At 19, Lenny White played with Jackie McLean, recorded "Bitches Brew" with Miles Davis and "Red Clay" with Freddie Hubbard. Lenny is one of the founding fathers of the Jazz Rock movement and is a 4 X GRAMMY® Award winner. Lenny White earned a world-wide reputation as the drummer with Return To Forever and has played and collaborated with artists such as Joe Henderson, Gato Barbieri Gil Evans, Stan Getz, Jaco Pastorius, Herbie Hancock, Carlos Santana and Chaka Khan. Lenny continues to lead And stay on the cutting edge of music by producing new artists, performing and is in the process of writing original music to be performed by The NYU Orchestra in Fall of 2022, yet expanding his musical footprint. Lenny is currently mentoring and teaching students at NYU Steinhardt and The New School University.
Emilio Modeste Saxophone
At the age of eleven, Emilio joined the Jazz Standard Youth Orchestra, which he led on a weekly basis during his high school years. Modeste has travelled alongside the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra on the road in the United States.
His most formative years came from his time with Wallace Roney’s Quintet. Modeste was a close friend and mentee of trumpeter Wallace Roney and traveled the world with Roney’s Quintet from 2017 to his passing in March 2020.
Quitin Zoto Guitar
Since his time in NYC, Quintin has played and recorded with top artists in Jazz and RnB. He regularly plays and records with many artists such as, drum legend Lenny White, Richie Goods, Chien Chien Lu, Andromeda Turre, John Roberts, and many more. Quintin recorded on Wallace Roney's final record Blue Dawn- Blue Nights, being featured on the single, “Don’t Stop me now”. He can also be heard on the soundtrack for The Film Birth Of The Cool, a session that included names such as John Scofield, Marcus Miller, Emilio Modeste, Wallace Roney, Antoine Roney, Jeremy Pelt, and more.
Ollie Bomann Bass
As a professional bassist, Ollie has performed or recorded alongside some of New York and New Zealand’s top artists, including Lenny White, Letizia Gambi, Dave Pietro, Malick Koly, Roger Fox, and Cory Champion. During the Covid crisis, Ollie moved back to his hometown of New Zealand and was involved in a number of projects and nationally renowned groups, including serving as Principle Bassist in the Royal New Zealand Airforce Band. He also was the co-founder of the Wellington band Nebulus Slim, which aimed at mixing the traditions of Jazz Rock with dancefloor Electronica.
Hosted by Keanna Faircloth Keanna Faircloth is the host of Afternoon Jazz and online interview series The Pulse on WBGO 88.3 FM in Newark, NJ. She got her start on-air at WPFW 89.3 FM in her hometown of Washington, DC in 2003, most recently as the host of Late Night Jazz: The Continuum Experience. She is a graduate of Howard University, having majored in Music History with a minor in Classical Piano. Keanna has written for NPR Music and worked for Radio One as an on-air personality, producer, and voice-over talent. She is also the host of Artimacy: The Podcast, where she has interviewed artists like Wynton Marsalis, Matthew Whitaker, Jonathan Butler, and Dionne Warwick. As a result, she was recognized by Radio Ink Magazine as a 2019 African-American leader in radio.
In the realm of television, Keanna has hosted a Jazz lifestyle magazine television series called Jazz Encounters and the self-produced YouTube series entitled “...It Was All a Dream”. Additionally, she is an actress having performed in numerous theater productions at The Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, the Warner Theater, and the historic Lincoln Theater in Washington, DC. She also appeared in the independent film Jazz in the Diamond District. Her overall mission to connect the Jazz of yesteryear to the sound of today is what drives her, and she plans to continue to perpetuate the idea of "Sankofa" - to "go back and get it" - in an effort to ensure the future of Jazz for generations to come