Chris Lomheim is an award-winning jazz pianist and composer who has been active in the Twin Cities jazz scene for more than 30 years. As leader of the Chris Lomheim Trio, he has produced three CDs: “And You’ve Been Waiting?” (1994), featuring all original compositions; “The Bridge” (2002), featuring a mix of originals and standards; and “Timeline” (2014), featuring original compositions.
Chris is a member of the all-original jazz group The Illicit Sextet, which has also produced three CDs, “Chapter One” (1993), “Chapter 11” (2013), and “Addendum” (2016).
He received a Minnesota State Arts Board Artist’s Initiative grant in 2014.
He has played the world-renowned Green Mill jazz club in Chicago and the Artists’ Quarter in St. Paul. He’s a regular at many Twin Cities jazz venues, including the Dakota Jazz Club, Vieux Carré, Jazz Central, Ice House, and the Black Dog Cafe, and is featured at the annual Twin Cities Jazz Festival.
Michael O'Brien, based in New York City, holds a B.A from the University of Minnesota with a major in the Spanish language. He studied bass under Anthony Cox, and West African and Haitian percussion under Marc Anderson. He has been performing and composing Internationally for over a decade with such notables as Harry Connick Jr., Ruben Blades, Toninho Horta, The Merce Cunningham Dance Co., Gene Pitney, Dave Samuels, Pablo Ziegler, Steve Wilson, Veronica Swift, Wayne Escoffery, Joel Frahm, Jacques Swartz-Bart, Tom Brechtlein, Dave King, Matt Wilson, Victor Lewis, Gene Jackson, Portinho, Kim Plainfield, Jeff Hirshfield, Sachal Vasandani, Ted Nash, Sandro Albert, Lady Rizo, Joshua Breakstone, Eliot Zigmund, Ron Afiff, Lage Lund, Filo Machado, Todd Reynolds, Wessel Anderson, David Binney, Ari Hoenig, The Jazz Mandolin Project, Joel Harrison, Christian Howes, Peter Apfelbaum, Robert Rodriguez, James Wiedeman, Bruce Barth, Dan Weiss, Marc Giuliana, Luba Mason, Paul Bollenback, and Oriente Lopez to name a few.
Michael has performed at Festivals in the U.S, Russia, Belarus, Indonesia, Haiti, Mexico, Norway, Ukraine and Japan. As well as the Lincoln Center Festival, JEN(Jazz Educators Network), IAJE (International Jazz Educators conference), PASIC (Percussive Arts Societies International Convention), American Composers Forums' Sonic Circuits Festival.
His string quartet work "Pine" was performed at the Kennedy Center by the acclaimed string quartet Ethel. Michael has taught clinics and performed master classes throughout the United States, Europe, Peru, Mexico, and Japan.
His debut release as a leader “Tunes I Like to Play” was released in 2012.
Jay Epstein has put in several decades performing, recording, & touring. After college, he studied polyrhythmic concepts in Manhattan with Barry Altschul, the drummer in Chick Corea's Circle. Lived in Hollywood, Oklahoma City, Montana, Miami, Minneapolis, and played in house bands for 5 years on several cruise ship lines.
He’s been on 7 European tours with pianists Bill Carrothers & Giacomo Aula. And has performed with Rocky Robbins, Barney Kessel, Roseanna Vitro, Manfredo Fest, Sheila Jordan, Terry Gibbs, Greg Abate, Claudio Roditi, Gary Foster, Eric Alexander, Richie Cole, JoAnne Brackeen, Ernie Watts, Wayne Johnson, Karrin Allyson, Kenny Werner, Howard Levy, Bruce Henry, Toots Thielemans, Avashai Cohen, Bob Dorough, and Sarah Vaughan to name a few.
Jays’ CDs, 'Long Ago' & 'Easy Company', featuring bassist Anthony Cox and pianist Bill Carrothers, have garnered luminous reviews in the international press.
Current bands include Red Planet, Klezmerica, Framework, Firebell, Tall Tales, StableMates, & Sam Miltich.
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