Jon Faddis

At 18 Jon Faddis joined Lionel Hampton's big band before joining the Thad Jones/Mel Lewis Orchestra as lead trumpet. After playing with Charles Mingus in his early 20s, Faddis became a noted studio musician in New York, appearing on many pop recordings in the late 1970s and early 1980s.In the mid-eighties,he left the studios to continue to pursue his solo career,he became the director and main trumpet soloist of the Dizzy Gillespie 70th Birthday Big Band and Dizzy's United Nation Orchestra; from 1992 to 2002,As of May 2010, Faddis leads the JFJONY, while continuing also to lead the Jon Faddis Quartet and the JFQ+2.

Keiko Matsui

At age 19, Yamaha sent Keiko Matsui to America to record an album. In 1987 Matsui recorded her solo debut LP A Drop of Water. Its success led to a deal with MCA Records. The 1990s saw Matsui's albums rising in the charts. Matsui received the Oasis award for Best Female Smooth Jazz Artist of the Year in 1999 and again in 2000. Whisper From the Mirror from 2000 showed Matsui leaving the smooth jazz style and moving towards new age with a soundscape sound(though she continued to play smooth jazz at her concerts). Over time her post-2000 albums show a more worldbeat flavor to them. Her 2005 release "Walls of Akendora," is a return to her smooth jazz roots.

Hiromi: The Trio Project

When she was 17, Hiromi met Chick Corea by chance in Tokyo, and was invited to play with him at his concert the next day. After writing jingles for a few years for Japanese companies, she enrolled to study at Berklee College of Music in Boston, There, she was mentored by Ahmad Jamal and had already signed with jazz label Telarc before her graduation. Since her debut in 2003, Hiromi has toured the world and appeared in numerous jazz festivals & Toured in the summer of 2010 with the Stanley Clarke Band and now she returns as Hiromi's trio initially consisted of bassist Mitch Cohn and drummer Dave DiCenso. In 2004, she recorded her second album Brain with fellow Berklee alumni bassist Tony Grey and drummer Martin Valihora and has been recording and touring with them ever since. Bassist Anthony Jackson was guest artist on two Brain tracks and is featured on her 2011 album.