Rich Thompson is an Associate Professor of jazz studies and contemporary media (pt) at the Eastman School of Music. In addition to his duties as artist/teacher of drum set, he also teaches fundamentals of jazz drum set, assists in coaching the rhythm sections of small groups and big bands, and is a member of the Eastman Jazz Trio/Quartet with Harold Danko, Clay Jenkins and Jeff Campbell.
Mr. Thompson received a bachelor's degree in music education and in percussion from the University of Oklahoma, and a master's degree in jazz studies and contemporary media (performance) from the Eastman School of Music. In the spring of 1996, while on tour with the Count Basie Orchestra, he was asked to join the Eastman faculty. Continuing to tour with the Basie Orchestra, Rich joined the Eastman faculty in the fall of 1996. His association with the Rochester Philharmonic began in the fall of 1994 and continued through January of 2005. Under the direction of pops conductor Jeff Tyzik, Rich has been a featured soloist with the RPO, as well as with many major orchestras in the United States and Canada. He has also toured with the Glenn Miller Orchestra and the Nelson Riddle Orchestra.
He appeared with the Count Basie Orchestra at the President's Inaugural Ball (Jan. 19 1997), and spent January through July of 1996 touring with the Basie Orchestra. He was a frequent call back in '97 and recorded a live video with the band in NYC at the well-known jazz venue Birdland. He was featured on Tito Puente's 1996 CD release Jazzin, a collaboration CD with Tito Puente, Puente's latin rhythm section and the Count Basie Orchestra. Rich was one of 15 semifinalists in the Thelonious Monk International Drum Competition in October 1992. In the past ten years he has played numerous times with pianist Marian McPartland, guitarist Gene Bertoncini, trumpet legend Dizzy Gillespie, guitar legend Joe Pass, and trumpet/flugelhorn great Clark Terry.
Thompson has recorded numerous times in the U.S. and France with renowned pianists Bill Dobbins (Paradise, Glass Enclosure and others.) and as a co-leader with James Williams (of Art Blakey fame) on the CD titled Eventually. He has also recorded/performed with singer Bobby McFerrin and with the Eastman Jazz Trio featuring pianist Harold Danko and bassist Jeff Campbell. Most recently, Rich can be heard with Trio East. The Trio has been performing in New York City and has been written up in the NYC newspaper All About Jazz on several occasions in the spring and summer of 2005.
Rich has written two drum set books which include Drum Set Solos Vol. I (Kendor Music) and Billy Hart's Jazz Drumming (Advance Music). Both books are widely used by students and teachers, and his drum set transcriptions have been featured in Down Beat magazine.

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.

Guitarist John Scofield celebrates the music of his friend and mentor Steve Swallow in an outgoing and spirited recording, made in a day in New York in March 2019 - “old school” style as Scofield says, while acknowledging that more than forty years of preparation led up to it. John was a 20-year-old student at Berklee when he first met and played with the bassist, and they have continued ever since. “I love these songs”, says Scofield of the selection of Swallow compositions explored here – a broad range including classics such as “Hullo Bolinas”, “Eiderdown”, “Falling Grace” and “Radio”, as well as lesser-known works. The rapport between Scofield and Swallow is evident in every moment. John: “Sometimes when we play it’s like one big guitar, the bass part and my part together.” Behind the drum kit, Bill Stewart, a close associate of Scofield’s since the early 90s, is alert to all the implications of the interaction. “What Bill does is more than ‘playing the drums,’” Scofield says. “He’s a melodic voice in the music, while also swinging really hard.”

Walter Theodore "Sonny" Rollins (born September 7, 1930) is an American jazz tenor saxophonist, widely recognized as one of the most important and influential jazz musicians. A number of his compositions, including "St. Thomas", "Oleo", "Doxy", "Pent-Up House", and "Airegin", have become jazz standards. Rollins was born in New York City to parents from the United States Virgin Islands. The youngest of three siblings, he grew up in central Harlem and on Sugar Hill, Harlem, receiving his first alto saxophone at the age of seven or eight. He attended Edward W. Stitt Junior High School and graduated from Benjamin Franklin High School in East Harlem. He has said that a concert by Frank Sinatra at his high school, accompanied by a plea for racial harmony, changed his life. Rollins started as a pianist, changed to alto saxophone, and finally switched to tenor in 1946. During his high school years, he played in a band with other future jazz legends Jackie McLean, Kenny Drew and Art Taylor.