Rosana Eckert is more than a jazz vocal artist. She has been called a musical force, starting her professional career as an accomplished French horn player and classical music theorist and changing course to develop an international reputation as a masterful and engaging performer, an exciting improviser, a dynamic songwriter, and a creative arranger. Rosana has had the pleasure of performing with such jazz greats as Lyle Mays, Kenny Wheeler, George Duke, Jon Faddis, Christian McBride, Marvin Stamm, Bobby McFerrin, and with award-winning vocal quartet New York Voices. She kicked off her jazz career as a member of the 1999 Sisters in Jazz Collegiate Sextet which performed at the Monterey Jazz Festival and the Mary Lou Williams Women in Jazz Festival, and she was part of the 2000 Thelonious Monk Aspen Jazz Colony with musical director Christian McBride. Her debut solo CD, At the End of the Day, was praised as a "superior debut" by Cadence Magazine and was a finalist for Best New Jazz Album in the 2006 Independent Music Awards, showcasing her dynamic improvisation, unique arranging style, and her knack for songwriting. Since then, she has recorded four more solo projects, appeared on Bobby McFerrin's Grammy-nominated album Vocabularies, and recorded debut projects of original music with two new bands: The Mike Steinel Quintet featuring Rosana Eckert, and Brasuka, a Brazilian-flavored original music project co-founded by Rosana. Her newest solo album, Sailing Home, is produced by renowned singer/pianist/arranger Peter Eldridge (co-founder of the New York Voices). The project of all original music, released in June 2019, is her first on Origin Records. In demand as a master teacher of jazz and voice, Rosana was the first female to join the esteemed jazz faculty of the University of North Texas. Since then, she has helped build the UNT vocal jazz department into one of the best in the world. Her students have gone on to win Grammy Awards and prestigious competitions, tour the world as solo artists and back-up vocalists, record on major labels, establish music schools and private lesson studios, sing on national TV, serve their country singing in military bands, publish choral arrangements, and work as studio singers on movie soundtracks and commercials. A highly respected improviser, Rosana can be heard on Scatability, a vocal improvisation app by Michele Weir and on the demonstration CD for Darmon Meader's book Vocal Jazz Improvisation: An Instrumental Approach. She recently collaborated with popular vocal group Groove for Thought, improvising on their video recording of "Groovin Hard." Also a prolific writer, Rosana's many published vocal ensemble arrangements and original songs have been performed worldwide. Rosana's new book Singing with Expression: A Guide to Authentic and Adventurous Song Interpretation was published by Hal Leonard in June 2018. In addition to her extensive live performing and teaching, Rosana also works regularly as a studio vocalist and voice-over talent in Dallas, having sung or spoken on hundreds of commercials, album projects, publishing demos, and radio IDs around the world.

Corey Christiansen grew up in a musical family. His father, Mike Christiansen, has run the guitar program at Utah State University for over three decades. Corey spent a lot of his youth with his dad on campus learning about the guitar and music. After high school, Corey received his bachelor's degree from USU. A year later Corey left for Tampa Florida to study with legendary jazz guitar educator, Jack Petersen. In 1999, Corey received his master's degree from the University of South Florida and took over the teaching duties of Jack Petersen the next year. From 2000 to 2007 Corey was the senior editor and main guitar clinician for Mel Bay Publications. This job allowed him to tour, give clinics, develop products, produce recordings and rub shoulders with the best musicians in the business. For seven years Corey gave countless clinics and performances around the world and developed a fan base not only for his teaching but his playing. In 2007 Corey moved back to his native Utah and was the Director of Curriculum for The Music School, a privately funded music program outside of Salt Lake City. During this time he continued an extremely active touring schedule playing all over the US and into Europe. In the fall of 2007 Corey signed with Origin Records by the end of Feb. 2008 had two records in the can. Laden with hooks and grooves, Roll With It is Corey's debut release for Origin and features Matt Jorgensen on drums, Pat Bianchi on organ and David Halliday on sax. His music draws on the tradition of the masters but leans towards the future. Rooted in the tradition of the jazz language but just bluesy and gritty enough to not alienate larger audiences. Corey's first two recordings Awakening and MB3: Jazz Hits vol. 1 received ciritical acclaim and found large success on North American radio again proving he has the ability to keep the artistic integrity of the music without pushing listeners away.
In the fall of 2008 Corey assumed duties teaching full-time at Utah State University and will part-time at Indiana University where he'll be pioneering the jazz guitar program. Even with a busy academic schedule, Corey still tours and continues to record. Corey Christiansen has a number of publications with Mel Bay and has conducted countless guitar clinics and concerts across the country and beyond including Europe, South Africa and Australia. He has also performed at many notable festivals and venues including John Pisano's Guitar Night in Los Angeles, the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C., the Umbria Jazz Festival in Perugia, Italy, the Lionel Hampton Jazz Festival, the Clearwater Jazz Festival, the Daytona Beach Jazz Festival, the Classic American Guitar Show, and the St. Louis Jazz Festival. He has also performed and/or recorded with many outstanding jazz artists including Jimmy Bruno, John Pisano, James Moody, Joe Negri, Willie Akins, Chuck Redd, Sid Jacobs, Jack Wilkins, Christian McBride, George Duke, Terri Lyne Carrington, Danny Gottlieb, and many, many others.

Steve Barnes is a highly acclaimed drummer and educator, whose signature sound and musicality have made him a valuable asset in settings ranging from big bands to orchestras to television soundtrack recordings. He has performed with jazz greats including Gene Bertoncini, Don Braden, Richie Cole, Hank Crawford, Hal Galper, Eddie Harris, Antonio Hart, Conrad Herwig, Dan Haerle, Groove Holmes, Jay Leonhart, Dave Liebman, Mundell Lowe, Frank Morgan, New York Voices, Diane Schuur, Bob Sheppard, Sonny Stitt, Marvin Stamm, Tierney Sutton, Rosanna Eckert, Corey Christiansen, Mike Steinel, Bill Holman's Big Band, Bob Florence Big Band and the Tommy Dorsey Big Band. During a decade in Los Angeles, Steve's professional experiences included not only live gigging and touring, but also television recording (including on-camera playing) for the ABC FAMILY show "The Secret Life of the American Teenager" and "The Middle". Since relocating to Dallas in 2011, Steve has enjoyed making music with some of the Metroplex's finest jazz musicians as well as being asked to join the drum chair rotation with the Dallas Symphony Orchestra's Pops Series under the baton of Jeff Tyzik. Steve has over 35 years of private teaching experience, including his current position as Adjunct Instructor of Drumset in the Jazz Division at the University of North Texas, and serving on the faculty of the Jamey Aebersold Summer Jazz Workshop since 2001. Other past teaching positions include teaching jazz drumset at the University of Cincinnati's College Conservatory of Music and serving as drumset mentor for both the Greater Dallas Youth Orchestra's jazz division from 2012 to 2014 and the Los Angeles Jazz Society's Bill Green Mentor Scholarship program from 2004 to 2011.