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He has written scores of compositions and arrangements for big band, extended compositions for chamber and symphonic settings, while his jazz composing credits read like a “who's who” of the best modern instrumentalists and singers in the world today. Mendoza was recognized as "Best Composer/Arranger" by Swing Journal's critics poll in Japan. His CD Epiphany features his compositions played by the London Symphony Orchestra. El Viento and Jazzpaña further push the boundaries of jazz and flamenco music. His 2011 solo release Nights on Earth features Mendoza compositions arranged for small and large ensembles, with guest appearances by Luciana Souza, Malian vocalist Tom Diakite, and musicians from Spain, Africa, and Brazil. Mendoza’s Grammy^®-nominated big band release Homecoming celebrates his compositions for the WDR big band in Koln, Germany. His Trumpet Concertino, New York Stories, and his Concerto for Orchestra, commissioned by the Czech National Symphony, weave his individual approach to jazz rhythms and instrumental colors through a grand symphonic tapestry.

Mendoza's arranging has appeared on many critically acclaimed projects that include dozens of albums with song writing legends and vocalists such as Björk, Gregory Porter, Chaka Khan, Al Jarreau, Robert Glasper, Bobby McFerrin, Diana Krall, Melody Gardot, Sting, and Joni Mitchell. He has six Grammy^® awards and 34 nominations.

Mendoza is the composer-in-residence with the West Deutsche Rundfunk in Koln. He is also the conductor laureate of the Netherlands Metropole Orkest, of which he was Chief conductor for nine seasons. In addition, he appeared as a guest conductor with the Los Angeles and New York Philharmonic, as well as other orchestras throughout Europe, the U.S., Japan, Scandinavia, and the U.K.

Mendoza has also written commissioned compositions and arrangements for the Turtle Island String Quartet, Brooklyn Rider, the Los Angeles Guitar Quartet, the Metropole Orchestra, the Berlin Philharmonic, The Hollywood Bowl, West Deutsche Rundfunk, The Czech National Symphony, and the BBC. His music was featured at the Berlin Jazz Festival. He has frequently performed at the Monterey, Montreux, and North Sea Jazz Festivals.

He finally decided to propose the idea of doing an entire album of Cohen’s work through a genre–defying lens, working with a stellar band of prescient and forward-looking musicians including Blue Note artists guitarist Bill Frisell and alto saxophonist Immanuel Wilkins, drummer Nate Smith, bassist Scott Colley, pianist Kevin Hays, organist Larry Goldings, and pedal steel guitarist Greg Leisz to Don Was, the president of Blue Note Records. With Was’ approval and the help of these great musicians who think outside the limitations of genre, these great musicians, Klein would endeavor to create a language with which to re-contextualize Cohen’s great poems, using the music to create a stark and cinematic back-drop for the darkly romantic ethos that Cohen created with his writing. Klein worked with an eclectic group of great voices on the album, including Norah Jones, Gregory Porter, Iggy Pop, Peter Gabriel, Sarah McLachlan, Nathaniel Rateliff, Mavis Staples, David Gray, Luciana Souza, and James Taylor. Simultaneously, Klein has been working on a third album with Norwegian singer and songwriter Thomas Dybdahl; this one a transparent set of meditations on adolescence written with lyricist Edie Kuhnle which combines a spare rhythmic context that Dybdahl and Klein built in a house in the California desert with the poetic and painterly string orchestra writing of the Grammy^®–winning arranger/composer Vince Mendoza.

In her teenage years, she met Tyler Chester who would later go on to be a close collaborator and producer of several of Madison’s projects including Who Are You Now (2019) which Atwood Magazine described as “a guitar-driven record, full of twisting, meticulously arranged parts and interlocking melodies. It’s almost labyrinthine; you could get lost in her swirling words.” Cunningham’s latest effort, Revealer, won the Grammy^® for ‘Best Folk Album.’ Revealer finds her working once again with producer Tyler Chester along with Mike Elizondo and Tucker Martine. Written and recorded over all states of the pandemic, Madison says, “To me, Revealer is the binding theme of the album. The hand that slowly chips away at the mirror in which you see yourself and the world and replaces it with the reflection that is most true.” The album is “full of intricate musicianship, alongside forthright observations” (All Music), intimations and hard truths—a self-portrait of a young artist who is full of doubt and uncertainty yet bursting with exciting ideas about music and life.

A New York Times best-selling author and podcast host, Folds is working on new compositions for film, TV, and theatre, and frequently guest stars in films and TV shows. In 2022, Folds launched a music education charitable initiative in his home state of North Carolina entitled “Keys For Keys,” which provides funds and keyboards to existing nonprofits that provide free or affordable music lessons to interested school-age children. He also continually advocates for improving public policies for the arts and arts education on the national level as a member of Americans For The Arts and the Arts Action Fund.

Recognized as one of America’s 21 most vital and productive performing artists, Frisell was named an inaugural Doris Duke Artist in 2012.  He is also a recipient of grants from United States Artists, Meet the Composer among others.  In 2016, he was a beneficiary of the first FreshGrass Composition commission to preserve and support innovative grassroots music. Upon San Francisco Jazz opening their doors in 2013, he served as one of their resident artistic directors. Frisell is the subject of a documentary film by director Emma Franz, entitled Bill Frisell: A Portrait, which examines his creative process in depth, as well as an extensive biography by Philip Watson, Beautiful Dreamer: The Guitarist Who Changed The Sound of American Music. Over the years, Frisell has contributed to the work of such collaborators as Paul Motian, John Zorn, Elvis Costello, Ginger Baker, The Los Angeles Philharmonic, Suzanne Vega, Loudon Wainwright III, Van Dyke Parks, Vic Chesnutt, Rickie, Lee Jones, Ron Sexsmith, Vinicius Cantuária, Marc Johnson (in “Bass Desires”), Ronald Shannon Jackson and Melvin Gibbs (in “Power Tools”), Marianne Faithful, John Scofield, Jan Garbarek, Lyle Mays, Vernon Reid, Julius Hemphill, Paul Bley, Wayne Horvitz, Hal Willner, Robin Holcomb, Rinde Eckert, The Frankfurt Ballet, film director Gus Van Sant, David Sanborn, David Sylvian, Petra Haden and numerous others, including Bono, Brian Eno, Jon Hassell, and Daniel Lanois on the soundtrack for Wim Wenders’ film Million Dollar Hotel.

The Eagles have sold more than 150 million albums globally, earned multiple Grammy Awards®; were inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, and are the recipients of the Kennedy Center Honor. Henley is currently on the Eagles’ “Long Goodbye” tour.

Produced by Troy Miller (Laura Mvula, Jamie Cullum, Emili Sandé), the set also represents the evolution of Porter's art to something even more emphatic, emotive, intimate, and universal too. After 2017's Nat King Cole & Me, Porter knew two things: one, he'd bring in an orchestra for his next LP (check), and, two, music is medicine. In the spirit of that latter revelation, All Rise brims with songs about irrepressible love, plus a little protest, because the road to healing is bumpy.

"Yes, you could say that I went big," says Porter about his latest, which combines the talents of his longtime loyal bandmates, a handpicked horn section, a 10-member choir, and the London Symphony Orchestra Strings. "But, quite frankly, the way I write in my head, it all happens with just voice and piano first, and it's built up from there. It feels good to get back to the rhythms and the styles and the feelings and the way that I like to lay down my own music from start to finish."

While the strings were recorded at Abbey Road, the core of All Rise was made in two locations: in Los Angeles at the legendary Capitol Studios just a couple of hours from Porter's Bakersfield home; and at a cozy studio in Paris' Saint-Germain-des-Prés quarter, a historic hub for literature and jazz. The idea was that Porter would start his days exploring the Parisian streets and cafes, fill up on coffee and croissants, and then saunter in to record for a few hours. But the Grammy^®-stacking star—who's dined with Stevie Wonder and sung for the Queen of England—remains blue-collar by blood. He had a job to do, so he led his band day and night through these songs, challenging the process every step. "Quite frankly, there was some frustration from the band, like, 'This is the eighth different feel we've put on this song!' And I'm like, 'Yeah, I know. Let's continue with the ninth,'" Porter recalls with a chuckle that could disarm far worse conflicts.

Susan Tedeschi is one of the most celebrated blues/rock musicians of her generation, and her unyielding commitment to her craft—both as a solo artist and in Tedeschi Trucks Band—has earned her a Grammy^® win for Blues Album of the Year for Revelator (with Tedeschi Trucks Band) and an additional seven nominations including Best New Artist, Best Female Rock Vocal Performance, Best Contemporary Blues Album (for Wait For Me, Hope And Desire, and Back To The River) and Best Contemporary Blues Album which has earned her the adoration of audiences around the world. Tedeschi is a recipient of the James Smithson Award from the Smithsonian, an award for musicians in recognition of their contributions to American culture and the arts.

One of the most influential guitarists of the modern age and landing at #16 on Rolling Stones’ “Greatest Guitarists of All Time,” Derek Trucks led his own Grammy Award^®–winning Derek Trucks Band for over 15 years, and concurrently toured with Eric Clapton, Carlos Santana, and The Allman Brothers. Trucks was also the youngest person to be awarded a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award^® for his 15 year collaboration with the Allman Brothers Band, for whom he was a member from 1999 until their last shows in 2014.

With Tedeschi Trucks Band, Tedeschi and Trucks have traveled countless miles to bring their music to audiences around the world. With a large catalog that spans rock, blues, jazz, and even country, no setlist is ever the same, leaving their ever-growing fan base of all-ages returning again and again for electrifying performances. In the fall of 2023, Tedeschi Trucks Band played a pair of career-defining arena shows at TD Garden in Boston and sold out Madison Square Garden in New York City. Dubbed “The Garden Parties,” the pair of gigs saw praise from Relix who raved of their “seasoned grace and artistry.”

In 2019, Yearwood unveiled her highly anticipated first full-length country record in over a decade: Every Girl. Every Girl: Deluxe which features a new acoustic re-recording of her first album’s lead single She’s In Love With The Boy. Yearwood made history when the original She’s In Love With The Boy vaulted to #1 and cemented her as the first female country artist to have a debut single reach the top of the country charts. She made history once again in 2021, when She’s In Love With The Boy was named “the most listened to country song by a Female Artist in the history of Billboard’s Country Airplay Charts.” Every Girl: Deluxe upholds and extends her legacy for a new generation of fans. Yearwood remains a timeless entertainer whose influence permeates multiple facets of culture. Beyond 15 albums, she hosts the Emmy Award–winning Food Network hit Trisha’s Southern Kitchen and her Facebook Live show T’s Coffee Talk. At the forefront of a veritable lifestyle empire, she penned four New York Times-bestselling cookbooks and has designed cookware, furniture, home accessories, area rugs, and a pet line.

Since its founding in 1931, the NSO has been committed to performances that enrich the lives of its audience and community members. In 1986, the National Symphony became an artistic affiliate of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, where it has performed since the Center opened in 1971. The 96-member NSO participates in events of national and international importance, including the annual nationally televised concerts on the lawn of the U.S. Capitol, live-streamed performances from the Kennedy Center Concert Hall on medici.tv, and local radio broadcasts on Classical WETA 90.9 FM.

The NSO builds on its recording legacy with its eponymous label that launched in 2020. Since launching, the National Symphony Orchestra has garnered praise for its ambitious recording projects including the orchestra’s first complete Beethoven Symphony cycle and the release of the first-ever cycle of George Walker’s Sinfonias, both led by Music Director Gianandrea Noseda.

Additionally, the NSO’s community engagement and education projects are nationally recognized, including NSO In Your Neighborhood, an annual week of performances in schools, churches, community centers, and other unexpected venues; Notes of Honor, which offers free performances for active, veteran, prior service, and retired members of the military and their families; and Sound Health, a collaboration with the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and its affiliated organizations. Career development opportunities for young musicians include the NSO Youth Fellowship Program and its acclaimed, tuition-free Summer Music Institute.

The 7th Hand explores relationships between presence and nothingness across an hour-long suite comprised of seven movements. “I wanted to write a preparatory piece for my quartet to become vessels by the end of the piece, fully,” says the Brooklyn-based, Philadelphia-raised artist who Pitchfork said “composes ocean-deep jazz epics.”

Conceptually, the record evolves what Wilkins begins exploring on Omega, which included a four-part suite within the album. On The 7th Hand, all his compositions represent movements, played in succession. “They deal with cells and source material like a suite would,” says Wilkins, “but they function as songs, as well.”

Colley, a four time Grammy-nominee®, has performed on over 200 recordings, eight of those as bandleader and composer. He is a first-call sideman, as renowned for his role in groups led by well-known headliners—John Scofield, Herbie Hancock, Chris Potter, many others—as he is for being part of all-star projects like Still Dreaming with Joshua Redman, Ron Miles, and Brian Blade, and Steel House with Edward Simon and Brian Blade.

Significantly, Colley is a leader of note, having assembled and composed music for a number of his own ensembles of top-level talent. His new recording, Seven, benefits from the combined prowess of Colley alongside trumpeter Jonathan Finlayson, keyboardist/singer Kevin Hays, and drummer Nate Smith. The recording serves as an earnest, effective example of the personal and the musical becoming one, and is dedicated to a number of important mentors who have passed away recently, including Andrew Hill, Michael Brecker, Jim Hall, Charlie Haden, Fred Tinsley, and Colley’s father.

Colley’s musical journey began in his hometown of Los Angeles. He was born in 1963 where at the ripe age of 11 he set his sights on the bass as his instrument of choice. At 13, he began studying with bassist Monty Budwig, and later, attending Eagle Rock High School, with John Rinaldo the school’s musical director. A full scholarship to the California Institute for the Arts (CalArts) greeted him after graduation. He focused on composition and jazz studies, while also studying privately with jazz legend Charlie Haden and classical bassist Fred Tinsley of the Los Angeles Philharmonic.

Leisz spent his younger years catching acts like the Byrds and the Flying Burrito Brothers in Southern California clubs. Part of his universal appeal—which certainly draws on the experimental nature of those influences—comes from an open-minded approach to lap and pedal steel, an approach that casts aside Nashville references. Leisz is also somewhat of a stylistic chameleon. You can't pin down a distinctive style for him because he chooses to serve and accompany a song rather than place his mark on it. His creativity and open-mindedness as a musician have allowed him a genre roving usually not accorded renowned steel players.

During the '90s, Leisz also began making a name for himself as a producer, helming releases by such folks as Rosie Flores, Dave Alvin, Tom Russell, and Lisa Mednick.

Originally commissioned by Rio Sakairi for the Jazz Gallery’s 2020 Artist Fellowship Series, Corridors features eight original compositions and one new arrangement of a beloved tune from the Bobby Hutcherson canon. Born during lockdown, the record focuses on posing outward questions instead of inward contemplation. “I was thinking to myself, ‘how has life changed for everyone?’” says Scott, who began the writing process with a deceptively benign inquiry: what are people doing inside their homes? “From that question, the theme of Corridors came to me,” he says, noting that the metaphor was in part inspired by a long corridor in his New York City apartment. “When you think of Corridors, it really implies movement, going from one place to the next. But yet now everyone is stagnated inside them.” Recorded and mixed by James Farber, the album spotlights a different aspect of Scott’s dynamic expression.

Where A Wall Becomes a Bridge centers around a provocation Corridors reflects a shared intimacy. Another conceptual question emerged around loss: “What was taken away from everybody? What did you lose?” For Scott, who serves as album producer, this question became the impetus for assembling the album’s instrumentation. To create a truly empathetic musical gesture, he chose to abandon what he loves most: “In my band, Oracle, it’s pretty much built around the guitar and the piano. I thought what I could do in aural form is take away those two instruments.”

Here, he completed his master’s degree and studied and performed with such renowned artists as Carl Allen, Jerry Bergonzi, Billy Childs, Herbie Hancock, Bob Hurst, Geoffrey Keezer, Dick Oatts, Chris Potter, Walter Smith, and Terell Stafford. Cornish received the Los Angeles Jazz Society’s 2020 New Note Commission and recently was awarded First Place in the Jacksonville Jazz Piano Competition and the 18th Street Arts Center’s 2021 Make Jazz Fellowship. Cornish was also awarded the Grand Prize in the 2018 American Jazz Piano Competition. Currently residing in Los Angeles, Cornish has performed extensively across the globe with such notable artists as Herbie Hancock, Mary Stallings, Louis Cole, Theo Croker, Snoh Aalegra, Terrace Martin, John Legend, and HAIM.

Originally from Washington, D.C., she started singing with groups in college while becoming a member of Delta Sigma Theta sorority and earning a degree in Biology with a minor in Chemistry. Her education continued with studies in voice at the Peabody Institute, also with Seth Riggs, Nolan Vanway, and Gerald White, and in acting with Howard Fine and masterclasses with the original Virginia Woolf on Broadway, Uta Hagen. The Sony/Epic Label released a solo album with Keys entitled Lover’s Intuition. The title track appeared on the soundtrack of the movie Tap starring Gregory Hines. Her first tour was with Leonard Cohen and was quickly followed by a tour with the L.A. All Stars, whose members included Al McKay and Verdine White of Earth, Wind and Fire. Later that same year, she was offered the opportunity to perform with one of her idols, Phil Collins.

Amy has sung backgrounds for numerous artists including: Sting, Elton John, Barbra Streisand, One Republic, Sam Smith, Josh Groban (for whom she both sang and created vocal arrangements), Stevie Wonder, Seal, Neil Young, Randy Newman, Chaka Khan, Don Henley, Timothy B. Schmit, Al Green, Queen Latifah, NeYo, Heart, Gavin Degraw, Phil Vassar, Vince Gill, Brad Paisley, Brooks and Dunn, Sarah Mclachlan, Sara Bareilles, Vanessa Carlton, Tina Turner, Michael McDonald, Patti LaBelle, Mary J. Blige, Brian McKnight, Al Jarreau, Natalie Cole, Donna Summer, Toni Braxton, Wilson Phillips, Diana Ross, Tito Puente, Christopher Cross, Charice, and many others. Amy served as a representative of the music community on the Governor’s Board of the National Recording Academy and is a member of its Advocacy Board. She also performs as a member and soloist with the Los Robles Master Chorale.