John Harrison - vocals

John Harrison grew up training in the classic men and boy’s choir tradition, but upon graduating from high school promptly escaped to New York City where he sang with rock n’ roll bands in the late seventies punk scene. During his 13 years in NYC, he sang, played saxophone and performed in a long-running downtown musical-comedy revue with Dennis Leary, The Uptown Horns, Adam Roth and other musical and comedic luminaries. In the early 1990’s, John combined a desire to again sing sacred music with his experience in jazz, blues and R&B, and started a small gospel singing group. John has led that choir (now the Montpelier Gospel Choir) for the past nine years. He also conducts and performs with Village Harmony, a year-round chorus of young musicians. Village Harmony has performed on Garrison Keillor's Prairie Home Companion and at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, DC.

Salim Washington - flute & tenor saxophone

A master tenor saxophonist, multi-reedsman, composer, and jazz educator, Salim Washington is one of the fastest rising stars on the New York Jazz scene today. Born in Memphis, Tennessee, the eldest of five children born to Tony Washington and Stella Jean Key, he moved to Detroit, Michigan with his family at the age of eight.

As was the custom in Black Bottom Detroit, he was drafted into the neighborhood gang. (In those days, youth gangs were more involved in petty mischief than in homicide and the drug trade.) The gang leader happened to play trumpet, and was the vessel that led Salim to music. Having more talent for music than for gangs, he pursued music first as a trumpet player, and later as a student of classical piano. By middle school, Salim was playing in school ensembles and student funk bands. He also was deeply influenced by the musical culture of the Church of God in Christ (COGIC), a Pentecostal sect in which his father was a minister.

After hearing a jazz ensemble of professional musicians for the first time, he began a search for recordings. A friend passed on influential recordings by Sonny Rollins, John Coltrane, the Miles Davis Sextet at Newport, and Thelonious Monk. These sounds changed him forever, so much so that he was driven to give away a sizeable soul and R&B collection (a move he admits to later regretting). This was the time in which he became a true believer, especially in the sound of Trane.

His college years brought him to the Boston area and Harvard. During his first year as an undergrad, he discovered Charles Mingus, and listened very closely to his music daily. Mingus had a profound effect on his composing, in much the same way as Rahsaan, Trane, Pharaoh, and Dolphy had on his playing.

He began to hang out with friends from the Berklee College of Music, and had every intention to quit Harvard and transfer. He was talked out of it by Eileen Southern, the dean of black musicology, then the head of Afro-American Studies. However, the life of the gigging jazz musician proved irresistible - he spent more time practicing, playing, and composing, and quit school after two years.

Out of school he joined the Worlds Experience Orchestra under the leadership of Jamyl Jones, which played "free" but was very disciplined at the same time. Their specialty was collective improvisation. He then joined the Source of Life Arkestral Revelation (SOLAR) in Boston, touring with them extensively throughout the south. Their brand of music was conscious music with a spiritual message. They played an underground "chitlin circuit" from Georgia to Louisiana.

Returning back home to Detroit, he became much more involved with his church. In COGIC, he led the gospel band and choir. He also joined the Sun Messengers, a band which was inspired by Sun Ra’s Arkestra. He played with other Detroiters and began teaching music in prisons through the Prisoners’ Access to Creative Experiences (PACE). He also taught music in Detroit’s public schools.

He eventually returned to Boston to finish his degree, and gradually became part of the Roxbury music scene. After apprenticing in clubs such as Wally’s, M&M’s, Slades, Taurus, and Connolly’s he joined the Billy Skinner Double Jazz Quartet (DJQ), with whom he made his first recording and overseas tour. After the dissolution of the DJQ, he began to lead his own band.

His first major gig as a leader was with an ensemble he put together for the Dark Room, a reading series featuring established and emerging literary talents from the African-American tradition. From this gig was born the Roxbury Blues Aesthetic (RBA), which provided him with sympathetic musicians who would concentrate on a repertoire of his original compositions as well as the music of Mingus, Monk, Stevie Wonder, and others. He began to earn commissions as a composer and arranger, and also recorded his debut CD "Love In Exile" with RBA, featuring pianist and composer, Joe Bonner. While doing this, he was midway through graduate school at Harvard, where he wrote a dissertation entitled "Beautiful Nightmare: Coltrane, Jazz, and American Culture," under the supervision of Henry Louis Gates. It is now being prepared for publication as a major historical work.

With doctorate in hand, Salim headed to New York to play in the city, as well as begin a professorship at the Brooklyn College Conservatory of Music. While on a commission for works celebrating the life and music of Dexter Gordon he established a new group, the Harlem Arts Ensemble, which continues the legacy of the Roxbury Blues Aesthetic.

In addition to his own group, Salim plays regularly with a number of ensembles including the Donald Smith Quintet, Antonio Dangerfield’s Ensemble Uniqua, Frank Lacy’s Vibe Tribe, and the Frank Lacy Octet, James Jabbo Ware’s Me, We, and Them Orchestra, the Brooklyn Repertory Ensemble, Ahmed Abdullah’s Diaspora, and the Carl Grubbs group. He has traveled extensively, playing music festivals throughout the US and Canada, Latin America, and Europe. He has also led music workshops for the Northern Ireland Arts Council in Belfast, the Bill Evans conservatory in Paris, Harvard University, the Vermont Jazz Center, Plymouth State College, and others. He is a member of the Jazz Study Group at Columbia University and has participated on various committees and panels in service of jazz, including those convened by the Ford Foundation, the Boston Pheonix, and the New England Foundation for the Arts.

Salim is a visiting scholar at the Institute for Research in African American Studies at Columbia University, teaching undergraduate and graduate courses in music and African American Studies.

His recordings include:

-Carl Grubbs Quartet, featuring Ronnie Burrage and Steve Neil, forthcoming (prod. Bob Rusch)

-Traveling the Spaceways. Ahmed Abdullah’s Dispersions of the Spirit of Ra, Planet Arts, 100324, 2005.

-Live at the Archipel, Katy Roberts Septet, 2004.

-The Vibe, Katy Roberts Septet, 2002.

-The Bill Barron Project, Bill Lowe/Carl Atkins Big Band, Green Line Records, 1999

-Live at Detroit Montreaux Jazz Festival, Henry Cook Band, featuring Bobby Ward, Accurate Records, AC-5036, 1999.

-The RAW Field Recordings, Paradigm Shift, Tautology 010, 1999.

-Love in Exile, Salim Washington and RBA, featuring Joe Bonner, on Accurate Records 1997.

-Blue Again, Billy Skinner DJQ, on Kitty Kat Records, 1992.

-Kosen Rufu, Billy Skinner DJQ, Accurate Records, 1990. (Best Jazz CD, Pepsi Music Awards, one of the Ten Best CD's of the decade, Los Angeles Times).

Charles Lewis - trumpet

Charlie Lewis is a world-renowned trumpet player and educator. His credits include international classical and jazz solo trumpet performances with the Duke Ellington Orchestra, New York Philharmonic, Boston Symphony Orchestra, Boston Pops, Baltimore Symphony, Minnesota Orchestra, and Commonwealth Brass Quintet.

A founding member of the Naumburg Award-winning Empire Brass Quintet, his recordings include Philip Glass’ Koyaanisqatsi - Life Out of Balance, Season of the Light with Carol Comune, Paradox with the Commonwealth Brass Quintet, Big Bang Sessions with Big Bang, Don Byron's Bug Music, and the Grammy Award winning album Scott Joplin, the Red Back Book with Gunther Schuller (Angel Records).

Charlie continues to perform as a trumpet stylist in and around Boston. His most recent recordings include Christine Fawson’s Happy Talk and Syncopation’s A New Dance. He is currently on the faculty at Berklee College of Music, where in Spring 2001 he received the Brass Department Achievement Award.

Denis Lambert - trombone

Denis B. Lambert (euphonium and trombone) is a native of Vernon, Connecticut. He received his Bachelors degree from, and did post graduate work at Boston University's School for the Arts. His principal teachers have been Ronald Barron, Norman Bolter, Sam Pilafian, Chester Schmidtz, Leslie Parnas, and Victor Yampolsky. Mr. Lambert is a founding member of the Commonwealth Brass and performed with the Empire Brass. As a high school student, Denis toured Europe with the Youth Orchestra for the Bicentennial, and soloed at Carnegie Hall with the MacDonald's All American High School Band. He has soloed with many ensembles and at many venues throughout MA. He regularly performs with regional orchestras throughout New England and the Northeast, and is a founding member of ALEA III, a professional contemporary music ensemble in residence at Boston University. Denis has recorded with the Albany Symphony, and has performed with the Boston Symphony Orchestra. He has played all the Strauss and Holst Tenor Tuba parts with orchestras across the United States, including the Baltimore, Harrisburg, Rhode Island, Alabama, San Fransisco, Denver, and Nashua Symphonies. Denis is Managing Director of the Court Street Chamber Music Serie in Dedham, MA.

Rollins Ross - keyboards

Producer, composer, pianist, and Boston native Rollins Ross is a 1970 graduate of Berklee College of Music. For years he performed with Donna Summer as the musical director and keyboardist. Rollins performs with his band Life Force, a sophisticated blend of jazz and soul in the metropolitan Boston area. An accomplished recording engineer, Rollins also recorded, mixed and mastered "AMERICA, STAND PROUDLY!"

Melvin Graham - acoustic bass

Melvin Graham was born and raised in Hampton, VA.  At fourteen years of age he started playing guitar, then switched to electric bass at 15.  He learned to play by ear and performed with several groups in Hampton, Virginia that played Top 40, Rock, and Rhythm & Blues.  His interest in Jazz and Classical music led him to Norfolk State University in 1981 where he began to play string bass.  In 1984, Melvin transferred to Berklee College of Music where he received a Bachelor of Music degree in Professional music in 1987.  In 1997, Melvin received a Masters degree in Jazz Studies from New England Conservatory of Music. He plays a wide variety of music including jazz, classical, salsa, musicals and blues; a recent performance was Ambassador Sketch: The Life And Music Of Louis Armstrong. Melvin performs regularly with blues musician T. J. Wheeler.

Keith Gibson - percussion

Since he was nine, Army Brat Keith Gibson couldn't get enough of music. Knowing early on that music was his life's passion, at eighteen he enlisted in The United States Army as a bandsman, with the full expectation of attending Berklee College Of Music once his tour was completed. While a Berklee student, Keith also studied with Alan Dawson, Lenny Nelson, and Bobby Ward. Following his 1983 Berklee graduation, he began to perform at all of Boston's top spots. His national performance credits include Branford Marsalis, Delfayo Marsalis, Donald Harrison, John Faddis and Don Braden. He has performed with the Boston Jazz Repertory Orchestra, Melba Moore, Barry Harris, Bill Pierce, and Donald Brown. Other performances include the John Coltrane Memorial Concert, Boston Globe Jazz Festival, Nelson Mandela's Release Party, Steppin' Out, WGBH-TV's Say Brother and, in France, the Toulon Jazz Festival. In 1996, Keith formed his band, euJAZZ. Performing for Harvard-Radcliffe class reunions, sell-out crowds at Sculler's Jazz Club and at WGBH's annual Jazz Brunch, in August 2000 Keith and euJAZZ were honored by an invitation from WGBH-Radio's Eric Jackson to perform a full hour of Keith's original jazz on the famed 'Eric In The Evening' show. Keith's songwriting credits include AMERICA, STAND PROUDLY! and scores of jazz, pop, and Latin tunes.