drums

Colin Hinton is an active member of Brooklyn’s creative music community. A drummer, percussionist, and composer, his music draws from the jazz and free music traditions of Henry Threadgill, Anthony Braxton, and Muhal Richard Abrams, as well as 20th century classical composers Messiaen, Scriabin, Feldman, and Grisey.

He has performed in the US, Canada, Central and South America, and Asia, and has had his compositions performed in the US, Italy, and Canada.

Hinton studied drums with Ed Soph, Tyshawn Sorey, Dan Weiss, Ralph Peterson, and Ari Hoenig, and composition with Ingrid Laubrock, Tyshawn Sorey, and Eric Wubbels.

bass

Opsvik began studies at the Norwegian Academy of Music, focusing on classical bass. By then, he was already an active participant in Oslo’s vibrant jazz scene, regularly playing with musicians like Paal Nilssen-Love, Christian Wallumrød, Bjørnar Andresen, and Håkon Kornstad; while also performing at festivals and clubs around Europe.

In 1998, Opsvik relocated to New York City, where he has thrived as a working musician, collaborating on projects with among others Anthony Braxton, Paul Motian, John Zorn, Nate Wooley, and Bill Frisell and performing in a wide range of venues like Carnegie Hall, Village Vanguard, Le Poisson Rouge and The Stone.

At the Manhattan School of Music he studied jazz and met some of his closest musical brothers, including Loren Stillman, Jeff Davis, and Jacob Sacks. Building on the bonds and shared musical understanding that developed while at school, Eivind invited these players to help him fulfill his vision for the solo project, Overseas.

vocals

FUNNY, SWINGING"

"Singularly creative"

"A singer with a sense of adventure in her voice. She's created her own lane when it comes to interpreting jazz standards, offering up versions that have never been heard before"

"(Lee is a) virtuosic scat singer and entertaining, funny, and personable performer"

saxophone, clarinet

Yuma is a saxophonist, clarinetist, improviser, performer, and composer. Yuma has contributed to scenes that embrace various experimental and historic practices primarily rooted in jazz, creative improvised music, and new music. His music often explores the fringes of instrumental and compositional techniques to question traditional musical roles and deconstruct assumed binaries of improvised/composed, acoustic/electronic, and music/noise.

Collaboration is central to Yuma’s musical practice. Described as “packed with unexpected details and aglow with shared intuition” by WBGO, Streams documents an intimate duo with pianist Marilyn Crispell. He is also a member of Ocelot, a co-led trio with Cat Toren and Colin Hinton whose eponymous album was listed as Best Jazz March 2021 on Bandcamp. In 2022, he joined Tropos, a collaborative quartet featuring Ledah Finck, Aaron Edgcomb, and Phillip Golub. Both Ocelot and Tropos received Chamber Music America’s Ensemble Forward Grant to produce forthcoming albums under the guidance of Wadada Leo Smith and Darius Jones, respectively.

An active sideperson, Yuma has performed in groups led by Anna Webber, Lesley Mok, and DoYeon Kim, at venues such as Roulette, National Sawdust, and The Jazz Gallery. He can be heard on Pi, American Dreams, and NotTwo Records. As a composer, he has received recognition from the ASCAP Foundation, Metropolis, and Either/Or Ensemble.

piano

Since arriving on the New York jazz scene in 2008, Sebastien Ammann has made a name for himself as a versatile pianist and composer with a strong musical voice. Of Sebastien Ammann the magazine Jazz Trail says: “[He] is already riding a comet toward the highest galaxies of modern jazz.” JAZZIZ magazine says: “Ammann’s writing neatly blurs the lines between improvisation and composition”. Sebastien Ammann is the leader of various bands including Sebastien Ammann’s Gaia Quartet featuring trumpeter Ralph Alessi, bassist John Hébert and drummer Eric McPherson, whose new album “Change of Course” (Ropeadope Records) was released in June 2024, Sebastien Ammann’s Color Wheel, with saxophonist Michaël Attias, bassist Noah Garabedian and drummer Nathan Ellman-Bell as well as Sebastien Ammann Quartet featuring fellow Swiss saxophonist Ohad Talmor, bassist David Ambrosio and drummer Eric McPherson. His latest release, his 4th as a leader, The Sebastien Ammann Gaia Quartet’s album Change of Course (Ropeadope, 2024) was reviewed by numerous specialized magazines and online publications, calling it “(…) an excellent band doing their thing and doing it very well.” (Selwyn Harris, Jazzwise, 2024), and “Proportionality, alignment, coordination, and an understanding of interconnections run like a red thread through this highly sophisticated album.” (Verhoovensjazz (Germany), 2024 ) Sebastien Ammann is also a founding member of the collective band Henry/Ammann/Pichler/Mok, a band that creates pieces in real time without any preconceived ideas. Their first record, Penumbra, along with a video, was released in May 2020 on Bandcamp. Along with Sebastien Ammann, the band features seasoned musicians trumpeter Jake Henry, bassist Matthias Pichler, and drummer Lesley Mok. Sebastien Ammann is a sideman in numerous projects including guitarist Gene Ess’ Fractal Attraction along side guitarist Gene Ess, vocalist Thana Alexa, bassist Yasushi Nakamura, and drummer Clarence Penn, and the Jake Leckie’s Quartet with bassist Jake Leckie trumpeter Kenny Warren, and drummer Nathan Ellman-Bell. Sebastien Ammann has collaborated with such musicians and projects as Kris Davis’ Massive Thread, Tony Malaby, Sean Conly, Michael Formanek, Billy Drewes, Gene Ess, Michael Bates, Jon Irabagon, Mark Ferber, George Schuller, Dana Leong, John Hébert, Samuel Blaser, Sean Conly, Michael Sarin and many others, performing in venues and festivals all over the USA and Europe. Articles and album reviews of Sebastien Ammann’s work have been published in world-renown magazines and newspapers such as Downbeat Magazine (USA), Jazz Life (Japan), London Jazz News (UK), La Tribune de Genève (Switzerland), Jazziz (USA), Jazz Halo (Belgium), El Intruso (Spain), Ivan Rod (Danemark), Jazz’N’More (Switzerland) and many more. He is the recipient of grants from the Swiss Foundation of Artists and Performers (SIS) (2018) and the City of Geneva (Switzerland) for the Color Wheel European Tour in 2018, a grant from the City of Geneva, Switzerland (2011) for the recording of his record Samadhi. Sebastien Ammann is also the recipient of the Sir Roland Hanna Memorial Scholarship (New York, 2010), and the Friedl Wald Stiftung (Zürich, 2006), a grant awarded for promising talent in jazz. Sebastien Ammann runs his own private studio and is on faculty at the Brooklyn Conservatory of Music.

bass

Shawn is a New York-based bassist, composer, and improviser “with a distinctive compositional approach and a knack for finding the right partners to bring it to life” (All About Jazz). Growing up on the outskirts of New York City, Shawn was deeply influenced by its underground scenes, including hip hop, metal, and punk rock. These early fringe influences continue to shape his dedication to a wide range of musical approaches—taking him from CBGB to The Stone to Lincoln Center.

As a bandleader, Shawn’s albums “Microcosms” (ears&eyes, 2022) and “Cycles of Animation” (Skirl, 2017) display a breathtaking spectrum that push the frameworks of contemporary improvisation.  Shawn’s records have been described as “absolutely stunning” (Jazz Trail) and “profound” (Jazz Word).  His latest project, “Biotic,” with Ingrid Laubrock on tenor saxophone and Henry Mermer on drums, is a unique and fresh reframing of the standard tenor trio, blurring roles and playing with expectation to create an immersive sonic landscape that balances structure and spontaneity.