Grammy-nominated, Memphis-bred bassist/composer Stephan Crump is a rising light on the New York music scene. As collaborator with mainstream jazz luminaries, downtown explorers, singer/songwriters and others, he has become known for the elegance and purposeful groove of his acoustic and electric bass playing, and for transforming his instrument into a speaking entity with magnetic pull on audiences. As a composer, he is emerging as a singular voice.
Shunning barriers of musical genre, Stephan has performed and recorded in the US and across the globe with a diverse list of musicians- from Motown legends Ashford and Simpson to Portishead’s Dave McDonald, The Violent Femmes’ Gordon Gano, Jim Campilongo, Patti Austin, Jorma Kaukonen, Lucy Kaplansky, Mahavishnu Project, Big Ass Truck, Dave Liebman, Billy Hart, Sonny Fortune, Bobby Previte, and late blues legend Johnny Clyde Copeland.
Currently, Stephan can be heard as a long-standing member of Vijay Iyer Trio, Jen Chapin Trio, Ches Smith Trio, Secret Keeper, and his own Rosetta Trio.
Mary Halvorson is one of improvised music’s most in-demand guitarists, Mary has been active in New York since 2002, following jazz studies at Wesleyan University and the New School. Critics have called her “a singular talent” (Lloyd Sachs, JazzTimes), ”NYC’s least-predictable improviser” (Howard Mandel, City Arts), “one of the most exciting and original guitarists in jazz—or otherwise” (Steve Dollar, Wall Street Journal), and “one of today’s most formidable bandleaders” (Francis Davis, Village Voice). The Philadelphia City Paper‘s Shaun Brady adds, “Halvorson has been steadily reshaping the sound of jazz guitar in recent years with her elastic, sometimes-fluid, sometimes-shredding, wholly unique style.”