Carlos Henriquez

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Carlos Henriquez’s musical journey began in the vibrant borough of the Bronx, New York, where he first drew breath in 1979. His affinity for music became evident from an early age as he immersed himself in its world. As the chords of opportunity sounded, he embraced the guitar during his formative years, later embracing the resonant allure of the bass while honing his talents within The Juilliard School’s Music Advancement Program. His path led him to the illustrious halls of LaGuardia High School of Music & Arts and Performing Arts. Here, his passion converged with the LaGuardia Concert Jazz Ensemble, a musical endeavor that would ascend to grand heights. The ensemble’s victory in Jazz at Lincoln Center’s Prestigious Essentially Ellington High School Jazz Band Competition and Festival of 1996 solidified their legacy.

Upon graduating in 1998, Carlos Henriquez embarked on an expedition that transcended borders and genres. An invitation to join the Wynton Marsalis Septet and the esteemed Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra transformed him into a global virtuoso. His resonant bass notes have graced over 25 albums, resonating harmoniously with the talents of luminaries like Chucho Valdes, Paco De Lucia, Tito Puente, and Eddie Palmieri.Henriquez’s melodic tapestry extends far and wide, weaving intricate threads with legends like Danilo Perez, Gonzalo Rubalcaba, and the Marsalis Family. His musical voyage encompasses transcendent collaborations with icons including Willie Nelson, Bob Dylan, and Stevie Wonder, as well as contemporary greats like Lenny Kravitz and Marc Anthony.An educator as well as a performer, Carlos has wielded his expertise as a member of the faculty at Northwestern University School of Music since 2008.

His role as music director during Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra’s momentous cultural exchange with the Cuban Institute of Music in 2010 further underscores his commitment to musical diplomacy and cultural unity.In recent years, Carlos Henriquez has ascended to new pinnacles. His leadership and artistry have radiated in the spotlight, guiding Jazz at Lincoln Center concerts with a dual force of musicianship and vision. A landmark collaboration with Ruben Blades in November 2014 etched a fresh chapter in the orchestra’s history, interweaving salsa, and jazz harmonies into an unforgettable crescendo.The pulse of his creativity resonates through a quartet of groundbreaking projects. “The Bronx Pyramid” stands as a testament to his innovation, released under the Blue Engine label. “Dizzy Con Clave,” released through RodBros, further demonstrates his compositional prowess. A significant milestone was marked with his first Grammy-nominated opus, “The South Bronx Story,” a multifaceted opus that entwines the South Bronx’s social history with his Puerto Rican heritage.As the dawn of September 15th, 2023, approaches, a new masterpiece readies itself for the world’s ears. “A Nuyorican Tale,” meticulously crafted in collaboration with Symphonic Distributions, unveils an urban Latin-jazz odyssey. This musical tapestry tells tales of Puerto Rican and Nuyorican heritage, a melodic testament to the struggles and triumphs within New York City’s vibrant tapestry. Voices rise to recount historical crossroads, from the struggles of San Juan Hill to the heart of The South Bronx, etching their narratives into the very landscape they’ve shaped.Presently, Carlos Henriquez’s resonance as a maestro echoes from the Bass chair of the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra, a testament to his artistry and enduring contribution to the world of music.

Andy Clausen

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Andy Clausen is a GRAMMY-nominated trombonist, composer, arranger, producer and educator. A sought-after touring and studio musician across genres, Andy has collaborated with a wide range of artists including Fleet Foxes, Aaron Dessner, Joanna Newsom, Feist, Sylvan Esso, Vieux Farka Touré, Celisse, John Zorn, Samora Pinderhughes, Dave Douglas, Haley Heynderickx, Aoife O’Donovan, Silvana Estrada, Caroline Shaw, Theo Bleckmann, Chris Thile, Nico Muhly, and Conrad Tao.

Andy is a founding member of The Westerlies, an acclaimed new music brass chamber ensemble with “a unique reputation for exploring the emotional textures of American music” (DownBeat). From Carnegie Hall to Coachella, The Westerlies navigate a wide array of projects with the precision of a string quartet, the audacity of a rock band, and the charm of a family sing-along, creating music that is “folk-like and composerly, lovely and intellectually rigorous” – NPR.

Andy has also gained stature as a bandleader for creative music with the albums The Wishbone Suite, Shutter Vols. 1 & 2, Few Ill Words: Solo Trombone at The TANK, Vol. 1, and Heart of Tones: Solo Trombone at The TANK, Vol. 2. He has performed at Carnegie Hall, the New York Philharmonic, the Hollywood Bowl, Red Rocks, Coachella, Radio City Music Hall, the Kennedy Center, The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, NPR Tiny Desk, Newport Folk Festival, Newport Jazz Festival, Newport Classical Festival, FreshGrass, Pitchfork Music Festival, SFJAZZ, and Jazz at Lincoln Center.

In addition to his performance work, Andy is an active composer for film, television, and radio, contributing original music to NBC, MSNBC, Showtime, The Michelle Obama Podcast, PBS, NPR, The New York Times, Blue Chalk Media, the Whitney Museum, and Freedom House.

Andy is a graduate of The Juilliard School, and in 2021 joined the faculty at The New School as an artist-in-residence and professor of trombone and composition. From 2015–2023, Andy served as Artistic Director for Jazz at New York Youth Symphony, collaborating with guest artists including Maria Schneider, Rufus Reid, Matt Wilson, Ingrid Jensen, Ted Nash, Jim McNeely, Sean Jones, and more. Additionally, Andy works with thousands of students each year through The Westerlies’ educational initiatives, and has given masterclasses at Juilliard, Yale, Colburn, Northwestern, Manhattan School of Music, Boston Conservatory, and Michigan State University.

Andy is an endorsing artist of Conn-Selmer/King Trombones, Eventide Effects, and Moog Synthesizers. He lives in Fort Greene, Brooklyn, with his wife Rachel. Aside from music, he enjoys cooking, cycling, walking, travel, and photography.

Stefon Harris

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Stefon Harris is a four-time Grammy-nominated jazz vibraphonist, educator, app developer, and thought leader. He has been heralded as “one of the most important artists in jazz” (Los Angeles Times) and is a recipient of the prestigious Doris Duke Artist Award and the Martin E. Segal Award from Lincoln Center. He has been named Best Mallet Player eight times by the Jazz Journalist Association and Best Vibes Player in DownBeat Magazine’s Critics Poll. Harris currently tours with his Grammy-nominated band, Blackout, and has released eleven albums as a leader. He has also recorded and performed with The Classical Jazz Quartet, Kenny Barron, Ron Carter, Lewis Nash, the SFJAZZ Collective, Joe Henderson, Wynton Marsalis, Milt Jackson, Lionel Hampton, Herbie Hancock, Wayne Shorter, Bobby Hutcherson, Cassandra Wilson, Diana Krall, Max Roach, Chaka Khan, Kurt Elling, Buster Williams, Dianne Reeves, Common, and Pablo Zeigler.

Harris’ band, Stefon Harris & Blackout, is a pioneering force in contemporary jazz. With influential albums like Sonic Creed (named Jazz Album of the Year by WBGO – the world’s #1 jazz station) and Urbanus (Grammy-nominated), Stefon Harris & Blackout showcase a dynamic interplay of intricate arrangements and soulful improvisation, solidifying their status as trailblazers in the modern jazz landscape. Their performances promise an electrifying fusion of tradition and innovation, leaving an indelible mark on audiences and further shaping the evolving narrative of jazz expression. They recently released Sonic Creed II: Life Signs (Motema Music), which is the highly anticipated sequel to their critically acclaimed album, Sonic Creed.

Along with performing, Harris has taught at universities throughout the world, led curriculum development at the Brubeck Institute, served as a part of the jazz faculty at New York University, and formerly served as the Associate Dean and Director of Jazz Arts at Manhattan School of Music. He is currently Artistic Advisor of Jazz Education at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center (NJPAC), the Director of the Harmony Lab at Express Newark, and a tenured Associate Professor of Music at Rutgers University – Newark.

In 2013, he founded The Melodic Progression Institute (MPI) and created a revolutionary ear training app called Harmony Cloud which is widely used by musicians across multiple genres.

As a thought leader, Harris leads transformative presentations on corporate leadership and team empowerment for Fortune 100 companies using jazz as a metaphor. His 2012 TED Talk, “There Are No Mistakes on the Bandstand,” has gained nearly 900,000 views. Through these presentations, Harris is committed to the proliferation of empathy through the arts and empowering others with the necessary tools to articulate their authentic voices through music.

Mark Turner

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In a career that spans over two decades and encompasses a broad array of musical ventures, saxophonist Mark Turner has emerged as a towering presence in the jazz community. With a distinctive, personal tone, singular improvisational skills and an innovative, challenging compositional approach, he’s earned a far-reaching reputation as one of jazz’s most original and influential musical forces. Born in 1965 in Ohio and raised in Southern California, Turner grew up surrounded by music. “There always was a lot of R&B, jazz, soul and gospel playing in the house,” he recalls. “This was in the early ’70s, when the whole integration and civil rights thing had begun to go mainstream, and my mother and stepfather were in the first wave of young black professionals and intellectuals who moved to upper-middle-class white neighborhoods. They and their friends were always going out to see live jazz. I was intrigued by that, and I was intrigued by the whole history of jazz music and African-American culture, as well as the music itself. Turner, firmly now part of this jazz tradition/culture, has not only released more than a dozen albums as leader, but he is quite prolific as a sideman as well. He has recorded and toured with musicians as diverse as Jakob Bro, Tom Harrell, Billy Hart, Ed Simon, Enrico Rava, Kurt Rosenwinkel, David Virreles, Ethan Iverson, Baptiste Trotignon and The SFJazz Collective.

Michael Mayo

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Whether Michael Mayo is performing with his band, as a guest, or alone with a looper pedal and a piano, the LA native’s commanding and other worldly vocalese has been gathering critical and commercial acclaim around the globe. Mayo attended the prestigious *Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz Performance* (now the Herbie Hancock Institute of Jazz), only the third vocalist to be accepted into the 20-year-old program, where he learned from the likes of *Wayne Shorter* and *Herbie Hancock*. Mayo, a veteran international performer, has led his own band to perform at some of the worlds most revered jazz clubs and festivals. As a featured guest, he has recently recorded and performed with *Herbie Hancock, Terri Lynne Carrington, Jacob Collier, Scary Pockets, Lenny Kravitz, Josh Groban,* *Ben Wendel* and *The War and Treaty*.

Signed to Mack Avenue/Artistry Records, Mayo’s debut record “Bones”, produced by Grammy Award-winning producer *Eli Wolf* *(Norah Jones, Al Green, The Roots)* was released in 2021. In 2022, Mayo was named *“International Artist of the Year”* at the *Deutscher Jazzpreis*. Mayo’s highly anticipated sophomore release “Fly” featuring pianist *Shai Maestro*, bassist *Linda Oh*, and drummer *Nate Smith* was released in 2024 on critical acclaim and high praise.

Tina Raymond

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Tina Raymond is an accomplished drummer and educator based in Los Angeles, CA. A unique voice in the contemporary improvised music scene, Raymond blends traditional jazz vocabulary with African polyrhythm and classical percussion technique. Brian Zimmerman of DownBeat Magazine writes, “Raymond displays ferocious chops and a remarkable sense of balance.” She has toured the US, Europe, and Asia as a leader and sideperson.

Raymond’s 2023 acclaimed release, Divinations, (Imani Records) showcases the first-call Los Angeles drummer in a groove-centric, melody-drenched context that may surprise admirers of the more abstract tonal personality she’s documented with SoCal avant luminaries like Bobby Bradford, Vinny Golia, Eric Revis, and Dan Rosenboom; or, for that matter, on two albums by the eclectic Esthesis Quartet. Other recent releases as a side person also include Rachel Eckroth’s Live at Sam First (Sam First Records 2023), Boom Sessions Volume III with Dan Rosenboom, Gary Fukushima, and Eric Revis (Orenda 2022), Kuba Stankiewicz’ Music of Roman Statkowski (Warner Music Poland 2021), and Bobby Bradford’s Stealin’Home (NoBusiness Records 2021). On her debut album, Left, Right, Left, (Orenda 2017), Raymond explores America’s polarized politics through a set of patriotic hymns, folk songs, protest anthems, and music by Woody Guthrie, Joni Mitchell, and Joan Baez. Her thesis is that concepts of left and right are integral to understanding both drumming technique and American political discourse.

An Associate Professor, Raymond is the director of Jazz Studies at California State University Northridge. Prior to her appointment at CSUN, she was tenured faculty at Los Angeles City College in Hollywood, CA. She received a DownBeat Educator Achievement Award (2020), and currently serves as President for California Alliance for Jazz. Raymond has presented globally and her teaching credits include Jazz Institut Berlin, Engelsholm Winter Jazz, University of Gothenburg, Indiana University, Northern Colorado University, University Nevada at Reno, University of Oregon, Willamette University, University of Kansas, University of Michigan, Loyola University New Orleans, Portland State University, Bard College, Idyllwild Arts, and more. She received an M.F.A in Jazz (drum set) from CalArts in 2010, and a B.M. in double performance, classical percussion and jazz studies, from University of Cincinnati’s CCM in 2008.

Sara Gorman

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Sara Gorman is a bassist, educator, and composer originally from the San Francisco Bay Area and currently based in Los Angeles. Growing up on the Peninsula, Gorman has participated in Stanford Jazz Workshops as a student and staff member since 2016, finding many of her mentors and collaborators there over the years. She was also a member of the SFJAZZ High School All-Stars and CASMEC All-State Jazz Band.

Studying under the guidance of Professor Roberto Miranda at UCLA where she is earning her bachelor’s degree in Global Jazz Studies with minors in Ethnomusicology and Visual & Performing Arts Education, she has also studied Ghanaian drumming, Indian Tabla, Balinese Gamelan, and free/collective improvisation.

In her time at UCLA she was honored with a Gluck Klezmer fellowship, and given the opportunity to teach and perform in senior centers and elementary music classes in LAUSD.

With her band Garden Party she has performed at venues such as The Lodge Room, Brick and Mortar, and the Shabang Music Festival. Recording and gigging throughout California, her style is versatile with music rooted in earnest emotion and expression: Jazz, R&B, Soul, Motown, Pop, Rock, Punk, Alternative/Indie, and Free.

Gorman has worked with choreographers composing music for dancers as well as visual artists collaborating on sound art installations and performances.

In her free time she is also a DJ for UCLA Radio with her weekly show Kitchen Sink and spins/mixes vinyl from her collection, largely Funk, Disco, Soul, and World.

She is currently applying to Master’s programs for Music Therapy.

Daria Johnson

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Daria ‘Shani’ Johnson is a celebrated drummer, vocalist, and educator whose vibrant energy and love for music lights up every performance and classroom she steps into. Known for her groove-driven rhythms and heartfelt performances, Daria has toured internationally and shared stages with iconic artists like Esperanza Spalding, John Legend, Erykah Badu, Maria Muldaur, and Ozomatli. Her collaborations with Bay Area greats such as Pamela Rose, Tammy Hall, Kofy Brown, Adam Theis and members of Jazz Mafia have solidified her reputation as one of the region’s most versatile and exciting musicians.

When she’s not performing, Daria is sharing her passion for music with the next generation. She has worked with young musicians at renowned programs like the Stanford Jazz Workshop, SFJazz, California Jazz Conservatory, and Living Jazz’s Jam Camp West, where her warm teaching style makes learning music fun and accessible for all. Whether she’s guiding a budding drummer, coaching a student band, or leading a high-energy jam session, Daria’s enthusiasm and encouragement help kids connect with music in meaningful and inspiring ways.

A Berklee College of Music graduate, Shani’s musical journey began in Los Angeles and continues to evolve through her work as a performer and educator. From starring in Blues Is a Woman to captivating audiences with Catfight!, Tracorum, Jay and The Mayhem and her own Daria Johnson 4, she remains deeply committed to sharing the joy and power of music. Daria believes every student has a unique rhythm waiting to be discovered and loves helping young artists unlock their potential while having a blast along the way!

Dexter Williams

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Dexter Williams is a jazz bassist based in San Francisco. His style is heavily informed by traditional jazz, swing, gypsy jazz, and bebop. He currently plays with a wide array of Bay Area musicians including the Hot Club of San Francisco, a touring jazz band emulating the style of Django Reinhardt. Dexter also works at Stanford University teaching and assisting with their jazz combos.

Jack Roben

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Based in Oakland, California, guitarist Jack Roben has performed across the country with artists and ensembles including Eric Reed, Gregory Tardy, Ed Soph, Taber Gable, Drew Zaremba, Sam Reider, Tom Amend, the University of North Texas One O’Clock Lab Band, and the Knoxville Jazz Orchestra.

Raised in the rich jazz scene of Seattle, Washington, Jack was taught the foundations of the music by his father, Andy, a jazz pianist and organist. He attended Edmonds-Woodway High School, where he was mentored by Jake Bergevin, a renowned educator in the area. Jack’s early accolades include membership in the 2013 NAFME All-Northwest Jazz Band and participating the 2013 Essentially Ellington competition at Jazz at Lincoln Center in New York City.

Jack then moved to Denton, Texas to study at the University of North Texas, where he received a Bachelor of Music in Jazz Studies (2017). During his time at UNT Jack was a member of many ensembles including the Grammy nominated One O’Clock Lab Band, and is featured on the recording Lab 2017. Jack continued his studies at the University of Northern Colorado, where he received a Master of Music (2020) and was a Graduate Teaching Assistant. As a member of UNC Lab I, Jack participated in the Jack Rudin Jazz Championship at Jazz at Lincoln Center, where he received the “Outstanding Guitar” award.

In 2020 Jack relocated to Knoxville, Tennessee to become the Lecturer of Jazz Guitar at the University of Tennessee, where for three years he taught private lessons, jazz theory, jazz improvisation, graduate jazz seminar, and directed small ensembles.

Since returning to the West Coast in 2023, Jack has performed with musicians including Sam Reider, Giulio Xavier Cetto, Adam Shulman, Steven Lugerner, John Wiitala, Smith Dobson, and Michael Mitchell at venues including the Fillmore Jazz Festival, Stanford Jazz Festival, Mr. Tipple’s, Keys Jazz Bistro, Black Cat, and Golden Gate Park. He has continued to be an active educator working with the Stanford Jazz Workshop and in the Oakland Unified School District.