Jim Ridl is in high demand as a New York City jazz pianist, composer, teacher and band leader. His ongoing residency at the internationally known jazz club The 55 Bar is in its fifth year, where he and his quartet perform his original compositions monthly. Jim performs worldwide with a variety of jazz artists, including The Joe Locke Quartet, The Dave Liebman Big Band, The Paul Jost Quartet and the Mingus Big Band. He has toured with the US State Department American Music Abroad program (’12 and ’15), performing in Russia, South Korea, China, the Philippines, Moldova, Azerbaijan, Slovenia and Malta. As a composer and leader, Jim has released 7 recordings, the latest titled Door in a Field, Volume 2. Jim was a Princeton University Visiting Artist for three
separate semesters (’12, ’14, ’16), coaching jazz ensembles in repertoire and performance. Jim continues as adjunct educator in Jazz Piano Studies at The City College of New York and the New York Jazz Workshop in Manhattan. From 1994 – 2004, Jim performed with jazz guitar legend
Pat Martino, receiving critically acclaimed reviews of performances around the world, and producing four outstanding recordings: Interchange, Night Wings, The Maker and Nexus. Jim was raised on a farm and ranch in North Dakota, and discovered his love for piano and jazz at an early age. He attended the University of Colorado at Denver, where he earned his Bachelor Degree in Scoring and Arranging, and was awarded its Student Achievement Award for composing “Ocean Sojourn,” an orchestral tone poem, performed with the Denver Symphony Orchestra, James Setapen conducting

Satoshi Takeishi, drums, percussion, has been living in New York since 1991 and he has performed and recorded in vast variety of genre, from world music, jazz, contemporary classical music to experimental electronic music. He continues to explore multi-cultural, electronics and improvisational music with local musicians and composers in New York.

Bassist/composer Jay Anderson is among the most versatile and respected

jazz artists performing today. He has performed/recorded with a wide range of jazz artists including Woody Herman, Carmen McRae, Michael Brecker, Paul Bley, Bob Mintzer, John Abercrombie, Dave Liebman, Joe Sample, Maria Schneider, Stanley Cowell, John Scofield, Lee Konitz, Vic Juris, Red Rodney, Ira Sullivan, Mike Stern, Anat Cohen, Toots Thielemans, Kenny Wheeler, Jay Clayton and non-jazz artists like Oswaldo Golijov, Dawn Upshaw, The Australian Chamber Orchestra, Robert Spano (Atlanta Symphony), Michael Franks, David Bowie, Frank Zappa, Tom Waits, Terre Roche, Chaka Khan, Michel Legrand, Allen Ginsberg, and Celine Dion. He has been featured on over 400 recordings, seven of which have received the Grammy Award . He has conducted clinics around the world and is a Professor of Jazz Bass Studies at the Manhattan School of Music in New York City. Jay currently co-leads the critically acclaimed group BANN featuring Seamus Blake, Oz Noy and Adam Nussbaum.