety of music. While still in high school, he was already working, playing a wide range of gigs, from jazz to country to punk.

After finishing high school, Sibley moved to Greeley, Colorado, attending the University of Northern Colorado (UNCo) to study with Professor Jim White. While living in Colorado, Sibley not only played in the top ensembles at UNCo, but was a force on the local scene, playing with Denver’s finest musicians, including Dawn Clement, Steve Kovalcheck, Remy LeBoeuf, among others. Sibley graduated with latin honors, earning his Bachelor’s Degree in May 2024.

After finishing his studies at UNCo, Sibley moved to Denton, Texas, where he recently earned his master’s degree from the University of North Texas. As a graduate teaching fellow in the drum set studio, he studied with Professors Quincy Davis and Jose Aponte, as well as Professor Emeritus, Ed Soph. Upon arrival, he quickly became an active presence on the Dallas scene, playing with local greats like Shelley Carroll, Bobby Sparks, Dave Meder, and Philip Dizack, among others. He also taught at New Song School of the Arts and Grand Prairie Fine Arts Academy, as well as maintaining a private studio.

In 2024, he was selected to the Jazz Aspen Snowmass program, led by Christian McBride. In addition to his school studies, Sibley has worked with Dru Heller, Matt Wilson, Kendrick Scott, and Gregory Hutchinson. He has won multiple downbeat awards in both group and soloist categories, as well as the Freddie Gruber Scholarship from the Percussive Arts Society.

Laura Simone

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Laura-Simone is a bassist and vocalist who has performed at nationally acclaimed venues like the BBC Proms, Carnegie Hall, Blue Note at Sea, the Kennedy Center, Monterey Jazz Festival, and more. She was a member of Marcus Miller’s five-person bass ensemble, alongside Meshell Ndegeocello (a 12-time Grammy nominee), Aston Barrett Jr., and Mamadou Kouyaté, for Steve McQueen’s art exhibit Bass—the director of 12 Years a Slave.

She was the 2024 fellowship winner of Living Jazz Camp which provided an intensive with Linda May Oh, Allison Miller, and Alicia Olatuja. She also was picked to be apart of Etienne Charle’s Afro-Carribean Big Band under Jas Aspen Academy. Past ensembles she has been apart of include Carnegie Hall’s National Youth Jazz Orchestra, where she toured Europe and the U.S. with Sean Jones and 2x Grammy winning vocalist, Dee Dee Bridgewater and Princeton University’s Creative Large Ensemble.

In her junior year of high school, she merged her love for music and activism by founding the Queen Amina Music Program, aimed at advancing the “women in jazz” movement. This program, designed for 4th-8th grade instrumentalists at Lawrence Intermediate and Middle Schools, teaches jazz history, improvisation, and modal progressions. Laura-Simone also secured grant funding to bring in guest artists, host masterclasses, and organize a public concert on March 15, 2023, featuring Grammy-nominated saxophonist and Oscar winner Tia Fuller.

Currently, Laura-Simone is a junior at Michigan State University, studying under renowned bassist Rodney Whitaker.

Robert Papacica

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Robert Papacica is an award-winning composer, educator, and musician originally from Toronto, Canada. He has appeared as a sideman in jazz clubs in Miami, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Vancouver, Seattle, and New York.

As a leader, Robert is part of the Ark Trio, which features Keshav Batish on drums and Anthony Paolini on saxophone. The band released their debut record in April 2022. More recently, Robert released a new trio project entitled Reverse Migration featuring Kanoa Mendenhall on bass and Mark Ferber on drums through the New York City-based Pinch Record Label. He regularly plays with his quartet featuring his own original music in New York and jazz clubs across the United States.

As a sideman, Robert has appeared on Orlando Madrid’s From This Moment Forward, featuring GRAMMY Award-winning trumpet player Mike Rodriguez. He can also be heard on BMI William Goldstein Award recipient Adam Claussen’s record Arethusa Falls, and on Gary Meek’s 2021 release Monterey Groove, which features Airto Moreira, Dave Weckl, Flora Purim, and Michael Lent, among others.

Robert began playing guitar at the age of 10 and started playing local gigs at 15 in the California Bay Area. He was a member of the Kuumbwa Jazz Center education program, the SFJazz High School All-Star Big Band, and a YoungArts Jazz awardee in high school. He is also an alumnus of the International Association of Schools of Jazz 2019 seminar led by Dave Liebman in Zagreb, Croatia. In 2022, Robert received an Outstanding Graduate Student Soloist Award from DownBeat Magazine and was selected for the Betty Carter Jazz Ahead Program at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., under the direction of Jason Moran.

As an alumnus of the University of Miami’s Frost School of Music, Robert was a member of the Concert Jazz Band, where he performed alongside acclaimed guitarist and composer Adam Rogers, as well as GRAMMY Award-winning artists Dafnis Prieto and John Daversa. He can also be heard on acclaimed composer and jazz professor Clint Bleil’s album.

He has studied under many notable artists and teachers, including Peter Bernstein, John Scofield, John Hart, Bruce Forman, Alan Ferber, Brad Shepik, Billy Drewes, Brian Lynch, Julian Lage, Pat Kelley, Gary Meek, and Adam Rogers.

Robert currently resides in Brooklyn, New York, where he performs and works as an educator for Third Street Music Settlement and Jazz Empowers, a nonprofit organization providing jazz education to the New York school system. He has also taught as an adjunct guitar instructor at the NYU Steinhardt School.

As an engineer, Robert has mixed his own releases, including ARK, as well as the Arnie Sainz, Marshal Herridge, and Tony Moreno album Darts on the Adhyaropa Records label. He has also mixed Johannes Hamm’s record Searching for Something, featuring Drew Gress and Miki Yamanaka. Please contact Robert through the contact form for mixing rates.

Brahm Sasner

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Born and raised in the San Francisco Bay Area, jazz pianist Brahm Sasner currently lives in Manhattan where he received a Bachelor of Music degree from Manhattan School of Music. He is currently one of five finalists competing in the 2027 American Piano Awards.

In addition to gigging throughout New York City, Brahm has toured extensively throughout the United States and abroad. This past summer, in addition to gigging in the Bay Area, he performed throughout Portugal and has played multiple times at Dizzy’s Jazz at Lincoln Center and many other clubs. Over the past several years, Brahm has received awards from  international, national, and statewide competitions including YoungArts and Rubato International. Brahm is an alumnus of the Vail Jazz summer workshop and the SF Jazz High School All Stars.

Beyond performing and composing, one of Brahm’s favorite ways to share music is by teaching. Inspired at an early age by his incredible teachers, he’s committed to sharing his extensive knowledge of jazz technique and history as well as his passion for the art form with the next generation of jazz musicians. He is both honored and thrilled to be selected as a Mentor Fellow at the 2026 Stanford Jazz Workshop.

Joey Curreri

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Joey Curreri is a jazz trumpeter and composer from Los Angeles, California currently based in New York City. Curreri’s unique artistic outlook stems from the foundations in the trumpet tradition learned from his mentors,  jazz luminaries Brian Lynch and Ingrid Jensen, whos’s creative inspiration has led Joey to compose music that looks to go beyond the trumpet, generating excitement, harmony, and balance within the orchestration of the small ensemble.

As a working musician in New York, Joey has performed at the marquis venues: at the Jazz Gallery with his own band and music, as well as a side man, sharing the stage with NYC staples such as Joris Dudli, Vincent Herring, Mike LeDonne, Marcos Varela and Mike Clark among others at venues such as Smalls Jazz Club, Ornithology Jazz Club, and the Minton’s Playhouse. He performed with the Christine Jensen Jazz Orchestra at the 2025 Unity Jazz Festival at Lincoln Center, and with the Miguel Zenon Big Band at the Jazz Gallery as a part of its 30th anniversary series.

As a recording artist, Curreri currently has four collections of original music released on Bandcamp. These feature many bands that Joey has led, from his time in Miami, as well as more recently in New York. Joey received a Downbeat Student Award for Outstanding Improvised Solo for his performance on his second EP. Joey has also been a seeked-out sideman, recording on acclaimed artists Deron Johnson, Toomas Keski-Santti, and Nikos Chatzisakos’ recent releases.

Joey has performed around the world. Most recently, he toured the west coast with a co-led band, Tabula Rasa, performing at full venues up and down California. In 2023, he traveled to Japan to perform with jazz piano legend Makoto Ozone at Orchard Concert Hall in Tokyo. He has been around Europe numerous times to perform with various bands in the UK, Italy, and Denmark. In October 2025, Joey embarked on a European tour with Joris Dudli’s band featuring Vincent Herring.

Joey has been highly awarded for his trumpet playing as well as his composing. Most recently, Joey competed and won 1st place in the ITG 2025 Ryan Anthony Memorial Jazz Soloist Competition. In 2021, Joey won 2nd place at the Carmine Caruso International Jazz Trumpet Solo Competition. Curreri has received merit for his composition, receiving the inaugural Dave Brubeck JEN Scholarship for Composition, as well as being an Honorable mention for the ASCAP Herb Alpert Young Composer Award. Joey was selected for and participated in the 2024 Kennedy Center Betty Carter Jazz Ahead Program, run by Jason Moran.

Joey was selected as the 2018 Jazz Trumpet Finalist in the National YoungArts competition, toured Los Angeles and NYC as a member of the the 2017 and 2018 Grammy Camp Jazz Session Big Band, and toured Japan as a member of the 2018 Next Generation Jazz Orchestra.

Kevin Brewster

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Kevin Brewster is a saxophonist, bandleader, composer, and educator pushing the boundaries of Black American Music with a fresh, innovative sound. Drawing on the rich gospel traditions of his hometown, Grand Rapids, Michigan, Kevin creates music that blends contemporary jazz, straight-ahead swing, gospel, R&B, and original compositions offering audiences performances filled with energy, soul, and storytelling.

In 2023, Kevin founded Black Renaissance, a collective dedicated to advancing the legacy of Black American Music into bold new creative territory. Through daring improvisation, genre-crossing compositions, and a mission to connect deeply with listeners, the group has developed a distinctive sound that audiences describe as both innovative and soul-stirring. Black Renaissance has quickly become a sought-after feature, headlining at venues including Keystone Korner Baltimore, An Die Musik Live, Blue Llama Jazz Club, and Cliff Bells where their performances have drawn acclaim for their passion and originality.

Kevin’s career has also been shaped by prestigious programs such as the donor-funded 2024 JAS Academy led by Christian McBride, the Gathering Nonet founded by the late Geri Allen, and the Next Generation Jazz Orchestra directed by Gerald Clayton. Through these opportunities, he has performed alongside acclaimed artists including Lisa Fischer, Terri Lyne Carrington, Patrice Rushen, Jazzmeia Horn, Christian Sands, and Immanuel Wilkins, experiences that continue to inspire the depth and range of his music today.

A recent graduate of Michigan State University with a Bachelor of Music in Jazz Studies, Kevin studied under the mentorship of Walter Blanding Jr. and Rodney Whitaker, both of whom played a pivotal role in shaping his voice as a musician and bandleader. His artistic development has also been enriched by encounters with artists such as Bob Nixon, Diego Rivera, and Vincent Herring, each leaving a lasting imprint on his craft. Now beginning his graduate studies at the Peabody Institute of Johns Hopkins University as one the recipients of the Graduate Jazz Fellowship, Kevin is focused on continuing his growth as a musician, leader, and educator under the mentorship and teachings of Sean Jones and Tim Green.

Carlo Rabano

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Carlo Rabano’s entire musical philosophy is backed by one simple rule: “Tell Your Story”.

Hailed as “[one of the] San Francisco Young Lions” by Ulysses Owens Jr., the Filipino-American trombonist’s soulful, powerful sound takes both the traditional and modern aspects of jazz to always storytell through improvisation and composition. His vocabulary and compositional style captures the raw excitement, passion, and energy that is necessary to connect both musically and emotionally with musicians and the audience.

His latest community project, PANGANDOY: The Dreams We Share Overseas, bridged music and culture with the San Francisco Filipino community. Carlo’s original compositions performed by his quartet celebrated Filipino roots and heritage, fusing together themes of cultural identity and personal experience with the traditions of jazz composition and improvisation.

After relocating from Orange County, CA to San Francisco in 2021, Carlo recently graduated from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music with a Bachelor of Music from the Roots, Jazz, and American Music program. He now regularly performs throughout the Bay with his groups, and is an in-demand sideperson for both jazz and commercial music. Carlo has performed with Ulysses Ownes Jr., Steven Lugerner, The Electric Squeezebox Orchestra, the M’Orchestra, and Adam Klipple, in addition to international musicians such as Arthur Verocai and Vladimir Cetkar, and is principal trombonist for the Filipino American Symphony Orchestra in LA.

An equally passionate music educator, Carlo has embraced his role as Lead Artist-in-Residence at the Ruth Asawa San Francisco School of the Arts, leading the longstanding jazz program into a new era. Focusing on community through music as well as traditional and modern jazz big band and small group styles, he directs the SOTA Advanced Big Band and SOTA Advanced Combo. Carlo also collaborates with Stanford Jazz Workshop as a coach for their middle school programs, visits schools for brass masterclasses, and privately teaches throughout the Bay.

Carmen Quill

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Carmen Quill is an upright bassist, composer, and songwriter working mainly in jazz, improvised and experimental music. Carmen leads a trio with Jacob Sacks and Billy Hart; co-leads the band tilt (Kalia Vandever, Isabel Crespo Pardo); and is a core member of the band Scree (Ryan El-Solh, Jason Burger). She is known for her sound and versatility on the double bass, her captivating performances as a solo artist, and her intuitive sensitivity as an improviser.

Carmen’s debut solo recording, Don’t Get Comfy / Nowhere (2021), “thrives on the meeting of reservation and vulnerability, and its songs feel as emotional and virtuosic as a power ballad yet are sparse and withholding as a Rembrandt” (Pitchfork). Carmen has performed internationally as a solo artist and as a core collaborator on works including Asa Horvitz’s GHOST, a music-based choreographic piece supported by Musiktheatertage Wien, Het HEM, and others. She has performed with various projects on notable stages including at Big Ears Festival, Carnegie Hall, Winter Jazz Fest, Vision Festival, and brutWien. Carmen is a 2025 Next Jazz Legacy Awardee (New Music USA).

Carmen has taught at the Stanford Jazz Workshop, Brooklyn Conservatory of Music, Roosevelt High School (Seattle), and Seattle JazzED in addition to teaching private lessons, ensemble classes and workshops since 2014.

Michael Blasky

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Michael Blasky is a Los Angeles based saxophone player, composer, and record producer. Originally from Marin County, he found early community in the vibrant youth music scene and educational institutions in the Bay Area at large, performing music as a member of the SFJazz High School All Stars as well as adventuresome peer-led ensembles, before moving south to attend the jazz program at the USC Thornton School of Music. There he deepened his relationship with the intersection of improvised and composed music, as well as established new avenues of his creative practice…studio recording, film scoring, avant-garde sound design, large ensemble writing, and more.

As such, Michael’s professional musical life is quite multi-faceted. As a touring saxophone player he’s performed on stage with artists such as HAIM, Suki Waterhouse, Vagabon, Rostam, and many more. An active member of Los Angeles’s creative music scene, he regularly performs with improvising ensembles as well as collaborates with a wide range of the city’s indie artists as a sideperson, arranger, and producer. In addition to his instrumental work, Michael works extensively in the creation of music for film and TV, operating as a composer, orchestrator, arranger, score & music editor, and copyist.

A longtime Stanford Jazz Workshop attendee (he credits the Workshop as “why he chose to pursue music”) and later counselor, he’s thrilled to join the faculty this summer. His current areas of musical study and interest include: sound and phrasing, working with creative resistance, identifying priorities and “The Why”, horn playing as accompaniment, and novel composing practices. He strongly believes that a life in music is a worthwhile and joyful way to effect positive change in the world.

Kalia Vandever

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Kalia Vandever is an award-winning trombonist and composer living in New York. Their approach to the trombone is distinctive and defined by their sonorous tone and lyrical improvisational voice. They lean into the challenges of the instrument and allow patience and melody guide their process.

In their compositional practice, Kalia draws from their love of songs and improvisation, creating a landscape of sounds that resonate in the body and hold the listener. They released their debut ensemble album In Bloom in 2019, described as “the rise of an exciting voice for the music” (Seton Hawkins, Hot House Jazz Magazine). Their sophomore album Regrowth released in May 2022 on New Amsterdam Records and “confirms [their] strengths as a composer and bandleader with a distinctly contemporary point of view” (Nate Chinen, WBGO Jazz). Their debut solo album We Fell In Turn, featuring their works for trombone, voice and electronics, released on AKP Records in March 2023.  Their newest album, Another View, features Mary Halvorson, Kanoa Mendenhall, and Kayvon Gordon, released in November 2025 and was praised by Downbeat for “its entrancing, cyclical rhythms and longing melodicism.”

Kalia received their Bachelor of Music degree in Jazz Studies at the Juilliard School in 2017.  They have toured and performed internationally with their quartet, performing at festivals such as the Winter Jazz Festival and BRIC Jazz Festival. They are also known for their work as a side-person, performing with jazz artists including  Joel Ross, Immanuel Wilkins, Fay Victor, to name a few. Kalia has also performed with popular artists including Harry Styles, Lizzo, Japanese Breakfast, Moses Sumney, Jennifer Hudson, and Demi Lovato. They have appeared on Saturday Night Live twice, as well as Samantha Bee’s Full Frontal.

Kalia is an awardee of the 2022 Next Jazz Legacy, a program founded by New Music USA and the Berklee Institute of Jazz and Gender Justice. Kalia was also selected to curate the 2022 Music Series for The Arts Center at Duck Creek in East Hampton. Along with their performance work, Kalia has been commissioned to write works for groups and individuals including Tesla Quartet, The Westerlies, Katherine Kyu Hyeon Lim, and Hats & Heels Duo.

Kalia is also experienced as an educator and is currently on faculty at the New England Conservatory. In addition, they have led masterclasses at universities including California Institute of the Arts, University of Chicago Illinois, Cal State Northridge, Saddleback College, University of Maine Farmington, and University of Missouri.

Kalia is also a founding member of tilt, a Brooklyn-based collective bringing together the voices of Isabel Crespo Pardo, Carmen Quill, and Kalia. The intimacy found in the ensemble is apparent through their evolving chemistry on stage and their symbiotic improvisational approach. They released their debut record something we once knew in 2024 on Dear Life Records.

Kalia endorses Conn Selmer and Bach instruments as well as Denis Wick London.

Photos by Leslie Mok.