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J i m m y • B i a l a
Percussionist Jimmy Biala is a graduate of residency programs held at the Banff Center for the Arts in Banff, Canada, and at the University of Matanzas in Cuba, specializing in the study of Cuban Folkloric and religious music and dance. Jimmy is the recipient of a 1998 Downbeat Magazine Jazz Recording and Performance award. He has performed with musicians Carlos Santana, C.K. Ladzekpo and poets Amiri Baraka,Victor Hernandez Cruz, Genny Lim, Margarita Luna Robles among others. Jimmy currently performs with his Latin jazz ensemble, Con Alma, and with various multi-cultural music and dance ensembles in the San Francisco Bay Area. Jimmy has recently debuted new works in Los Angeles, Chicago, New York, and Seoul, Korea, in collaboration with dancer Lenora Lee.
J o h n - C a r l o s • P e r e a
John-Carlos Perea is an American Indian (Mescalero Apache) electric bassist and composer whose original work “…pushes beyond the…self-indulgence of old-school fusion to forge a new kind of multiethnic groove.” (Sam Prestianni, SF Weekly) John-Carlos released his first CD, First Dance, in 2001 at Yoshi’s and currently leads the John-Carlos Perea Ensemble and performs with Gathering Of Ancestors and the Red Jade Collective.
F r a n c i s • W o n g
Francis Wong is currently a Meet The Composer New Resident and Rockefeller Foundation Next Generation Leadership Fellow. He is a San Francisco Bay Area resident and Creative Director of the celebrated production company Asian Improv aRts. He has released 9 recordings under his own name and is a sideman on over 30 others. He was a California Arts Council Artist in Residence from 1992-95 and 1996-98 and has taught at San Francisco State University and University of California at Santa Cruz.
A r t • H i r a h a r a
| Jazz pianist/composer Art Hirahara has studied performance and composition with Charlie Haden, Joe LeBarbera, Neal Creque, Jimmy Owens, Wadada Leo Smith and David Roitstein. He has worked with Bay Area musicians Idris Ackamoor, Scott Amendola, Michael Aragon, Anthony Brown and the Asian American Orchestra, Eric Crystal, Bob Kenmotsu, Helcio Milito, Marcus Shelby, Todd Sickafoose, Akira Tana, Yancie Taylor and E.W. Wainwright. Art has performed at major festivals including the Earshot Jazz Festival in Seattle and the Jazz Ost-West Festival in Nuremburg, Germany. He performs regularly at venues such as Yoshi’s and Jazz at Pearls, and most recently with his sextet at the Monterey Jazz Festival in September 2001. Art released his CD Edge of This Earth in 2000, and in Spring of 2002, he will release the CD of his pan-Asian percussion group, Asian Crisis, of which he is founding member and co-artistic director. |  |
D e e • S p e n c e r
Dianthe “Dee” Spencer is a Professor of Music at San Francisco State University where she founded the Jazz/Popular Styles undergraduate degree program. Dee served on the faculties of the University of Massachusetts at Boston, Dartmouth College, Berklee College of Music and Simmons College. A keyboardist, composer, arranger and vocal stylist, she performs in a wide range of styles and settings ranging from traditional jazz, blues, and rhythm and blues, to contemporary eclectic styles. Dee has recorded with drummer Bernard Perdee and former Tower of Power lead vocalist Lenny Williams. In Gydnia, Poland (1997), she was featured on a CD produced by saxophone legend David Liebman during a tour of the Baltic States sponsored by the International Association of Schools of Jazz (IASJ). Past tours also include the Guinness Jazz Festival in Cork, Ireland (1998), and the Beijing Jazz Festival (1999), with the Natural Gas Jazz Band. Dee has performed with saxophone legend John Handy, drummer Ndugu Chancellor, vocalist Bobby McFerrin, the Oberlin Dance Company (ODC) and the Women’s Philharmonic Orchestra. A recipient of numerous awards, she directed the National Grammy High School Combo and served as Director of Education for the SFJAZZ organization. Her debut CD, Vintage School is scheduled for release in 2002.