From the Valley Jazz Shares Website: “Called “varied and exciting,” as well as “one of the most striking baritone saxophonists,” Josh Sinton has been heard with some of the leading voices of Brooklyn’s creative music scene since arriving in 2004. He’s led bands as varied as Predicate, musicianer and Ideal Bread as well as performing in the Nate Wooley Quintet, Anthony Braxton’s Tricentric Orchestra and Darcy James Argue’s Secret Society. He’s studied at the AACM while living in Chicago in the nineties, the New England Conservatory in Boston in the aughts and with friends and colleagues here in NYC. He performs regularly on his chosen instrument the baritone saxophone as well as on bass clarinet and alto flute. He also writes music (and words) when the occasion demands. He is proud to count Ingrid Laubrock, Jonathan Finlayson, Tom Rainey, Jeremiah Cymerman and Guillermo Gregorio among his colleagues and looks forward to making music with many other musicians.”

“Jeb Bishop was born in Raleigh, North Carolinawhere he began playing the trombone at the age of 10. He majored in classical trombone performance at Northwestern University from 1980-82, studying with Frank Crisafulli. At the same time, he developed an interest in philosophy, eventually majoring in the subject, and spent 1984-85 studying philosophy at the Higher Institute of Philosophy of the Catholic University of Louvain, Belgium. He pursue graduate studies in philosophy, first at the University of Arizona, then at Loyola University of Chicago (where he was awarded the Crown Fellowship in the Humanities). Returning to Chicago in 1992, he completed his M.A. at Loyola in 1993. By this time he had already begun to make connections with improvising musicians in Chicago, having joined the Flying Luttenbachers as bassist (later adding trombone) in late 1992. In late 1995, Bishop joined the Vandermark 5 as one of its founding members, and remained with the band through the end of 2004. During this period he also became associated with many other groups, including the Peter Brötzmann Chicago Tentet, School Days, Ken Vandermark’s Territory Band, Mars Williams’ Ayler XMass and his own Jeb Bishop Trio, In 2012, Bishop relocated to North Carolina, where he made associations with musicians in the area including David Menestres, Dan Ruccia, Carrie Shull, and Eugene Chadbourne, and helped present and organize performances in the NC Triangle region. In 2015, he relocated again to Boston, and is now back in Chicago.”

For more information on Valley Jazz Shares visit www.jazzshares.org

Recorded at Holyoke Media September 27, 2024