Musical Director/Piano - Jesse Gelber

Jesse Gelber is known as a stride pianist in the NYC Jazz Scene and has performed with jazz revivalists like The Manhattan Ragtime Orchestra and Vince Giordano and the Nighthawks. Jesse started his career as a modern jazz player. As a teenager Jesse appeared with such legendary Beboppers as Max Roach, George Russell, Gregory Hutchinson, and Roy Hargrove. He played at the 1992 Monterey Jazz Festival with Jon Faddis. That same year he won the Marvin Wolff Jazz Piano Competition and headlined at Yoshi’s Night Club in Berkley, CA. In rebellion to the “cookie cutter” aspects of music school, Jesse began playing the Boogie Woogie piano styles of Meade “Lux” Lewis, Albert Ammons, and Pete Johnson. It was from this more soulful approach to music that Jesse returned to jazz and started playing the different styles of stride piano. Jesse is a “first call” sideman for much of New York’s traditional jazz scene including: The Traditional Jazz Collective, Michael Arenella and his Dreamland Orchestra, Barbara Rosene, The Three Bad Pennies, Bob Leive and the Wooster Street Trolley Jazz band, Arnie Mig Orchestra, and Lew Picardi Orchestra and Julian Yeo. 



 Violin - Alan Grubner
Alan Grubner continues to develop an exciting and dynamic vision for the violin in the 21st century. The sensitivity and depth of his improvisational ability coupled with a rich awareness of contrasting musical styles enables him to run freely across musical boundary lines. Alan’s diverse experience includes critically acclaimed performances and numerous recording credits on violin, electric violin, viola, drums and percussion.  Alan graduated Suma Cum Laude from Dartmouth College with honors in music, and continued graduate studies in jazz performance at Berklee College of Music and the Boston Conservatory with George Garzone, Hal Crook and Matt Glaser. He has been an adjunct professor of violin and improvisation studies at Five Towns College, and he is equally dedicated to inspiring his students and audiences. He continues to appear as a featured artist and educator at some of the world’s most prestigious venues including Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, London’s Symphony Hall, The Blue Note, Birdland, Tonic and The Stone.   



 Guitar - Nick Russo
Guitarist, banjoist, composer, educator, Nick Russo, winner of the 2004 International Jazz Workshop at The BANFF Centre in Canada (director, Dave Douglas) & winner of the 2001 JAS academy in Aspen Colorado (director, Christian McBride, mentioned in Dec. 2001 issue of Down Beat magazine), leads a life of full-time performing, including performances at: Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, The United Nations, Iridium Jazz Club, Blue Note, Birdland, 55 Bar, The Knitting Factory, N.J.P.A.C., Charles Ives Center, Colden Center, Cape Cod Jazz Festival, Hot Steam Jazz Festival in Essex, Cecil's, Sweet Rhythm, The Zinc Bar, CBGBs, The C-Note, Kavehaz, Cleopatra's Needle, Boom and many others. International performances include Japan, Omsk, Tomsk, Nova-Sibersk, Akademgorodok (Academy City), Moscow, Brasil, St. Kitts and Canada. Nick Russo is currently the guitarist and banjoist with Vince Giordano and The Night Hawks, Victor Jones' Cultraversy, vocalist, Miles Griffith, percussionist, David Pleasant, bassist, Kim Clarke, clarinetist/saxophonist, Dan Levinson and many other groups in the NY area. Nick's new CD "Ro" was released last year of all original music featuring: Mark Turner, Miles Griffith, Samir Chatterjee, Bryan Murray, Greg Glassman, Art Hirahara, Matt Clohesy, Nathan Peck, Ari Hoenig, Willard Dyson & David Pleasant.   Nick is also a sideman with vibraphonist Teddy Charles, drummer, Doug Richardson, vocalists: Anastasia Rene, Jennifer Jade Ledesna, Charenee Wade, Eve Cornelious, Malika Zarra, Taeko Fukao, Annette St. John, saxophonist, Eric Pakula, and many others. He has also been a sideman with legendary organist, Jimmy McGriff, Jim Nolet (former violinist with the Jazz Passengers), the late Sonny Dallas (former bassist with Lennie Tristano & Lee Konitz), The Frank & Joe Show (Frank Vignola and Joe Ascione) and drummer, Bruce Cox.  Nick is also the author of 2 books: "Metallica, Legendary Licks series vol. 1 & vol. 2" as well as the editor of the GRP Arpeggio book and exercise book (published by Cherry Lane/Hal Leonard). As an alumni of the Aaron Copland School of Music (Queens College), Nick Russo continues to conduct jazz clinics and workshops throughout many high schools as part of The Jazz Project via Kupferberg Center (formally, Colden Center) since 1997. A former teacher at the National Guitar Workshop, Mr. Russo has also been an instructor at the Crestwood Music Education Center, The Great Neck Music Conservatory and many other music schools and studios. Nick continues to run master classes, conduct clinics at different schools and teach privately at his own studio in Astoria, Queens.



 Bass - Doug Largent
Bass player Doug Largent plays both acoustic bass and electric bass guitar. Doug has many recordings to his credit in styles spanning jazz, rock, zydeco, funk, and more. He also plays and tours with Hulabilly, an acoustic Hawaiian/Jazz trio; the Dogwoods, a vintage jazz/pop trio; White Widow, a hard-edge rock power trio; The Trio of J.Walter Hawks, The Stein Brothers jazz band, jazz singer Vanessa Trouble, and the Art Lillard Big Band and Small Group. He is also the regular bassist for a long-standing engagement with the Chris Gillespie piano trio at the Carlyle Hotel in Manhattan. 



  Drums - Kevin Dorn 
Born in New York City, Kevin is one of the busiest drummers in traditional jazz. With Gene Krupa, George Wettling and Dave Tough among his main influences, Kevin’s exciting career has included performances with Dan Barrett, Ed Polcer, Allan Vache, Johnny Varro, Bob Wilber, Dan Levinson, Mark Shane, Terry Blaine, Howard Alden, Jon-Erik Kellso, and Warren Vache. Kevin has performed with The Loren Schoenberg Big Band, Vince Giordano’s Nighthawks, The Flying Neutrinos, David Ostwald’s Gully Low Jazz Band, The Manhattan Rhythm Kings, Banu Gibson and the New Orleans Hot Jazz, and many others.

Kevin has played at jazz festivals and jazz parties throughout the country, including the JVC Jazz Festival, Jazz at Chautauqua, the Atlanta Jazz Party, the Colorado Springs Jazz Party, the Bix Beiderbecke Memorial Jazz Festival, the Sacramento Jazz Jubilee, the Los Angeles Sweet and Hot Festival, and the Nairn Jazz Festival in Scotland. Kevin has performed in Japan with the New York Ragtime Orchestra, and his most recent travels included a tour of the United States with Ed Polcer and a tour of Europe with Allan Vache. Kevin also recently performed at The Kennedy Center with actor John Lithgow.   For two years, Kevin was the drummer for The Jim Cullum Jazz Band, the nation’s foremost traditional jazz group, appearing on their weekly public radio show, Riverwalk; Live from the Landing.


Dennis Lichtman - Clarinet/ Mandolin/ Violin
A native of suburban Boston, Dennis Lichtman began his musical career with violin lessons at the age of 5. Over the next decade, Dennis took up serious study of a number of instruments, making smooth transitions from Suzuki violin kid to clarinet stud to guitar wanker, and eventually to mando-blaster. In 2001, Dennis graduated Magna Cum Laude from the Hartt School of Music, where he studied clarinet under New York legend Charles Russo and filled the principal clarinet chair in the Hartt Symphony. Now a New York resident, Dennis performs regularly with a variety of groups, ranging from bluegrass and folk to classical, rock, Klezmer, and Celtic.
While at Hartt, Dennis formed the genre-defying jazz-fusion quartet Mori Stylez, with whom he toured the eastern states with reckless abandon for three years. During this time, the band shared bills with such acts as The Roots, Busta Rhymes, and Yonder Mountain String Band, and performed in renowned venues such as Boston’s House of Blues, New York’s Hammerstein Ballroom, and the 40 Watt in Athens, GA.