Geof Bradfield was born in Houston, TX, where he attended the renowned High School for the Performing and Visual Arts. He lived and worked for periods in New York, Los Angeles, and Washington before settling in Chicago in 2004. Along the way, he has been fortunate to work alongside many jazz luminaries and to perform throughout the United States, Europe, Russia, Africa and the Middle East. He is featured on numerous recordings, including his critically acclaimed 2010 release African Flowers, which was named one of the top 10 CDs of 2010 by the Los Angeles Times. His septet performed this 10-part suite in 2011 at Chicago's Millennium Park to an audience of 8,000 as part of the celebrated series Made in Chicago: World Class Jazz. Mr. Bradfield and his ensemble also presented the suite at the DuSable Museum of African American Art as the Artist-in Residence of the Hyde Park Jazz Festival in the fall of 2011. As a composer, Mr. Bradfield has received several commissions and awards, including a 2008 New Jazz Works commission from Chamber Music America and grants and fellowships from the City of Chicago Community Arts Partnership, the Illinois Arts Council, and the Black Metropolis Research Consortium. His recent suite Melba!, inspired by the life and music of trombonist and arranger Melba Liston, premiered in 2012 through the support of a 2011 New Jazz Works commission from Chamber Music America and the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation. In the fall of 2012, Mr. Bradfield's septet toured Melba! in the Midwest and South, returning to Chicago to close the tour at the legendary Green Mill jazz club. The group recorded the suite for release on Origin Records in 2013. Mr. Bradfield also has extensive experience as an educator. Since completing his MFA at California Institute of the Arts, he has held positions at diverse colleges and universities as well as teaching master classes in composition, history and performance in the U.S. and abroad. He is currently Assistant Professor of Jazz Saxophone and Jazz Studies at Northern Illinois University.

Pianist/composer and Guggenheim Fellow Ryan Cohan has distinguished himself as a vital original voice to be heard amongst the elite young jazz artists on the global music scene today.
Born June 6, 1971, Ryan was introduced to music very early in life by his mother, who was a music teacher as well as a classical pianist and guitarist. Although, he began reading music even sooner, his formal training began at age nine on the violin. A few years later he switched to the keyboard, and by his second year in high school, Ryan knew that he wanted a life dedicated to music and began an intense daily practice regimen at the piano.
Wanting to deepen his formal training led Ryan to DePaul University where he received his bachelor's of music degree in jazz performance in 1993. At DePaul, Ryan studied extensively with jazz pianist Larry Novak and arranger, producer Cliff Colnot; later he was tutored by improvisation guru David Bloom. During two summer breaks in college, Ryan received full scholarships from Blue Note Records to study at The Skidmore Jazz Institute in New York whose faculty included the late legend, Milt Hinton.
Concurrently, Ryan began making his mark on the Chicago music scene playing with the region's top jazz and Latin musicians. He has since performed with such luminaries and stellar ensembles as Freddie Hubbard, Curtis Fuller, Joe Locke, Paquito D'Rivera, Jon Faddis, Kurt Elling, Pat La Barbera, Andy Narell, Regina Carter, Michal Urbaniak, Orbert Davis and The Chicago Jazz Philharmonic, The Chicago Jazz Ensemble and The Chicago Chamber Musicians among many others. Ryan's diverse resume also includes a substantial list of commercial studio performing credits, arranging for the Grant Park Symphony with Otis Clay, and the music director position with the Chicago Human Rhythm Project.
As an educator, Ryan has been the assistant director of small and large jazz ensembles at The University Of Illinois at Chicago, faculty member of the Skidmore Jazz Institute in New York, and he continues to work as a jazz artist clinician at universities and high schools throughout the U.S and abroad.

Straddling a career in both New York City and Chicago, Clark has toured and performed extensively throughout the world sharing bills with artists such as Herbie Hancock, Wayne Shorter, Diana Krall, Tony Bennett and B.B.King . Clark has been a member of the Dan Cray trio for ten years. He has also had the privilege to perform with Cedar Walton, Kurt Elling, Ernie Watts, Bennie Maupin, Von Freeman, Ira Sullivan, Frank Wess, Charles McPherson, Peter Bernstein, Lin Haliday, Dana Hall, Jodie Christian, Maurice Brown, Bobby Broom, Jeff Parker, Ron Perrillo, Geof Bradfield, Michael Weiss, George Fludas, Kevin Mahogany, Eden Atwood, Ted Sirota's Rebel Souls, The Mighty Blue Kings and The Chicago Jazz Orchestra. Clark completed his undergraduate degree in Jazz Studies and World Music at California Institute of the Arts, where he studied with bass masters Charlie Haden and Darek Oles. While living in Los Angeles, Clark performed with Leo Smith, Vinny Golia, the Charlie Haden(conducted by Charlie) Liberation Orchestra, Joe La Barbara, Los Angeles Jazz Quartet, Kris Tiner and Larry Koonse. In June, 2007 Clark received an honorable mention at the International Society of Bassists Convention. He continues to seek expansion of his craft and is currently pursuing classical studies with David Grossman of the New York Philharmonic. Clark's most recent touring activity includes extensive work with vocalist Kurt Elling which culminated in to a live recording that won a GRAMMY AWARD for best vocal jazz album in 2009. Clark is currently on the faculty at the ArtsWest School for Performing and Visual Arts in addition to the Origin Jazz Institute located in Boise, Idaho. There, he performs regularly with Kobie Watkins, Jeff Baker and Justin Neilsen.