Jazz Congress 2021 Panelists

Amy K. Bormet
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Amy K Bormet is a pianist, vocalist, and composer. Amy tours Europe and South America and was an artist-in-residence for Betty Carter Jazz Ahead and a Mary Lou Williams Emerging Artist. Amy created the Washington Women in Jazz Festival in 2011 and continues as director. Her latest release for Strange Woman Records, AmyAna, is co-led with drummer Ana Barreiro. AmyAna toured Brazil at the end of 2019, and will tour the US in 2021. As an alum and now mentor at the Washington Jazz Arts Institute, Amy works with emerging musicians ages 14-24 every summer. Amy is the vice chair of the alumni board at University of Michigan SMTD where she studied with Geri Allen and Ellen Rowe and a proud graduate of DC's Duke Ellington School of the Arts and Howard University.

Dee Dee Bridgewater
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Over the course of a multifaceted career spanning four decades, jazz giant Dee Dee Bridgewater has ascended to the upper echelon of vocalists, putting her unique spin on standards, as well as taking intrepid leaps of faith in re-envisioning jazz classics. Ever the fearless voyager, explorer, pioneer and keeper of tradition, the three-time Grammy-winner most recently won the Grammy for Best Jazz Vocal Album for Eleanora Fagan (1915-1959): To Billie With Love From Dee Dee. Bridgewater has also pursued a parallel career in musical theater, winning a Tony Award for her role as “Glinda” in The Wiz in 1975.

Tulani Bridgewater-Kowalski
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Testing the waters early on with Island Records in New York, Bridgewater-Kowalski relocated to Los Angeles and legendary talent firm, Ken Fritz Management, working with clients George Benson, Michael Feinstein, Rebekah del Rio and Sandy Knox. She then went on to associate manage jazz artists such as Kurt Elling and Billy Childs with Open Door Management. Together with Dee Dee Bridgewater, Tulani expanded DDB Productions into a full-fledged international management and production firm. Dee Dee's most recent album, “Memphis...Yes, I’m Ready,” was co-produced by Bridgewater-Kowalski and has been heralded as one of Bridgewater’s finest albums to date. Bridgewater-Kowalski serves on the leadership team in development and growth of the forward-thinking social platform theWoolfer (an online space providing community and resources to women globally), in addition to content creation and programming. This naturally dovetails with her efforts with The Woodshed Network, which seeks to build community, support, and mentorship for Women in Jazz.

Caelan Cardello
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Born into a musical household, Caelan Cardello started playing piano by the age of five and by the age of 10 he was studying classical and jazz separately. Now at the age of 20, Caelan has gotten to perform with notable musicians such as Christian McBride, David Kikoski, Jimmy Cobb, Vincent Herring, and Dee Dee Bridgewater, just to name a few. He has performed at venues such as The Jazz Standard, Dizzy’s Club Coca Cola, the Montclair Jazz Festival and the Detroit Jazz Festival. Caelan will be entering his senior year of college in September at William Paterson University under the direction of acclaimed pianist Bill Charlap.

Terri Lyne Carrington
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NEA Jazz Master and three-time Grammy award-winning drummer, producer, and educator Terri Lyne Carrington started her professional career as a “kid wonder” while studying under a full scholarship at Berklee College of Music in Boston. In the mid 1980s she worked as an in-demand drummer in New York before gaining national recognition on late-night TV as the house drummer for both the Arsenio Hall Show and Quincy Jones’ VIBE TV show. To date Ms. Carrington has performed on over 100 recordings and has toured or recorded with luminary artists such as Al Jarreau, Stan Getz, Woody Shaw, Diana Krall, Cassandra Wilson, Dianne Reeves, James Moody, Yellowjackets, Esperanza Spalding, and many more. Additionally, Ms. Carrington is an honorary doctorate recipient from Berklee and currently serves as Founder and Artistic Director for the Berklee Institute of Jazz and Gender Justice. In 2019 Ms. Carrington was granted the Doris Duke Artist Award, a prestigious acknowledgment in recognition of her past and ongoing contributions to jazz music.

Bryan Carter
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Equipped with an astounding musical maturity, drummer, bandleader and vocalist Bryan Carter exudes what promises an extraordinary career. Carter attended The Juilliard School as a Jazz Studies major where was the recipient of the Irene Diamond and Samuel L Jackson Scholarships. While at Juilliard, Carter took a strong interest in composition, orchestration and interdivisional collaboration with students from the dance and drama divisions. Shortly after completing his studies, Carter has performed and/or recorded with jazz luminaries including Wynton Marsalis, Marcus Roberts, George Coleman, Kenny Barron, Michael Feinstein and Kurt Elling. Carter also served as the house drummer for NBC’s “Maya & Marty” starring Maya Rudolph, Keenan Thompson and Martin Short. While on the show he performed with a wide array of actors, comedians and musicians including Miley Cyrus, Nick Jonas, Steve Martin and Jimmy Fallon. Educationally Carter has conducted hundreds of clinics and masterclasses around the world. He was a founding teaching artist for Jazz at Lincoln Center’s, "Jazz For Young People on Tour" program. Bryan is currently touring across the world with his band, “The Young Swangers”, a diverse semi-acoustic band built upon a foundation of brash eclecticism as well as it’s expanded “concert-driven” counterpart, "The Young Swangers Orchestra”. As a proud member of the LGBTQIA+, Bryan is committed to the creation of safe spaces for young musicians from all walks of life. This past summer Carter produced, "Jazz at Pride: A Celebration of the LGBTQIA+ Community within the Jazz Community". This landmark event brought together over thirty musicians and coincided with the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall riots. When Bryan is not on-stage or in the studio, he can be found expanding audiences for jazz via written publications, YouTube and as a presenter on television. He is releasing a new album in the fall.

Erica Carter
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As Counsel in the Legal and Business Affairs department at Epic Games, Erica supports a range of Epic’s products and services, including Fortnite, Rocket League, and Houseparty. In her role, she is responsible for Epic’s philanthropic activities, handles partner, content and music licensing; content production; accessibility; clearances; establishes DMCA processes for acquired companies; and negotiates and drafts agreements across these areas.

Kimberly Chmura
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Kimberly Chmura founded KCC Productions, a full-service production company, in 2003 In Miami. Servicing the local municipalities, curating arts and culture programing free for the public, KCC also manages artists and produces tours and recordings. In 2015 she founded not-for-profit company Global Arts Project, Inc., producing a concert series with the City of Miami Beach and the Collins Park Neighborhood Association celebrating cultural holidays.

Emmet Cohen
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Multifaceted American jazz pianist and composer Emmet Cohen is one of his generation's pivotal figures in music and the related arts. Downbeat praised the "nimble touch, measured stride and warm harmonic vocabulary" he employs to communicate with other musicians and audiences at what he terms "the deepest level of humanity and individuality." Leader of the "Emmet Cohen Trio" and creator of the "Masters Legacy Series," Cohen is an internationally acclaimed jazz artist and dedicated music educator.

Mary Foster Conklin
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Vocalist and radio host Mary Foster Conklin is an old school song hound with a talent for uncovering lesser known treasures of the Great American Songbook and performing them in nontraditional venues. She hosts a weekly radio show called “A Broad Spectrum – the Ladies of Jazz” celebrating women composers and lyricists on WFDU.FM on the HD2 channel based at Fairleigh Dickinson University in Teaneck, New Jersey. “Scratch her witty tough-girl-from Jersey patter,” wrote The Washington Post, “and you’ll find a sensitive artist (but not frail) with a wide-ranging boldly colored voice and an open ear for off-beat material.”

Felix Contreras
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Felix Contreras is co-creator and host of Alt.Latino, NPR's pioneering program about Latin Alternative music and Latino culture. It features music as well as interviews with many of the most well-known Latinx musicians, actors, filmmakers, and writers. He has hosted and produced Alt.Latino episodes from Mexico, Colombia, Cuba, and throughout the U.S. since the show started in 2010. Previously, Contreras was a reporter and producer NPR's Arts Desk and, among other stories and projects, covered a series reported from Mexico on the musical movement called Latin Alternative; helped produce NPR's award-winning series 50 Great Voices; and reported a series of stories on the financial challenges aging jazz musicians face. Contreras is a recovering television journalist who has worked for both NBC and Univision in Miami and California. He's a part-time musician who plays Afro-Cuban percussion with various jazz and Latin bands in the Washington, DC, area. He is also NPR Music's resident Deadhead.

Christopher Crenshaw
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Christopher Crenshaw has been a member of the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra since 2006. He’s written compositions, arrangements, and transcriptions for the JLCO and for the Essentially Ellington Jazz Festival and Competition. Crenshaw was also a co-arranger and transcriber for two Tony Award-nominated musicals—After Midnight and Shuffle Along, or, the Making of the Musical Sensation of 1921 and All That Followed—and has released two albums: The Georgia Horns Live at Dizzy’s Club and Christopher Crenshaw’s The Fifties - A Prism.

Roberto Fonseca
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Roberto Fonseca is a Cuban pianist, vocalist, multi-instrumentalist, composer, producer, and bandleader. Havana-born and based, he has released nine solo albums, collaborated across genres, been nominated for a Grammy Award, and toured the world several times over. Along the way he has achieved the aim with which he began his professional career in the early 1990s: “Wherever people are, I want them to hear my music and say, ‘This is Roberto Fonseca’.”

Roberta Gambarini
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Italian-born, multi-Grammy-nominated vocalist-lyricist Roberta Gambarini was mentored by and toured the world and recorded with some of the greatest giants of Jazz such as Jimmy Heath, Benny Carter, James Moody, Tootie Heath, Roy Hargrove, Dave Brubeck, Hank Jones, Paquito D’Rivera, the Dizzy Gillespie Allstars Big Band, Chucho Valdes, and many more. She has been twice named Singer of the Year by the International Jazz Journalists Association.

Carol Handley
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Carol Handley has been a dedicated jazz and AAA broadcaster since starting her career in the Seattle/Tacoma radio market and is currently the Director of Music Programming for KNKX and Jazz24.org. Her experience in the radio and music industry includes producing live music events in clubs, theaters, and one and two-day festivals with 10,000 annual attendees as well as creating a marketing and music events company and two streaming radio stations.

Albert “Tootie” Heath
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The youngest of the three Heath Brothers, Albert “Tootie” Heath is the consummate jazz drummer, having played with seemingly everyone from John Coltrane to Ethan Iverson and performing on more than 100 recordings. Well-versed in various styles of jazz—including avant-garde, bop, and swing—he also delved into R&B, such as his work in the 1980s with his nephew Mtume; studied improvisation in North Indian classical music; and has been praised for his ability to imbue his personality into any repertoire.

Chris Heim
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Chris Heim is the host/producer of Global Village, a syndicated daily world music show that has aired to date on over 430 stations in 45 states and 190 countries. In addition, she hosts a nightly jazz show and twice-weekly blues show on KMUW-FM. She began her career at WHPK, later working at WJKl, WXRT, WBEZ (music director and executive producer of the Chicago Jazz and Blues national broadcasts) and has also worked as a freelance writer with the Chicago Tribune, Global Rhythm, Dirty Linen, Jazz Times, and other publications.

Michele Hendricks
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Michele Hendricks, American singer, author/composer and arranger, sang on stage for the first time at the age of eight with her father Jon Hendricks, himself a singer and one of the founders and the lyricist of the celebrated vocal group Lambert, Hendricks and Ross. At the age of 15, Michele toured regularly in Europe with her father until the end of her studies of dance and theater in London. She continued her musical studies in San Francisco before returning to New York (where she was born) for two years, during which time she sang with Buddy Rich and Stan Getz. Michele returned to San Francisco to sing in the Broadway show, Jon Hendricks' “Evolution of the Blues”, which ran for six years. She then formed her own group with which she worked the West coast. She rejoined her father when he formed the group “Jon Hendricks & Co.” They recorded the Grammy nominated album “Love,” for which Michele did the vocal arrangements. Michele eventually left the group to pursue a solo career, and sings in the USA, Europe, and Japan. She now lives in Paris, France and sings in the USA, Europe, and Japan. Her last CD, A Little Bit Of Ella, recorded with The Tommy Flanagan Trio and released in January, 2016, was awarded the Best Jazz Vocal 2016 prize from the Academy of Jazz in France.

Dr. Robin D.G. Kelley
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The noted author has explored the history of social movements in the U.S., the African Diaspora, and Africa; black intellectuals; music and visual culture; Surrealism, Marxism, among other things. His essays have appeared in a wide variety of professional journals as well as general publications, including the Journal of American History, American Historical Review, The Nation, Monthly Review, New York Times, Color Lines, Counterpunch, Souls, Black Renaissance/Renaissance Noir, Social Text ,The Black Scholar, Journal of Palestine Studies, and Boston Review, for which he also serves as Contributing Editor. His books include: Africa Speaks, America Answers: Modern Jazz in Revolutionary Times (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2012); Thelonious Monk: The Life and Times of an American Original (The Free Press, 2009); Freedom Dreams: The Black Radical Imagination (Beacon Press, 2002); with Howard Zinn and Dana Frank, Three Strikes: The Fighting Spirit of Labor's Last Century (Beacon Press, 2001); Yo’ Mama’s Disfunktional!: Fighting the Culture Wars in Urban America (Boston: Beacon Press, 1997); Race Rebels: Culture, Politics, and the Black Working Class (New York: The Free Press, 1994); Into the Fire: African Americans Since 1970 (New York: Oxford University Press, 1996) [Vol. 10 of the Young Oxford History of African Americans series]; Hammer and Hoe: Alabama Communists During the Great Depression (Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina Press, 1990).

Jen Luzzo
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Jen Luzzo is the Director of Public Relations for the New York Philharmonic, overseeing social media and media relations. Jen has overseen the development of the Philharmonic’s Instagram account—growing it into the largest Instagram following of any orchestra in the US—and has spearheaded social initiatives that aim to connect the Philharmonic to an international audience. Jen studied trumpet performance, music history, music education, and broadcast journalism at Syracuse University.

Valérie Malot
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For over two decades, Valérie Malot has worked in musical production between Paris, New York, and other cities on either side of the Atlantic. Her independent agency 3D Family supports artistic projects that bridge linguistic, geographical and cultural borders. It organizes as many as 300 concerts each year for artists such as Amadou & Mariam, Fatoumata Diawara, Nasheet Waits, Saul Williams, Avishai Cohen, Les Amazones d’Afrique, Mamani Keïta, David Murray, and Roberto Fonseca. It invests in recording projects, manages artists and supports the production and distribution of their music. Committed to cross-cultural and cross-genre interaction, it has supported collaborations between Columbian and African musicians and between legendary jazz musicians and artists who specialize in hip hop, rock or pop. Malot’s organization also develops projects that tackle social issues; in 2014-15, it launched the Africa Stop Ebola campaign, which diffused critical information to change attitudes and behavior relating to the Ebola virus. The project resulted in a singing competition in Guinee that was nominated for an award through the Obama administration’s Fighting Ebola, a Grand Challenge for Development grant program.

René Marie
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In a career spanning two decades, 11 recordings, and countless stage performances, vocalist René Marie has cemented her reputation as not only a singer but also a composer, arranger, theatrical performer, and teacher. Guided and tempered by powerful life lessons and rooted in jazz traditions laid down by Ella Fitzgerald, Dinah Washington, and other leading ladies of past generations, she borrows various elements of folk, R&B, and even classical and country to create a captivating hybrid style. Her body of work is musical, but it’s more than just music. It’s an exploration of the bright and dark corners of the human experience, and an affirmation of the power of the human spirit.

Peter Martin
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Peter Martin is an acclaimed jazz pianist, entrepreneur, and educator. Over the past 30 years, he has performed at notable venues and jazz festivals on six continents, including twice at the White House for President Obama. He is also the founder of Open Studio, pioneering in the field of online jazz education while building a worldwide jazz community with members in 140+ countries. In lieu of touring during the pandemic, Peter has found a new normal by performing a weekly solo jazz piano concert on Friday evenings, live-streaming for 61 straight weeks on YouTube from Open Studio. These concerts have helped foster a worldwide community staying spiritually connected while staying socially distanced.

Bobby McFerrin
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The 10-time Grammy winner has blurred the distinction between pop music and fine art, goofing around barefoot in the world's finest concert halls, exploring uncharted vocal territory, inspiring a whole new generation of a cappella singers and the beatbox movement. His latest album, spirityouall, is a bluesy, feel-good recording, an unexpected move from the music-industry rebel who singlehandedly redefined the role of the human voice with his a cappella hit “Don't Worry, Be Happy,” his collaborations with Yo-Yo Ma, Chick Corea and the Vienna Philharmonic, his improvising choir Voicestra, and his legendary solo vocal performances.

Angelo Miranda
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Angelo Miranda is currently working as Sales Counsel for TikTok, Inc., handling matters in the areas of ad sales, marketing, and creator monetization. Angelo previously worked as Associate Principal Counsel at ESPN where he handled legal matters for ESPN's music, audio, and marketing departments. Angelo started his legal career as a legal intern at Jazz at Lincoln Center before taking a role as Counsel. Angelo is based in Brooklyn, New York and graduated from St. John's University School of Law in 2013.

Rachel Morgan
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Rachel Morgan is the Operations Manager at Open Studio, where she manages artist relationships, social media marketing, customer service, and day-to-day operations. Since the start of the pandemic lockdowns, Rachel has also worked to develop and organize the creation of livestream content at Open Studio, coordinating over 62 weeks of successful live events. Rachel is a classical pianist and also the executive assistant for the nationally acclaimed vocalist, Brian Owens.

Adam Neely
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Adam Neely is a bassist, composer, and YouTuber with an engaged subscriber base of over 1 million people. His educational content explores what music means, and what it means to be a musician. He has been recognized for an Emmy for his work on Vox Earworm's "The most feared song in jazz, explained," and has appeared on NPR, TEDx, SiriusXM, SXSW, Ableton Loop, MAGfest, Bass Player Magazine, Electronic Musician Magazine. His videos cover a wide range of topics in music theory, music cognition, jazz improvisation, musical performance technique, musicology, and memes.

Akua Noni Parker
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Dancer, teacher, model, and chef, Akua knew she wanted to pursue a career in the artistic field at an early age. She has since become a leading company member with prestigious dancer companies such as Dance Theatre of Harlem, Cincinnati Ballet, Ballet San Jose, and Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater. As Akua also has a profound appreciation for health and wellness, she is certified in the American Ballet Theatre National Teaching Curriculum, the Zena Rommett Floor Barre technique, and is a certified vegan chef. Akua uses her artistic experience, knowledge of wellness and love of all things DIY to guide others as a health and lifestyle coach.

Alexandre Pierrepont
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With a lifelong interest in "diversality," from the poetic to the political and back again, and in the phenomena of "double consciousness" and the otherness within Western societies (more particularly in African-American music as an alternative social institution), Alexandre Pierrepont divides his time and space between North America and France. As an anthropologist who strives to make the worlds of scientific research and socio-musical experimentation communicate on the playing fields, in the very everyday and possibly popular life where all the adventures take place, he often sails on the high seas, recently thanks to the transatlantic exchange network The Bridge. Author of Le Champ jazzistique (Éd. Parenthèses, 2002), of La Nuée - L'AACM, un jeu de société musicale(Parenthèses, 2015), and of chaos, cosmos, music (Éd. MF, 2021), co-editor with Philippe Carles of Polyfree - La jazzosphère, et ailleurs (1970 - 2015) (Éd. Outre Mesure, 2016).

Adonis Rose
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Adonis Rose is a Grammy-award winning artist, composer, educator, and producer from the city of New Orleans, LA. He has played and recorded with the biggest names injJazz, including Terence Blanchard, Betty Carter, Dianne Reeves, Marcus Roberts, Harry Connick, Jr., and Wynton Marsalis, and has performed on the most renowned stages in the world such as Carnegie Hall, Olympia in Paris, North Sea Jazz Festival, Umbria, Birdland, Apollo Theater, Newport Jazz Festival, and Jazz at Lincoln Center, to name a few. Rose has over fifty recordings to his credit (five as a leader), including six with longtime friend, trumpeter Nicholas Payton. In 2010, he won a Grammy Award with the New Orleans Jazz Orchestra for Best Large Ensemble. Rose is currently the Artistic Director of the New Orleans Jazz Orchestra (NOJO).

Mark Ruffin
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The release of Bebop Fairy Tales: A Historical Fiction Trilogy on Jazz, Intolerance and Baseball in 2020 coincides with the celebration of Mark Ruffin’s 40th year in broadcasting and journalism. Since 2007, the double Emmy winner and Grammy nominee has been the program director of the Real Jazz channel on Sirius XM Satellite Radio. Before that he spent over 25 years as a fixture in jazz broadcasting and journalism in Chicago including winning two Emmy Awards for his efforts in bringing stories about jazz to television on WTTW-TV/Chicago. Mr. Ruffin worked for over 25 years as Jazz Editor for Chicago Magazine and has written hundreds of articles on jazz, broadcasting and African-American culture. His articles have appeared in a variety of local and national publications, including the Chicago Sun-Times, Down Beat, Jazziz, N’Digo, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Playboy, Ebony and dozens of other publications. He has produced radio for Oprah Winfrey, Gayle King, Ramsey Lewis, Marcus Miller, Steppenwolf Theatre, Christian McBride and many more. He has produced music for Rene Marie, Charenee Wade, Giacomo Gates, Lauren Henderson, George Freeman and others. He is winner of both the Jazz Journalists Association Career Excellence in Broadcasting Award and the Duke Dubois Humanitarian Award from Jazzweek.com. In 2019 he was honored by Jazzmobile with their NYC Jazz Readers Award. Mr. Ruffin lives in New York City with his wife Valerie and 5000 cd’s. Bebop Fairy Tales: A Historical Fiction Trilogy on Jazz, Intolerance and Baseball is his first book. It won two 2021 Feathered Quill Book Awards and is a 2021 Jazz Journalists Association Book of the Year nominee.

Cécile McLorin Salvant
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Cécile McLorin Salvant is a composer, singer, and visual artist. The late Jessye Norman described Salvant as “a unique voice supported by an intelligence and full-fledged musicality, which light up every note she sings.” Salvant has developed a passion for storytelling and finding the connections between vaudeville, blues, folk traditions from around the world, theater, jazz, and baroque music. Salvant is an eclectic curator, unearthing rarely recorded, forgotten songs with strong narratives, interesting power dynamics, unexpected twists, and humor. Salvant won the Thelonious Monk competition in 2010. She has received Grammy Awards for Best Jazz Vocal Album for her three latest albums—“The Window,” “Dreams and Daggers,” and “For One To Love”—and was nominated for the award in 2014 for her album “WomanChild.”

Maria Schneider
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With her first album, Evanescence (recorded in 1992), Maria Schneider began developing her personal way of writing for her 18-member collective made up of many of the finest musicians in jazz today, tailoring her compositions to the uniquely creative voices of the group. Now, almost 30 years later, she's recorded nine albums and has received seven Grammys. With numerous commissions and guest-conducting invites, Schneider has worked with over 90 groups in over 30 countries.

Jacques Schwarz-Bart
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Jacques Schwarz-Bart has been at the center of the musical revolutions of neo soul and New Jazz and is a leading pioneer of two styles: Gwoka Jazz, a signature style he introduced with the album Soné Ka-La in 2006, and Voodoo jazz. A founding member of Roy Hargrove RH Factor, JSB’s impressionistic writing, powerful tone, and broad language have fueled his growing presence on the world stage. Raised at the juncture of two cultures by a Caribbean mother and a Jewish father, he briefly worked in government in Paris before pursuing music at Berklee in Boston. He then went on to publish 10 CDs, explore various styles, and tour the world before returning to Berklee as a professor. Fifteen years after releasing Soné Ka-La, he revisits the musical landscape of Guadeloupe to approach Gwoka Jazz with a new vision in the album Soné Ka-La 2 — Odyssey. The album’s title draws on the epic in which Ulysses returns home after exploring different worlds, and it references the Middle Passage, paying homage to those souls “who found the strength to create art and music that have reshaped and elevated the modern world.”

Kerry Sulkowicz
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Kerry J. Sulkowicz, MD, a psychiatrist and psychoanalyst, serves as a trusted advisor to CEOs, boards, families and investors on leadership, team dynamics, and culture. He is Founder and Managing Principal of Boswell Group LLC, a consultancy based in New York. Kerry is also President-Elect of the American Psychoanalytic Association. He has written more than 75 columns on the psychology of business, including the monthly "Analyze This" column in BusinessWeek, and "The Corporate Shrink" in Fast Company magazine. His landmark article “Worse than Enemies: The CEO’s Destructive Confidant” appeared in the Harvard Business Review in 2003. Kerry has an AB from Harvard and a MD from the University of Texas Medical Branch. He is on the Faculty of the Psychoanalytic Association of New York and is a Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at NYU School of Medicine, where he received the Distinguished Teacher Award. Kerry is past board chair of Physicians for Human Rights, which shared in the Nobel Peace Prize, and also serves on the Advisory Council of Acumen.

Alexa Tarantino
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Wynton Marsalis has called Tarantino “a one-woman wrecking crew, […] an indomitable force for expression, education, and absolute excellence.” Alexa Tarantino is an award-winning, vibrant, young jazz saxophonist, woodwind doubler, composer, and educator. Tarantino was recently named one of the “Top 5 Alto Saxophonists of 2019” by the JazzTimes Critics’ Poll and nominated as a “Rising Star - Alto Saxophone” by Downbeat Magazine’s 2020 Critics’ Poll.

Wayne Tucker
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Wayne Tucker is a trumpeter, composer, arranger, violinist, and vocalist based in New York City. He has performed, toured and recorded with many of today's current jazz stars including Kurt Elling, Al Foster, Dee Dee Bridgewater, and Cyrille Aimée; pop stars like Taylor Swift, David Crosby, Elvis Costello, Matt Simons, and Eric Hutchinson; R&B singers Ne-Yo and Gabriel Garzon-Montano; hip-hop artists such as Jidenna and Ryan Leslie; and with rock bands like Brass Against. He can be seen performing around the world with many of today's current and up-and-coming stars.

Sébastian Vidal
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Sébastien Vidal is is a central figure in French jazz. He is the artistic director of the essential Parisian jazz club Le Duc des Lombards, where artists from France and around the world come to perform. Abroad, he actively contributes to promoting and disseminating work from the French jazz scene, particularly in New York, where he organizes the annual French Quarter jazz festival. Finally, he contributes more broadly to spreading jazz in his role as director of TSFJAZZ, a jazz radio station boasting more than 430,000 listeners daily. He also programs several mainstream jazz festivals.

Melissa Walker
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Melissa Walker is a visionary, results-oriented leader and arts education advocate. In 2002, her passion for performing and working with young people led her to establish Jazz House Kids, a nationally recognized jazz education and performance organization. A Brown University graduate and Grammy Award-winning jazz vocalist, Walker was recognized by NJBiz as one of New Jersey’s Best 50 Women in Business and received the Jazz Journalists Association's Jazz Hero Award.

Dana Wigle
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Dana has been in broadcast radio for over 20 years working in both the commercial and not for profit world. She got her start in radio advertising sales in 2000 and joined the JAZZ.FM91 community in 2010 as an advertising and sponsorship account executive. From there she became the Director Advertising Sales in 2012 with a mandate to build meaningful business relationships in the community and build them into the fabric of the radio station. In November 2020 Wigle became the General Manager JAZZ.FM91. With a focus on the leadership role Canada's only not for profit, 24/7 jazz radio broadcaster plays in the local community and the greater jazz community, Dana's focus is on accessibility, content delivery and engagement at all levels.

Steve Williams
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A native of Cincinnati, Ohio, Williams brings a rich and extensive background in media to WBGO with a reputation as a creative, people-centric, and data-driven leader. He has held key leadership roles at top media organizations across a diverse range of markets including Cincinnati, Detroit, Washington DC, Philadelphia, Denver, San Francisco, New York City, and most recently Seattle. Williams is also a nationally recognized authority on best practices for jazz radio programming, research, marketing, and administration and content production. A jazz aficionado, Williams previously served as Director of Programming for WBGO and most recently served the station in a consulting capacity. Steve was first introduced to jazz by his grandfather, at age 15—the year of his first radio job.

Marija Abney
Actress, The Soapbox Presents

Paula Abreu
‍Programming

Amaury Acosta
‍Drummer, Composer, Producer

Gwen Ansell
Music Writer, Researcher

Amy K. Bormet
‍Pianist, Vocalist, Composer

Dee Dee Bridgewater
Jazz Giant, Vocalist

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Tulani Bridgewater-Kowalski
Manager, Programming

Susan Brink
Music Director, Jazz Sanctuary

D’Andre Brothers
Director, WSSB FM

Caelan Cardello
Pianist

Terri Lyne Carrington
Drummer, Producer, Educator

Bryan Carter
Drummer, Vocalist

Erica Carter
Epic Games

Kimberly Chmura
Manager, Producer

Emmet Cohen
Pianist, Composer

Mary Foster Conklin
Vocalist, Radio Host

Felix Contreras
Radio Host, Musician

Christopher Crenshaw
Composer, Performer

Roberto Fonseca
Pianist, Vocalist, Composer

Roberta Gambarini
Vocalist, Lyricist

Carol Handley
Broadcaster, Radio Host

Meredith Hairston
Radio Host, Vocalist

Antonio Hart
Educator, Performer

Albert “Tootie” Heath
Drummer

Chris Heim
Radio Host, Producer

Michele Hendricks
Singer, Composer, Arranger

Dr. Robin D.G. Kelley
Historian, Writer

Benjamin Lapidus
Guitarist, Educator

Jihye Lee
Composer, Bandleader

Jen Luzzo
Public Relations

Valérie Malot
Producer, Manager

René Marie
‍Singer, Composer, Educator

Peter Martin
‍Pianist, Entrepreneur, Educator

Bobby McFerrin
Singer, 10-Time Grammy Winner

Angelo Miranda
Sales Counsel

Rachel Morgan
Manager, Pianist

Mtume
‍Musician, Songwriter, Producer

John Murph
Journalist, DJ

Adam Neely
Bassist, Composer, YouTuber

Akua Noni Parker
Dancer, Teacher, Chef

Alexandre Pierrepont
Anthropologist, Author

Herlin Riley
Drummer

Adonis Rose
Artist, Composer, Educator

Mark Ruffin
Broadcaster, Journalist

Cécile McLorin Salvant
Composer, Singer, Artist

Maria Schneider
Singer, 7-Time Grammy Winner

Jacques Schwarz-Bart
Performer, Educator

Katie Simon
Audio Journalist, Radio Host

Kerry Sulkowicz
Psychiatrist, Psychoanalyst

Alexa Tarantino
Saxophonist, Educator

Wayne Tucker
Trumpeter, Composer, Violinist

Sébastian Vidal
Artistic Director

Melissa Walker
Performer, Vocalist

Dana Wigle
Broadcaster

Steve Williams
Radio Programming