New York City based low brass specialist Gina Benalcazar is one of the most in demand doublers on the scene. Having degrees in both Classical Performance and Jazz Studies, Gina’s playing can be described as having deep understanding of the Bass Trombone and jazz harmony and language. Under the mentorship of artists such as Michael Dease, Dee Dee Bridgewater, Luis Bonilla, David Gibson, and Doug Purviance, she has had the opportunity to work with some of the world's most prolific band leaders. She can be found playing with The Vanguard Jazz Orchestra, The Roy Hargrove Big Band, Etienne Charles’ Creole Soul, The Rufus Reid Big Band, and others. In 2017 she won the seat of Bass Trombonist for Rodney Whitaker’s Jazz Orchestra at Dr. Phillips Center in Orlando Florida, is the Bass Trombonist of the Dee Dee Bridgewater Big Band, holds a Tenor Trombone seat in the Ulysses Owens Jr. New Century Big Band and holds the Bass Trombone seat in David Gibson’s Big Band. She’s also played as a sideperson with various ensemble orientations and worked in education with artists such as Michael Dease, Alon Yovnai, Chris Potter, Michael Mossman, Rodney Whitaker, David Gibson, Luis Bonilla, Marshall Gilkes, Conrad Herwig, Kenny Rampton, Marlene Rosenburg, and many more. She is also one of the Administrative Faculty at the Brevard Jazz Institute, under the direction of Michael Dease.

Gina has also had the opportunity to record with groups such as the Mica Bethea big band, releasing the albums “The Mica Bethea Big Band” and “Suite Theory", Ulysses Owens New Century Jazz Orchestra "Soul Conversations," Michael Dease’s “Bonifide", is on one track of the album “One-Track Mind” by the Becoming Quintet, and is credited as an arranger on one track on Michael Dease’s album, "Reaching Out.” Her full discography can be found on her website.

Gina is also a band leader for a quintet called “The BOUNCE” that was selected for a Chamber Music of America grant in 2019. They perform in clubs around the North East, as well as in Lansing Michigan, and is releasing her debut record in Spring of 2023 (date to be announced soon). She can be booked for performances, festivals, masterclasses, and guest artist series.

Born and raised in Madrid, Spain, pianist and composer Marta Sánchez is actively working in the contemporary creative music scene in New York City and around the globe. Charting a significant path through her innovative and original music, she has reached an international audience, gaining significant global recognition.

Marta’s main project, her quintet, was created soon after she moved to New York, and since then has released four albums: “Partenika” (2015), “Danza Imposible” (2017), and “El Rayo de Luz” (2019) with the Spanish label Fresh Sound and SAAM (Spanish American Art Museum) with Whirlwind Recordings. All of the albums received high praise from American press. ”Partenika” received great reviews from The New York Times, Downbeat, All Music, All About Jazz,and many more. Not only that, but the recording was selected by The New York Times as one of the  10 best albums of 2015, including all genres, and it was also included on the lists of the best recordings of the year from the Jazz Journalist Association, Downbeat and All Music. The quintet’s next work, “Danza Imposible” was reviewed and highly praised in the famous public radio program“Fresh Air”, it got 4 stars from DownBeat, an excellent review from The New York TImes, on Nate Chinen’s program at WBGO, and it was also included in some lists of the best of 2017. “El Rayo de Luz” was also included in the The New York Times list of the Best 10 jazz albums of 2019, it was the editor’s pick of the December issue of Downbeat, got a four stars review also in Downbeat from Giovanni Russonello, it was featured on WBGO’s program “The Checkout” and a long etc.  SAAM (Spanish American Art Museum) was reviewed at The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Downbeat, Jazzwise and a long etc. After “Danza Imposible”, Marta’s music has been the subject of articles in publications including Jazziz and The New York Times.

She has toured the United States, Europe, South America, and Central America, performing as a leader or as a sideman at prestigious venues and prominent festivals such as North Sea Jazz Festival in the Netherlands, Eurojazz in Mexico City, Eurojazz in Athens, Jazz Festival Vitoria Gasteiz, Winter Jazz Festival in New York, and Madrid  among many others. In the United States she has performed at some of the most prestigious clubs including the Blue Note, Birdland, Roulette, Jazz Gallery, 55 Bar, The Cell Theater, Cornelia Street Cafe, or Blue Whale.

She received prizes for the best soundtrack for short film in the festivals Alcalá de Henares, Curtficcion in Barcelona and Palma de Mallorca. 

In 2017 and 2021 she received the prestigious grant for a residency from the MacDowell Colony, where Marta wrote prepared piano repertoire. 

Carol Bash is the Founder and President of Paradox Films, a media production

company based in Peekskill, New York. She is an award winning documentary

filmmaker with over 20 years of experience. Her short film, Morning at Hemlock Hill Farm, which showcases the natural beauty of a local farm is on the film festival circuit and was part of the Riverfront Art Gallery's "Winter Calling" Exhibition (2022-2023). It was screened at the Putnam Arts Council's Grass + Roots Exhibition (2021); Peekskill Arts Alliance "Re-emergence" Exhibition (2021); and the Peekskill Arts Grants "Displays of Affection" Exhibition (2021). Currently, in post-production is: Blueprint For My People, a short film that illuminates the African-American experience by lyrically

interweaving spoken-word narration of Margaret Walker’s epic poem, “For My People”with contemporary images and rare 19th century cyanotypes (blue photographic prints known as “blueprints”); and My Battle with PD, a short film that visually brings to life

the poignant words penned by disability activist, John M. Williams about living with

Parkinson’s disease. Her feature documentary, Mary Lou Williams: The Lady Who Swings the Band, on this renowned yet unsung jazz genius, is currently available on Showtime and was broadcast nationally on public television in 2015.

Amy K Bormet is a pianist, vocalist, and composer, known for her fearless free-wheeling style and dedication to creating new music. To collaborate with and celebrate women musicians, she started the annual Washington Women in Jazz Festival in 2011, directing, financing, and performing in an annual festival and women-focused events throughout the year in the DC area.

She has formed several ensembles to perform and record her compositions.  Los Angeles-based quintet, AmyAna, co-led with Brazilian drummer Ana Barreiro, released their debut album in 2019, and will perform an east coast tour in October 2021. The Harold Trio, an instant composition ensemble with Tina Raymond, drums and Biggi Vinkeloe, saxophone/flute, released their second album, Open Secrets, in 2019. Her quintet, Ephemera, a project of women’s poetry and improvisation, performed a two-week tour of Sweden. Currently she tours and performs her songs with the Amy K Bormet Trio, and No Trick Pony.

Amy’s recordings are available through Strange Woman Records, which she co-owns with guitarist/producer and husband Dr. Matt Dievendorf.

As an educator and a mentor, Amy K Bormet amplifies her performance tours with outreach masterclasses and residencies, recently at the Thailand International Jazz Conference (Mahidol University, January 2020), Los Angeles City College (February 2020), the Caribbean Museum Center for the Arts (May 2022), and Shepherd University (Jan 2023). She is a teaching artist, collaborating with the Kennedy Center’s newest programming at the REACH to present and perform with her all-women trio “the future of jazz is female” for middle school students.

She continues to serve as a mentor for Grammy U, 202creates, and the summer program for the Washington Jazz Arts Institute, where she has participated since she was a high school student at Duke Ellington School of the Arts. She received her Jazz Studies Piano Performance BFA from the University of Michigan, where she chairs the alumni board of the School of Music, Theatre, and Dance. Inspired by her University of Michigan professor Geri Allen, Amy went to Howard University, and graduated with a MFA in Jazz Studies.

As her performance career develops, Amy focuses more on presenting her compositions. She began to write orchestral music in 2013 as a part of the Jazz Composer’s Orchestra Institute (American Composer’s Orchestra) and premiered several new pieces with her quartet and the Capital City Symphony in February 2017. Her trio and string quartet debuted two sets of new music at the Smithsonian American Art Museum in March 2016. She wrote and performed music for two residencies at the Kennedy Center; Betty Carter’s Jazz Ahead for composer/performers and the Mary Lou Williams Emerging Artist Showcase.

Hannah E Casey is a Master Yoga and Meditation teacher who has brought her holistic approach to luminaries, artists and actors across the nation. Julia Roberts, Madonna, Deepak Chopra, Jessica Seinfeld, Martha Stewart, and many more have benefited from Hannah’s teachings.

Since 1995 Hannah has immersed herself in the Healing Arts. Hannah is trained in Jiva Mukti Yoga, and certified to teach Yoga and Meditation through The Sivananda Yoga Vedanta Center (Val Marin Canada 250 hours) and Om Yoga (NYC 200 hours). She is a certified level ll Shiatsu Therapist (The Ohashi Center NYC) and is a Certified Raw Food Nutritionist (Ann Wigmore Institute, Puerto Rico.) Hannah has also studied Thai Massage and is a Vipassana Meditation student with over 400 course hours.

Hannah has mentored for The Woodshed Network cohort since 2020, bringing her expertise in yoga, meditation and wellness to cohorts every year.

Anna Deavere Smith is an actress, playwright, professor, and author. She is credited with having created a new form of theater. Smith’s work combines the journalistic technique of interviewing her subjects with the art of interpreting their words through performance.

Smith has created over fifteen one-person shows based on hundreds of interviews. Her most recent play, Notes from the Field, looks at the vulnerability of youth, inequality, the criminal justice system, and contemporary activism. The New York Times named it among The Best Theater of 2016 and Time magazine named it one of the Top 10 Plays of that year. In 2018, HBO premiered the film version of Notes from the Field. Smith’s play Twilight: Los Angeles, 1992 was recently named one of the best plays of the last twenty-five years by The New York Times.

Smith has appeared on television programs including Shonda Rhimes’s For the People, Black-ish, Nurse Jackie, and The West Wing. Her film work includes roles in The American President, Philadelphia, RENT, and Rachel Getting Married.

President Obama awarded Smith the National Humanities Medal in 2013. Additional honors include the prestigious MacArthur Award and the Dorothy and Lillian Gish Prize for achievement in the arts. She has been honored with the George Polk Career Award in Journalism, a Ridenhour Courage Prize, and the Dean’s Medal from the Stanford University School of Medicine. Her work has received two Tony nominations and she was runner up for the Pulitzer Prize in Drama. Her honorary degrees include those from Yale, University of Pennsylvania, Juilliard, Dartmouth, Spelman, and Swarthmore. In 2015 she was selected as the Jefferson Lecturer by the National Endowment for the Humanities. 

She is a University Professor at Tisch School of the Arts and the founding director of the NYU Institute on the Arts and Civic Dialogue.

Michelle Day has provided production and logistical services for leading political figures, corporations, nonprofit organizations, and the entertainment industry for more than a decade. Since 1997, she has directed a variety of events for the Institute, including international jazz education tours sponsored by the U.S. Department of State, as well as the annual Herbie Hancock Institute of Jazz International Competition. 

From 1993 to 1995, Day served as Director of Advance for former U.S. Secretary of Commerce Ronald Brown, managing the logistics for a number of international trade missions, including visits to Egypt, Jordan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates. Through this work, she became well versed in the composition of the Washington, DC embassy community, as well as the U.S. State Department desk and worldwide embassy system. 

Day has also been involved in producing high-profile events held on The National Mall, including The March to Conquer Cancer, Earth Day, the Million Mom March, and the March for Women’s Lives. Through her work with Festival Productions and the Institute, Day has worked with celebrities including Herbie Hancock, Quincy Jones, Prince, Barbra Streisand, and Stevie Wonder.

Guided by the forces of family, faith, and music, world-reknown "Queen of Percussion," Sheila E. has made a name for herself as one of the most talented musical icons over the decades. With a fearless nature and a passion for sharing her gifts with others, Sheila truly follows the beat of her own drum. She touches the lives of so many, with her dynamic music career at the heart of everything. Sheila’s eagerness to share her music, openness as an author, and fire for her ministry make her such a relatable, inspirational figure for people of all ages.

Born into a musical family, Sheila Escovedo (Sheila E.) has been driven by an inner rhythm her entire life. As a young girl, she was immersed in the diverse music scenes of the Bay Area—influenced and inspired by her percussionist father Pete Escovedo; musical uncles Coke Escovedo, Alejandro Escovedo, Mario Escovedo, and Javier Escovedo; and godfather Tito Puente. Growing up in the Escovedo household, musical instruments were for everyone. “Nobody cared as long as you could keep time (or have a good time),” she writes in her memoir, The Beat Of My Own Drum.

At the age of 5, Sheila gave her first public performance for an audience of 3,000, appearing alongside her dad. It was while on that stage playing a drum solo that Sheila first realized she was going to be a percussionist. Five decades later, and the beat that has always driven her is showing no signs of slowing down. The famous drummer, singer, songwriter, author, humanitarian, and icon is following the beat of her own drum. She considers music to be the purest form of self-expression and the one true love of her life.

With multiple studio albums, chart-topping singles and featured appearances for equally renown artists, Sheila E. is also an instructor and visual artist. In 2021, Sheila was award the prestigious Latin Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award.

Regina L. Edmond, MD is an exemplary Obstetrician/Gynecologist in the community. As a native to Los Angeles, Dr. Edmond graduated from Washington Preparatory HS. Her undergraduate education was completed at Spelman College in Atlanta, Georgia where she received a Bachelor’s of Science degree in Biology. She then attended Michigan State University College of Human Medicine to obtain her Medical Degree. She returned home to Los Angeles to study Obstetrics and Gynecology at Martin Luther King/Drew Medical Center and Cedars Sinai Medical Center.  She is currently on staff at Cedars Sinai Medical Center and has maintains a private practice in West Hollywood.

Dr. Edmond enjoys both private practice with community service. In addition to her stellar clinical skills, she is an accomplished surgeon specializing in obstetrics and procedures that promote gynecologic health. She enjoys opportunities to teach and empower women.  She has been invited to speak to people of all ages, from elementary school students to college students and countless adults at churches and private events. Her most recent community involvement was at the KJLH Women’s Expo, where she is a recurring guest. She spoke about cancer prevention and health maintenance.

In addition to her extensive formal education, Dr. Edmond spends her time studying alternative and integrative approaches to healing. She believes there is a way to heal any ailment. She incorporates nutritional, emotional and social factors as part of her wholistic approach to individualized care for her patients. She’s a mother, teacher, doctor, mentor, community activist and a woman committed to sharing what she knows to uplift others.

Los Angeles-based mastering engineer and vinyl cutter, Jett Galindo of The Bakery, has worked on albums spanning a wide array of genres and artists (Barbra Streisand, Haley Reinhart, Weezer, the La La Land OST, to name a few). Jett Galindo carries on the legacy left behind by her late mentor, mastering legend Doug Sax (The Mastering Lab).

Recipient of Summa Cum Laude honors and the 2012 Robin Coxe-Yeldham Audio Scholar Award from Berklee College of Music, Jett Galindo was mentored by luminaries in the music industry including George Massenburg; producer Prince Charles Alexander; recording engineer Susan Rogers (Prince’s Purple Rain); and mastering engineer and AES President-elect, Jonathan Wyner. Jett kickstarted her post-Berklee engineering career in the world-renowned Avatar Studios in New York (now known as Power Station) as the recording engineer for producer Jerry Barnes. As Barnes’ engineer, Jett engineered for veteran artists such as legendary singer-songwriter Roberta Flack, Nile Rodgers, Bashiri among others.

In 2013, Jett joined The Mastering Lab family as the sole right-hand woman to pioneer mastering engineer and GRAMMY Technical Achievement awardee Doug Sax. Under the steady mentorship of the late Sax, Jett burgeoned to become the last engineer to join The Mastering Lab roster. During her years at The Mastering Lab, she worked on various notable vinyl releases including Pink Floyd’s 15th & final album “Endless River”. Other notable artists Jett has worked with include Bette Midler, Neil Young, Randy Travis, Seth MacFarlane, to name a few. Most recently through The Bakery, Jett has helped pave the way for the growing audiophile releases in the video game soundtrack genre, having mastered award-winning chart-topping releases such as the “Pokemon Red & Blue Piano Collections”, Rozen’s Legend of Zelda tribue “Children of Termina”, and the remastered 1980s Nicon Falcom’s “Ys I & II:  Ancient Ys Vanished” original soundtracks.

Outside of mastering, Jett is actively involved with Soundgirls, an organization for women working in the audio engineering field led by veteran live sound engineer Karrie Keyes (Pearl Jam, Red Hot Chili Peppers). In addition, she serves as a contributing writer for iZotope’s widely popular LEARN portal. Outside of wearing her audio engineering hat, Jett is also an accomplished lyric soprano who specializes in choral ensemble music. Currently singing with Los Angeles-based professional choir Tonality, Jett has performed in various countries spanning across Europe, Asia and the Americas.

Dr. Farah Jasmine Griffin is the William B. Ransford Professor of English and Comparative Literature and African American Studies at Columbia University, where she also served as the inaugural Chair of the African American and African Diaspora Studies. Professor Griffin received her B.A. in History & Literature from Harvard and her Ph.D. in American Studies from Yale. She is the author or editor of eight books including Who Set You Flowin?: The African American Migration Narrative (Oxford, 1995), If You Can’t Be Free, Be a Mystery: In Search of Billie Holiday (Free Press, 2001), and Harlem Nocturne: Women Artists and Progressive Politics During World War II (Basic Books, 2013).

Griffin collaborated with composer, pianist, Geri Allen and director, actor S. Epatha Merkerson on two theatrical projects, for which she wrote the book: The first, “Geri Allen and Friends Celebrate the Great Jazz Women of the Apollo,” with Lizz Wright, Dianne Reeves, Teri Lyne Carrington and others, premiered on the main stage of the Apollo Theater in May of 2013. The second, “A  Conversation with Mary Lou” featuring vocalist Carmen Lundy, premiered at Harlem Stage in March 2014 and was performed at The John F. Kennedy Center in May of 2016. Her most recent book, Read Until You Understand: The Profound Wisdom of Black Life and Literature was published by W.W. Norton in September 2021. Griffin is a 2021-22 Guggenheim Fellow and Mellon Foundation Fellow in Residence. 

Her activism has centered on issues of education, poverty and gender equity especially as they impact women and children. She currently sits on the board of The Brotherhood/Sister Sol, an organization that provides comprehensive, holistic and long-term support services to youth in Central Harlem.

Dr. Griffin is on academic leave until Spring 2023. She is unavailable for new manuscript review requests or promotion case requests.

Artist manager, producer and agent Pat Harris, has been directing the careers of jazz artists since 1994 with a roster that has included pianist Eric Reed and bassist Richie Goods, Igor Butman and the award winning jazz vocalist Allan Harris.  She runs an independent record label, Love Productions Records, for which she has co-produced 11 Allan Harris recordings: The Songs of Strayhorn, Cross That River, Cry of the Thunderbird, Long Live the King, A Nat King Cole Christmas, Open Up Your Mind,  Convergence, Black Bar Jukebox, Nobody's Gonna Love You Better,  The Genius of Eddie Jefferson, and Kates's Soulfood. For the past 20 years she has produced 2 Great Days of Jazz for the Association of Performing Arts Presenters’ annual conference in New York. Other productions include Jazz at Sotheby’s, Monday Night Jazz in Harlem, and the parlor jazz series, Harlem After Dark.

Harris is a co-writer and producer of the Allan Harris musical Cross That River which made its critically acclaimed debut at the New York Musical Theatre Festival.  Cross That River been awarded a Chamber Music America residency grant, and has also appeared at the Kennedy Center, Mass MoCA, Theatre Aspen, Joe’s Pub, the ASCAP Musical Theatre Festival, The State Theater, B.B. Kings Blues Club, the Blue Note, and Rockwood Music Hall. Cross That River was in residency for five weeks at 59E59 Theaters, November 30 - December 31, 2017 and continues to tour the country.

Chicago IL native, former U.S. Jazz Ambassador and twice appointed Fulbright Senior Music Specialist, Lenora Helm Hammonds is a global interdisciplinarian. Helm Hammonds is a recipient of the 2021 UNC Board of Governors Award for Excellence in Teaching. Her research is published by Springer, Routledge and Taylor-Francis and spreads across the intersections of intercultural maturity, jazz pedagogy and digital humanities. A tenured, Pi Kappa Lambda music honor society and Golden Key Honor Society Associate Professor in the Department of Music and Jazz Studies Program at North Carolina Central University (NCCU), she is the Honors Program liaison and president of the Kappa Psi Chapter of Pi Kappa Lambda in the Department of Music. Helm Hammonds is also an American Council on Education/Association of College and University Educator Certified in Effective College Instruction & Effective Practice Framework.

She teaches undergraduate and graduate courses in vocal jazz performance, ear training and songwriting and directs the NCCU Vocal Jazz Ensemble (12 voices and a rhythm section). Her demonstrated leadership is shown in conceiving, planning and implementing a number of academic and student initiatives. These initiatives include at least a half dozen faculty-led student study-abroad trips to Aruba, Brazil, South Africa and Batumi, Georgia, Eastern Europe, as well as the design and launch of a National Endowment of the Arts sponsored NCCU Teaching Artist Certificate program (the only one situated at an HBCU and one of two in the nation), an innovation in research-based arts education pedagogy.

From 2010, she led a 12-person international team authoring globally networked learning environments, pioneering the COIL (Collaborative Online International Learning) methodology for NCCU’s College of Arts & Sciences. This work lay a foundation for NCCU being the only HBCU in the GLOMUS (Global Network for Higher Music Dance and Performing Arts Education), a network of 23 international liberal arts universities (Glomus.net), some of with whom NCCU has global partnerships and MoUs. Of her many tributaries of arts education experience, before coming to teach at NCCU in 2005, she was a teaching artist for arts organizations including Carnegie Hall, Brooklyn Philharmonic, Schomburg Center's Junior Scholar's Program, Def Dance Jam Workshop and Young Audiences New York and was past president of International Women in Jazz, as well as a board member of New York Arts-in-Education Roundtable and GRAMMY in the Schools.

Helm Hammonds is a sought-after guest lecturer at international universities and conferences as a jazz education expert. Academic award highlights include being named a quarterfinalist for the GRAMMY® Music Educator of the Year award and a Salzburg Global Citizen Fellow as well as receiving the Mayors Award for promoting international understanding, a Duke University-NCCU John Hope Franklin Digital Humanities Fellowship, the 2018 Javett Music Award International Jazz Scholar at University of Pretoria, South Africa, a 2018 Lifetime Achievement Award from Marquis Publishing, and NCCU’s Excellence in Teaching Award (2017). In addition, she is receiving the highest faculty honor, the 2021 Board of Governors Excellence in Teaching Award for the UNC System.

Lenora’s dream for creating access to under-served global populations interested in vocal jazz education was realized in the creation of a library of online vocal training programs at www.LenoraHelm.online. She holds a Bachelor of Music in Film Scoring and Voice from Berklee College of Music and a Master of Music, Jazz Performance, Magna Cum Laude, from East Carolina University and is a candidate for a Doctor of Musical Arts in Music Education from Boston University. She serves on numerous national and international boards, including as the area leadership unit vice-president for the Jazz Education Network, a steering committee member for GLOMUS, and an incoming 2021–2022 board member of the NafME (National Association of Music Educators) Council for Jazz Education.

Her achievements in academia are matched by more than three decades as a recording artist. Professionally known as Lenora Zenzalai Helm, she is internationally acclaimed and continues to perform and tour as a jazz vocalist, vocal musicianship coach, composer, lyricist and big band bandleader. Her achievements include seven commercially released recordings, her own music publishing company, Baoule Works Music Publishing, and an extensive discography with internationally renowned names in jazz and contemporary music.

Her indie jazz record label, Zenzalai Music, was elected as a 2021–2022 BIMA Accelerator (Black Independent Music Association) recipient. Recent jazz composer awards include being the recipient of a 2021–2022 Chamber Music America Residency Presenting Jazz Consortium, awarded to present her 11-song suite, "Journeywoman," in virtual concerts in Pittsburgh, Virginia and New York, and selection as the composer of a new film score for the indie film "Native."

Her music acclaim garnered the accolade of “...the voice of her generation,” by Jazziz Magazine. As a bandleader, her groups have  been featured in renowned jazz festivals and venues worldwide, including Jazz at Lincoln Center, Schomburg Center's Women in Jazz Festival, JVC Jazz Festivals, Clifford Brown Jazz Festival, Capetown Jazz Festival, South Africa and Fiji Jazz & Blues Festival, among others. Brief composer highlights include jazz composer awards from Chamber Music America/Doris Duke’s New Jazz Works, a MacDowell Colony composer fellowship, writing the music for a children's play "Indigo Blue: A Reimagining of the Pied Piper" by playwright Howard Craft, scoring the film "After Life" by filmmaker Lana Garland, and scoring music for ESPN's Black History Month ads.

Her last three CD recordings—including "Chronicles of a Butterfly," produced by Branford Marsalis—reached the first round of GRAMMY voting for nomination consideration. Her sixth release, "I Love Myself When I’m Laughing," was listed on Independent Ear’s "30 Recommended Record Releases" amongst an esteemed list of jazz artists. Her newest project and seventh release is titled "For The Love of Big Band," and it reached the top-50 jazz recordings of international jazz list, JazzWeek, and features her newly formed ensemble, The Tribe Jazz Orchestra®. The project comprises twenty musicians, with three generations of men and women performing American jazz classics and contemporary favorites utilizing innovative instrumentation. Inspired to change the face of large ensembles usually lacking gender diversity, Tribe Jazz Orchestra is Lenora’s effort to bring together a diverse group of veteran and emerging musicians from around the globe, based in North Carolina. Married to Fred Hammonds, she is the bonus mom to two sons and ten grandchildren and makes her home in Durham, NC. 

Karen Kennedy, is the Founder and President of 24/Seven Artist Development, a leading artist management firm founded in1992 to provide full-range strategic marketing and career planning to the finest artists in entertainment. She has successfully guided the careers of some of the top names in jazz including eleven-time GRAMMY nominee & NEA Jazz Master Kenny Barron, twice Grammy nominated vocalist Gretchen Parlato also winner of the International Thelonious Monk Competition, Grammy Award winner saxophonist David Sanchez, guitarist/vocalist Camila Meza and singer-songwriter cellist Gabriel Royal. She has helped shape the careers of four-time Grammy nominee and award-winning composer and educator Stefon Harris, award winning pianist Jacky Terrasson, and pianist James Francies among others.

Prior to launching her business Ms. Kennedy spent 10 years as an executive at several major record labels beginning at A&M Records. While there she initiated YES TO JOBS, an industry wide national high school internship program. She later joined the marketing staff where she was responsible for developing pop, R&B, jazz and classical music. As a Product Manager she worked with Sergio Mendes, Stan Getz, Gerry Mulligan, Barry White, Brenda Russell, Randy Jackson and many others. She was later named President of Perspective Records and helped launch the careers of Grammy Award winners The Sound of Blackness and Mint Condition. While at Silas/MCA Records she created marketing strategies and oversaw artist development for pop and R&B artists Aaron Hall, Chante Moore and Jessie Powell. 

In 2019 she and Gail Boyd launched Vanguard Arts, a management consulting and development firm for corporations, non-profits and independent artists.

Ms. Kennedy entered the entertainment industry after serving as the Director of the Southern California Environmental Internship Program, a non-profit organization for college students and alumni. Previously she held various college dean and teaching positions at Pitzer College, Loyola Marymount University and University of Southern California.

Ms. Kennedy serves on the NAPAMA Board of Directors, the Jazz Congress Advisory Board sponsored by Jazz at Lincoln Center and the YES TO JOBS Board of Directors. She taught at Julliard School, Manhattan School of Music and is a returning lecturer at the Herbie Hancock Institute of Jazz in Los Angeles. She holds a B.A. in Psychology from UCLA, a M.A. in Counseling and College Administration from the University of Southern California and is a Ph.D. candidate in Higher Education at UCLA. 

Gail Mitchell serves as Billboard’s Executive Director of R&B/Hip-Hop, covering the R&B and rap genres as well as music industry business news across all genres and sectors for the magazine and Billboard.com. Mitchell has moderated panels and keynote Q&A’s for industry organizations and companies such as ASCAP, BMI, the Recording Academy, Grammy Museum, Revolt Music Conference, Music Business Association (Music Biz), Warner Records, Pollstar and MIDEM Digital 2020. She has also represented Billboard in stories and broadcast interviews for media outlets including Anderson Cooper 360, CNN Tonight with Don Lemon, NBC’s Today, CBS This Morning, CBS News Radio, CBS Evening News, MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow Show, BET, A&E, Associated Press, Cheddar News, USA Today, The New York Times’ Popcast and the 2021 Showtime documentary Bitchin: The Sound and Fury of Rick James. 

Mitchell holds a BA degree in communications from Loyola Marymount University/Los Angeles. Her music industry service includes two terms as a national trustee representing the L.A. Chapter of the Recording Academy. Mitchell was honored at Facebook + Instagram’s second annual Women in Music #EmpowHER luncheon in 2020, alongside Epic Records Chairman/CEO Sylvia Rhone, Motown Records chairman/CEO Ethiopia Habtemariam and Jacqueline Saturn, President of Capitol Music Group’s Caroline division. Mitchell was among 2021’s Empowered Women honorees, as recognized by the Culture Creators organization in partnership with Elle magazine and CIROC. She also serves on the advisory boards for the National Museum of African American Music and the Living Legends Foundation.

Singer, songwriter and producer China Moses draws inspiration from the  lineage of Black American music including soul, R&B, blues, funk and jazz. She has  issued seven leader releases and, in 2008, founded her own production company  MadeInChina, home to her most recent leader releases This One’s for Dinah (2009),  Crazy Blues (2012), Nightintales (2017) and & the Vibe Tribe EP (2021).  

Provocative as her musical experiences, China’s broadcasting resumé currently features host-producer positions at celebrated radio shows “Made in  China” on TSF Jazz (France) and “Late Night with China Moses” On Jazz FM (UK).  She’s one of few women of color to host multiple radio shows across European and  UK airwaves.  

The self-dubbed high school dropout has been an artist her entire life.  Daughter of legendary activist and director Gilbert Moses III and internationally  acclaimed musician Dee Dee Bridgewater, China understands the music and its  surrounding culture from the inside out. A global artist and citizen, China has  performed in more than 800 shows across six continents in the past 12 years. She  has appeared at Ronnie Scott’s, Jazz Café, Barbican Centre and Royal Albert Hall in  London, Olympia, UNESCO International Jazz Day and La Cigale in Paris, Vienna  Konzerthaus, Bogota Philharmonic, Berlin Opernhaus, Elbphilharmonie and  Dresdner Philharmonie in Germany and Birdland, Dizzy’s, Summerstage and Nublu  in New York City.  

One of her hidden skills is that of powerhouse researcher — as a performing  and recording artist, a broadcast professional and an international educator.  China’s commitment to authentic representation and inclusive perspectives has  garnered critical acclaim and peer acknowledgment. She’s a member of the 2013  Young Leader graduating class of the French American Foundation, holds the title  Chevalier of St Emilion & Bergerac and has lent her expertise as a panelist at the  2020 Montreux Jazz Academy and the 2023 MIDEM, she is the on committee of the  Villa Albertine. 

Moses’ new album “it’s complicated…” co-produced with Troy Miller is due later  2023.

Hailed for her impeccable attention to finessing low-end and her command of balancing live instruments, Grammy-winning sound engineer Jaclyn Sanchez is bringing back analog into the mix. 

Known for her energetic and present demeanor, Jaclyn was coined Jackie BOOM by legendary drummer Steve Jordan during a Bettye LaVette session. The name “Jackie BOOM” captures the essence of her ability to blend analog with a pop sound for a sonic experience that knocks like a hit record. 

She has worked with music icons including Lauryn Hill, Anderson Paak, Common, and Dee Dee Bridgewater, and her credits include a Grammy-win for album of the year with Jon Batiste, a Grammy nomination for her work with HER and a Latin Grammy win with Cultura Profetica. 

In 2009 Jaclyn received a scholarship to attend the Music Production & Engineering program at the prestigious Berklee College of Music, and after graduating in 2013, Jackie moved to New York City where she began working with producer/bassist Jerry Barnes, of the band Chic, at the iconic Avatar Studios. It was with Barnes that she created the foundation for her sensibilities as an engineer. In 2014 was when she developed the nuances of analog sound after assisting on sessions with Grammy-winning engineer and producer Ben Kane and later with legendary Grammy-winning producer and engineer Russell Elevado (Jay-Z, The Roots, Alicia Keys.) 

Her musical sensibilities as a musician and artist combined with her work as a sound engineer have given Jackie the sonic edge when it comes to coaching artists within the creative process. It seems only natural that new, independent artists seek her out for creating that “hit song” experience. 

In addition to her work as one of the top sound engineers in the music industry, Jackie is an advocate for strengthening community and sharing her personal and professional experiences to help others. She has taught and spoken for organizations like the Woodshed Network, WAMCon and Berklee College of Music. 

Sunny Sumter is President and CEO of the DC Jazz Festival, a nonprofit service organization  established in 2004 to present jazz-related cultural and educational programs in the nation’s capital.  Its’ signature programs are the annual DC JazzFest, DC Jazz Festival Education, and the Charles  Fishman Embassy Series. DC Jazz Festival is the recipient of the DC Mayor’s Art Award for  Excellence in Creative Industries. 

Sumter has raised over $22 million dollars for the DC Jazz  Festival and has led/moderated/served on panels on the importance of jazz funding at the U.S.  Department of State, DC Deputy Mayor’s Office of Planning and Economic Development, Jazz  Philadelphia Summit, and Jazz Congress. 

Prior to her tenure at DC Jazz Festival, Sumter held  management/director positions with the Aspen Institute, National Foundation for Teaching  Entrepreneurship, Smithsonian Institution, and Rhythm and Blues Foundation. She was awarded the  Aspen Institute’s Staff Achievement Award for Excellence. Sumter earned her bachelor’s degree in  music business from Howard University where she minored in jazz studies/voice. She is a recipient  of a Howard University Benny Golson Award, the Sitar Arts Center Visionary Award, the Jazz  Journalists Association Jazz Heroes Award, a DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities Fellowship, and a Mid-Atlantic Arts Foundation Emerging Artist Award. She was host of Jazz Central on the BET network. 

As a professional vocalist, Sumter has performed at some of the finest  festivals, concert venues, and clubs in the U.S. and internationally. She currently serves on the  boards of the HBCU-Jazz Education Initiative and the International Society of Jazz Arrangers and  Composers. She is a member of Americans for the Arts, National Academy for Recording Arts and  Sciences; and served as a program director member of the National Collaboration for Youth. 

Sumter is a Fellow graduate of the prestigious DeVos Institute of Arts Management at the University of  Maryland Business School; and is one of the “exceptional leaders” selected for National Arts  Strategies’ celebrated Chief Executive Program.

Shirazette Tinnin is a recent 2022 Latin Grammy Nominee for (Andean-Funk “The Sacred Leaf) Make Jazz Fellow, Fulbright Scholar recipient, drummer, composer  and bandleader. She is a newly appointed full time associate professor at Berklee College in the percussion department, where she directs The Dee Dee Bridgewater Ensemble and teaches Private Instruction in the percussion department. ( Spring 2022). Tinnin performs with Lea Delaria (Orange is the New Black), Endea Owens, Yuri Juárez’s Afro-Peruano, Afrikkanitha, Alan Harris, Dee Dee Bridgewater, Alicia Olatuja, Nicole Mitchell, Tia Fuller, Mimi Jones, Orange Coffee (2022 New Artist Release) Alicia Keys; Black Girls Rock (BET) and leads her own projects called The Sonic WallPaper Band and her jazz trio for political injustices called “Moods of Her”. 

Shirazette Tinnin has television credit for the 1st season of The Meredith Viera Show on NBC.(2015) along with around the world notariety! 

Tinnin’s wide accomplishments include music coordinator for Urban Bush Women founded by Zawolé Zollar. Tinnin was Musical Director for Alan Harris’s “Cross That River” and curated the final festival presentation at Little Island (summer 2021) called Jazz Women.

Shirazette has a background in classical percussion, world percussion and her primary is on drum set. Tinnin studied at Appalachian State University for her undergraduate degree and her masters from Northern Illinois University in Jazz Pedagogy. Tinnin has a diverse background in fitness with certifications in TRX, DNA Fitness Programming, Corrective Exercise and Exercise Therapy from ISSA and NASM. 

Shirazette has released a new album called “The Cards That Life Can Deal” in 2021 and it’s available on SoundCloud, iTunes and Spotify.The album was added to JAZZIZ’s INSIDE TRACK.

Kimberly M. Wang specializes in editorial, brand storytelling, and modern Fine Art Portrait Photography. 

Her editorial work has been featured in the New York Times, Vogue, Vogue UK, and Le Monde, and her clients have included Amnesty International and Christies, as well as some of the world's most notable visual and performing artists. 

15+ years spent creating programming as a Director and Producer for Martha Stewart, ESPN, MTV and many other major networks taught Kimberly that everyone has a tale to tell, and she has long embraced the opportunity to witness and capture the human experience in action. 

She recently relocated from her beloved home base of many years--New York City--to sunny Southern California, and lives with her rescued hound mix, Lila, and her life partner Frank. 

A steward of American music, acclaimed vocalist Lizz Wright reclaims her legacy with the launch of an independent record company, Blues & Greens Records. Wright’s label venture is designed to forge an innovative business model where artists are positioned to build sustainable and wholesome careers. Blues & Greens Records launches with the June 15, 2022 release of Holding Space, a brilliant live album capturing a Berlin, Germany concert where Wright and her band close out their 2018 European summer tour. In a short film companion piece, Wright reflects with her bandmates about what it actually feels like to have the presence of a listening world in her life.

Rising out of the pandemic and returning to stages across the globe, Wright embraces her career through an inspired initiative where she is at the helm of her business. After 20+ years of major and indie label contracts, Wright sees the imbalances of power and unfairnesses in artistic ownership. Blues & Greens Records creates a healthy ecosystem for Wright, and inspires her to imagine and develop offerings for emerging artists. Her debut release, Holding Space, becomes the first master recording she owns.

“While stages went dark in 2020, I turned to cooking at our café and wellness market Carver 47 in the Southside of Chicago that we initially opened in 2017 and re-opened in a newly renovated space after the 2020 lockdown,” says Lizz Wright. “One morning, just before 6am, I went into the prayer room at home with the light of one candle. I took a deep breath, surrendered to the same focus that I draw on in performance, and began to sing, instead of speak. My voice reverberated about the room, causing me to gasp, and burst into tears. 40 years has passed since singing in my Dad’s church and standing on hundreds of stages. For the first time, I sang to my own soul, and it changed my life forever.”

The mission of Blues & Greens is to restore the basic humanity in the music business with wellness, and sustainable and sound business practices at the forefront. Blues & Greens artists will own their masters, creative works, and images. A vault of assets will be bestowed to artists with all rights under their own names. Artists will design and captain their unique narratives and work with industry leading publicity and marketing experts to share these stories with the media.

This summer, the team behind Blues & Greens Records launches its first artist-focused program working directly with managers and promoters for touring artists. Carver 47 Cafe provides travel wellness kits, fresh juice blends, wholesome homemade meals, soaps/creams, and other nourishing items to artists on the road when they arrive to venues’ dressing rooms. Following the pilot program throughout Chicago, Blues & Greens Records artist services rolled out nationally in autumn 2022.