Laurence Hobgood

Jazz pianist, composer, arranger, producer, Yamaha® artist and Grammy® winner Laurence Hobgood has enjoyed a 30+year career. Highlights include: three consecutive Fellowships to the Aspen Music Festival (1990, '91, '92), being chosen as a 1995 Chicagoan of the Year in the Arts, a 2003 Deems Taylor Award given by ASCAP for the year's outstanding music journalism, multiple Grammy® nominations and a 2010 Grammy® Award. He's played at many of the world's most prestigious venues including Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, the White House, John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Tanglewood, Hollywood Bowl, and the Sydney Opera House. For almost 20 years he served as pianist/arranger/collaborator/co-producer for singer Kurt Elling during which time he wrote virtually all of the material on Elling's first ten albums, all of which received Grammy® nominations. His 2009 CD, "When The Heart Dances", featured duets with iconic bassist Charlie Haden. His "Christmas" CD was chosen by both the New York Times and the Chicago Tribune as one of the best Holiday CDs of 2013. He's currently involved in an ongoing recording/performance project, "Poemjazz", with 3-time U.S. Poet Laureate Robert Pinsky; their second CD, "House Hour", was released in 2015. His 2016 trio CD, "Honor Thy Fathers", features bassist John Patitucci and drummer Kendrick Scott. JazzTimes' Michael West praised the work, saying: "It's easy to hear similarities between Laurence Hobgood's piano and that of Brad Mehldau . . . The album is a sublime statement—perhaps the first of 2016." Laurence's newest project is called "t e s s e t e r r a"; Hobgood combines his love of jazz trio and writing for string quartet with uplifting arrangements of what he calls the "expanded songbook" -- repertoire ranging from Cole Porter to Crosby Stills & Nash, Paul McCartney to Hoagie Carmichael, Sting to Chopin. The writing embodies the signature style of composing and arranging Hobgood has become known for: imaginatively innovative yet fun and thoroughly accessible to audiences. He's reunited with the celebrated, New York-based string quartet ETHEL and at the core lies the ebullient playing of his trio which features Jared Schonig on drums and Matthew Clohesy on bass. "t e s s e t e r r a" will be released in March of 2019 on UK-based Ubuntu Records.

James Robbins

Bassist, James Robbins is an international bassist and composer currently residing in Brooklyn, NY. He has played with jazz giants past and present such as: Clark Terry, billy Taylor, George benson, James moody, freddie hubbard, Eric Lewis, johnny o'niel, Gerald Clayton, Sullivan fortner, nikolas anadolis, stephane tremble, Joel fram, and many many more. He also played Columbian electro group Delsonido, and rock band Thank You Scientist. James teaches part time at the American School of Modern Music in Paris.

Karl Latham

Karl's career has spanned the globe performing, recording with and producing with Grammy Award winning artists, Rock and Roll Hall of Fame members and multitude of internationally acclaimed musicians. Karl is known for his exceptional ability to dig into a variety of musical styles. Karl is included in the Drummerworld Top Drummers list. In addition to leading his own group "Living Standards", Karl is co-leader of Big Fun(K) with saxophonist/composer Don Braden and co leader with Ryan Carniaux and Mark Egan of the "2016 BMW Welt Jazz Award" nominated group "Constellations". Karl was a member of the electric jazz jam group, Unit1, with Mark Egan and guitarist John Hart.

Karl is currently an adjunct percussion instructor at Drew University, County College of Morris and Passaic County Community College.

Karl is an endorsing artist for Paiste Cymbals, Yamaha Drums, Innovative Percussion, Evans Drumheads, Big Fat Snare, AEA Ribbon Microphones, Heil Sound, AvantonePro Kick and RME.

As a freelance drummer Karl has performed Ali Ryerson; The Bernie Worrell Orchestra; Charlie Elgart; Michal Urbaniak; Jerry Vivino; Andy Snitzer; Edgar Winter; Johnny Winter; The Shirelles; The Real Deal Big Band; John Lee (Executive Director Dizzy Gillespie Orchestra); The Dizzy Gillespie Alumni All-Stars; The Fantasy Band (Dave Valentine; Dave Samuels; Chuck Loeb, Noel Pointer, Victor Bailey, Cornell Dupree, Roy Ayers, Larry Coryell); Claudio Roditi; Slide Hampton; Clark Terry; Tomoko Ohno; Michael Dease; Sharrel Cassidy; Yotam Silberstein; Jon Faddis; Roy Assaf; Ed Cherry; Clifford Carter; Liz Queller; Johannes Mossinger Quartet (with guests Joel Frahm Joe Lovano, Bob Malach, Boris Kozlov, Seamus Blake, Kermit Driscoll, Calvin Jones, Rudi Engel, Johannes Enders, Thomas Lahns, Andy McKee, and Don Braden); Howard Paul with guests Tom Scott, Anat Cohen and Jody Espina; Johannes Mossinger Quartet (with guests Joel Frahm, Don Braden, Seamus Blake, Johannes Enders and Joe Lovano); Bob Gluck; Christopher Dean Sullivan; Don Byron; Pete Levin; Dave Stryker; David Spinozza; Atilla Zoller; Oz Noy; Clifford Carter; Mattias Schieffel; Andy Hunter; Will Lee; Yotam Silberstein; Stefanie Schlesinger; renowned vibraphonist/composer Wolfgang Lackerschmid (John Lee, Cameron Brown, Michal Urbaniak, Attila Zoller, Randy Brecker, Stefanie Schlesinger, Henning Sieverts, Ryan Carniaux, Mark Egan).

Karl has subbed on the Broadway productions of "Bring It On" , "Hamilton", "Beautiful: The Carole King Musical" and "Ain't Too Proud: The Life and Times of the Temptations".As a sideman, Karl has appeared on countless recordings. To date Karl has released three CD's as a leader: "Dancing Spirits" (1999) and "Resonance" (2007). As co leader Karl has released Don Braden/Karl Latham "Big Fun(K) Live" (2012) and Karl Latham/Ryan Carniaux/Mark Egan "Constellations" (2014) and his latest release Karl Latham "Living Standards" with Mark Egan and Vic Juris.