Monrovia Liberia born guitarist Martin Mathelier was raised mostly in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. First learning the guitar from his well-known Haitian guitar virtuoso brother Marc Mathelier, the younger brother focused, as he got older, on Brazilian Bossa Nova. In 1981, in New York, Martin, along with two others, founded the group Vibes, a long lasting band featuring Haitian Kompa music.  

  Saxophonist, flutist, keyboardist, composer and arranger Eric Person, who was born in St. Louis and trained at the St. Louis Conservatory of Music, continues his tradition to release good music that is questing, yet firmly planted in jazz's tradition with his latest CD, The Grand Illusion.  

There are a number of excellent saxophonists who have worked in the area of gospel jazz, including Kirk Whalum, Angella Christie and Tom Braxton. Todd Ledbetter is another one of these musical pioneers. A student of Dr. Nathan Davis at the University of Pittsburgh, Ledbetter eventually worked with artists like saxophonists Grover Washington Jr., James Moody, Eddie Harris and trumpeter Jon Faddis. Later work in the bands of Joe Harris, Roger Humphries and Bishop Walter Hawkins led to Ledbetter becoming a leader in his own right.  

Great musicians, truly great musicians, can play any style of music. That is true in any of the great recording cities in the United States. The wealth of fantastic musicians in New York, Los Angeles and Nashville almost boggles the mind. This CD is a compilation of different jazz artists currently working in Nashville. All the cuts, as is typically true with compilations, are great. When artists have the ability to put their best foot forward you're going to get their best. There are 11 different cuts on the disc led by 10 different artists.

One of the constants in the music world is that saxophonist, composer and Philadelphia native Andy Snitzer will always be working. Even though he gave up his gig with the Rolling Stones to Tim Ries, Snitzer is not hurting for work. Since being discovered by Bob James when Snitzer was a student at the University of Miami, he eventually went on to earn a Master of Business Administration degree from New York University. Snitzer has worked steadily as a session musician and touring artist when not working for Wall Street investment firms. Whether touring with Paul Simon, playing his own gigs or sitting in with the David Letterman band, Snitzer is offered far more gigs than he can ever adequately accept.