released December 1, 2023

VINNY GOLIA has presented his music to concert audiences in Europe, Canada, Mexico, Japan, Australia, New Zealand, and the United States in ensembles varying dramatically in size and instrumentation; in 1982 he created the ongoing 50-piece Vinny Golia Large Ensemble to perform his compositions for chamber orchestra and jazz ensembles.

A multi-woodwind performer, Vinny’s recordings have been consistently picked by critics and readers of music publications for their yearly “ten best” lists. In 1990 he was the winner of the Jazz Times TDWR award for Bass Saxophone. In 1998 he ranked first in the Cadence Magazine Writers & Readers Poll and has continually placed in the Downbeat Critic’s Poll for Baritone & Soprano Saxophone. In 1999 Vinny won the LA Weekly’s Award for “Best Jazz Musician”. Jazziz Magazine has also named him as one of the 100 people who have influenced the course of Jazz in our Century. In 2006 The Jazz Journalists Association honored him with a Lifetime Achievement Award, and in 2013 Vinny won the Downbeat Critic’s Poll in the “New Star” category for Baritone Saxophone.

Vinny has been a featured performer with Anthony Braxton, John Zorn, Tim Berne, Henry Grimes, John Carter, Bobby Bradford, Joelle Leandre, Leo Smith, Horace Tapscott, Bertram Turetzky, George Lewis, Barre Phillips, The Rova Saxophone Quartet, Eugene Chadburne, Kevin Ayers, Peter Kowald, Misha Mengelberg, Han Bennick, Harry Sparrney and the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra, and many others.

Vinny has won numerous awards as a composer, including grants from The National Endowment of the Arts, The Lila Wallace Commissioning Program, The California Arts Council, Meet the Composer, Clausen Foundation of the Arts, and the American Composer’s Forum.

JOSHUA GEROWITZ is a composer, performer, improviser, and guitarist who resides in Los Angeles. His work is concerned with live human interaction, the juxtaposition of premeditation and spontaneity, as well as the fickle nature of our perceptual senses. He has written and performed music that involves everything from traditional instruments to bottom-shelf beer tastings, knife sharpening, ping pong, and surfing. Gerowitz has performed in many different settings and locations including but not limited to Teatro Manzoni, Walt Disney Concert Hall, Paradise Rock Club, REDCAT, Bowtie Project, Clockshop, Firehouse 12, and Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions. His recordings have been referred to as “eccentric and original work of multidimensional and captivating music” (Vital Weekly), and he has been called “a creative soul with hugely impressive chops, as his keen vision is assertively concentrated on blazing newer trails” (All About Jazz). Gerowitz is a cofounder (along with Georgia Bell) of SatanNotSatan (a community based multi-disciplinary artistic salon founded in 2014). He holds a B.M. in guitar performance from Berklee College of Music and an M.F.A. from CalArts in Performance/Composition.

LOUIS LOPEZ is a performer/composer/engineer working in Los Angeles. His live performances incorporate trumpet, electronics, and custom software that he builds. As a trumpet player, he has performed and recorded with artists Wadada Leo Smith, Mike Keneally, Todd Hannigan, and Twin Temple. His latest project, Hermetic Fever, with guitarist Josh Gerowitz is an improvised duo based in Los Angeles with their debut album set to release in 2023. He has done sound design for film and television including Patagonia’s films Fish People, Finding Fontinalis, and Takayna. His work as a commercial brass arranger/performer can be heard on ads for Patagonia, Yeti, and other outdoor apparel brands. Louis can be found rebuilding and modifying vintage audio gear and teaching music production at Pasadena City College.

MATT SMILEY is a bassist, composer, and educator from Staunton, VA, now residing in Denver, CO. He completed his DMA in Jazz Studies at UC Boulder in 2022. As a performer–composer, he focuses on developing systems and modes of playing at the nexus of composition and improvisation that reference elements of established American and European vernacular and experimental music traditions, while simultaneously and idiosyncratically deviating from them. Smiley has worked with a number of diverse and prominent performers and composers including Alvin Lucier, Christian Wolff, Stephen Drury, Jean-Claude Risset, Terrell Stafford, and Greg Osby. In addition to his rigorous performance schedule, he teaches at both UC–Boulder and The Gift of Jazz, a non-profit focusing on enriching the community through the art of jazz in the Rocky Mountain Region.

RON COULTER is a percussionist, composer, and improviser. He has presented at 100+ universities and has toured internationally appearing in all 50 U.S. states, Europe, Canada, and Japan with artists such as the Glenn Miller Orchestra, Chicago Chamber Orchestra, David Murray, Sam Newsome, Linux Laptop Orchestra, Matthew Shipp, Nate Wooley, Sandy Duncan, Bolokada Condé, Music from China, Youngstown Symphony, Gino Robair, Michael Zerang, Eric Mandat, Chris Corsano, and Tone Road Ramblers, et. al. Ron has presented at numerous conferences, including: ISIM, PASIC, NIME, BMC3, JEN, CMS, a.pe.ri.od.ic, Futurisms, Soundlines, RadiaLx, and the JVC and Montreal Jazz Festivals. He is co-founder of the Percussion Art Ensemble, duende entendre, Marble Hammer, Drm&Gtr, and founder of the Southern Illinois Improvisation Series and Creative Music Series. Additional interests include noise, intermedia, interdisciplinary collaboration, and organizing Fluxconcerts. Ron has created 430+ compositions for various media. KreatingSound.bandcamp.com