Iiro Rantala is "a natural phenomenon on keys" (German jazz magazine Jazzthing); an all-rounder of whom New York-based pianist and arranger Gil Goldstein quite rightly said: "Iiro Rantala is a pianistic sensation who makes the strongest case I know to believe in reincarnation, because his pianistic technique and musical sensitivity speak of depths that appear impossible to have been achieved in this lifetime alone". Up to now, Rantala was mainly associated with the trio Töykeät, one of the weirdest, funniest and most visionary piano trios in international jazz. He sounded out all the possibilities of this formation: Sometimes playing the energetic lion on keys, sometimes the sensitive romantic or the burlesque clown. His playing blasted away all stylistic boundaries and was as uncompromised as it was entertaining, but kept together by a magical triangle: his boundless technical ability and his unmistakeable senses of humour and style.

Stefano Bollani was born in 1972 in Milan and began playing piano at age 6, enrolling in Florence’s Cherubini Conservatory five years later. He first performed professionally at 15, initially in pop contexts. He began playing with Enrico Rava in 1996, confirming a deeper commitment to jazz. Since then, he has played with Pat Metheny, Martial Solal, Lee Konitz, Phil Woods, Gato Barbieri, Miroslav Vitouš, Richard Galliano, Michel Portal and Roberto Gatto, among others. Bollani has recorded for ECM since 2003, starting with a sequence of albums with Rava: Easy Living (with an all-Italian quintet), Tati (trio with Paul Motian), The Third Man (duo) and New York Days (quintet with Motian, Mark Turner and Larry Grenadier). Bollani made his ECM debut under his own name with Piano Solo in 2007, then released the trio disc Stone In The Water with Jesper Bodlisen and Morten Lund in 2009. The pianist has also made duo albums for ECM with Chick Corea (Orvieto) and Hamilton de Holanda (O Que Sera).
Bollani has also recorded two collections of orchestral works for Decca with Leipzig’s Gewandhausorchester conducted by Riccardo Chailly, one featuring the works of George Gershwin and the other, Sounds of the ’30s, including Ravel’s Piano Concerto in G along with works by Stravinsky, Kurt Weill and Victor de Sabata. He has also composed for big band, and published a novel (La Sindrome di Brontolo, 2006). Among his awards is the European Jazz Prize as Musician of the Year for 2007.