Braden Jones is a Tennessee-based musician with a passion for drums and the fire to share his songs with the world. Originating from Memphis, Tennessee, Braden has received a bachelor’s degree in Studio Music and Jazz along with two minor concentrations in Music Composition and Music Business from the University of Tennessee, where he was awarded a wide variety of musical scholarships. He is currently earning his Master’s degree of Music from the Eastman School of Music, concentrating in the Jazz and Contemporary Media Performance track. He currently serves as the Graduate Teaching Assistant for the Jazz Percussion Studio. Furthermore, Braden has continued his personal private instruction since he was 17 years old and has acquired students of all backgrounds throughout his teaching career, including those he has instructed at the School of Rock Knoxville, Knox Music Studios, and the Percussive Arts Academy. He has played with a myriad of talented artists and an assortment of genres ranging from jazz, indie and classic rock and roll, contemporary avant-garde music, funk, country, Afro-Cuban, Brazilian, and electronic music. Braden welcomes students of all backgrounds to study with him, as he provides a strong technical foundation while enhancing their musical prowess to achieve and play anything they desire behind the drum set.

Cindy Tag was born in Erie, PA and has a BFA degree in Performance on Clarinet from Carnegie-Mellon University and a Master of Music in Jazz from University of Tennessee. She has studied extensively with Louis Paul, Principal Clarinetist in the Pittsburgh Symphony, jazz educator Jerry Coker (while at University of Tennessee), jazz flutist Ali Ryerson, and some lessons with Eddie Daniels on clarinet and David Baker on saxophone. She has been a professional performer since her teenage years, playing in bands, jazz bands, blues bands, salsa bands, swing bands, symphony orchestras, travelling shows, circuses and extensive musical theatre pit work. Some of her most interesting gigs have included: Opryland and Grand Old Opry in Nashville, Bandleader on a Tennessee Riverboat for 6 years, going on the road with the Lawrence Welk “ghost” band (stars of the Lawrence Welk show without Lawrence Welk), three years in an authentic 50’s band in Santa Fe, New Mexico, and playing with many national touring shows. Since moving to Rochester in 2016, she has played with Orange Sky at the Unitarian Church and currently plays with the Gateswingers, Starlite and Southern Tier All Star big bands.

In the course of his career, guitarist-composer Dave Wright has played gigs at venues from the US West Coast to Western Europe. Some musical accomplishments include: more than 300 shows at Radio City Music Hall as house guitarist with the Radio City Music Hall Orchestra; many shows with performers such as the Fifth Dimension, Diahann Carroll, Rita Moreno and Frank Sinatra Jr.; performing with the Rochester Philharmonic Pops for artists including Patti Page; recording on albums and industrial recording sessions; performing with many of western New York’s most talented musicians, including four years with Prime Time Funk, various dates with the Bill Tiberio Group and others. Dave has recorded a number of original albums, the most recent of which is Dave Wright and The Band Of Opportunity’s album “Aurora Borealis” (2023), available at www.BandOfOpportunity.com, on Spotify, and other major streaming services. Dave studied jazz guitar with Gene Bertoncini(alum of Wayne Shorter, Hubert Laws, Clark Terry, Paul Desmond) Randall Dollohan(alum of Jaco Pastorius, Stanley Turrentine, Edgar Winter, Steve Morse) and Tom Rizzo(alum of Maynard Ferguson, Doc Severinsen) and attended the Studio Jazz Program at the University of Miami, Coral Gables. Dave is the son of Rayburn Wright, award-winning composer, arranger and jazz educator (as head of Eastman School of Music’s Jazz and Contemporary Media Department). While growing up, Dave was lucky enough to spend time around the many musicians his father worked with, for example Keith Jarrett, Toots Thielemans, Dave Brubeck, Nigerian drummer Olatunji, and Henry Mancini. Dave is also the son of the talented artist Doris B. Wright. With an artist for a mother and a musician for a father, Dave grew up in a home where writing a song or creating art was a normal and consistent activity, and this had a deep effect on his life. When Dave is not at home, he is often traveling to beautiful and exotic places around the world, usually with a guitar and a camera in hand.

Hunter Nyhuis hails from Austin, TX. He recently completed a Bachelor's degree in jazz piano at Eastman and leads a quartet that gigs in the Rochester area. He is known for his fluid lines and harmonic sophistication, adding color to whatever he plays.

John Engstrom is a Rochester-area trumpet and flugelhorn player. He is known for his pure tone and commitment to learning. John has been long active in the Rochester area, playing in pit orchestras, symphony orchestras, and various jazz ensembles. In addition to his busy trumpet schedule, he is currently taking jazz guitar lessons with Bob Sneider.

Jon started playing with pickup bands in 1966, and began serious study at The Sounds of Joy Music Studios in NY (affiliated with Juilliard) from 1978-1984, where he studied theory, ear training, reading, repertoire, small ensemble and big band performance. With pianist/composer Victor LaGamma, he founded the Greater Apple Jazz Ensemble (1985-1997), which appeared in many venues in and around NYC, including the Village Gate and Madison Square Garden. The group provided fertile ground to develop their composition skills. After moving to the Bay Area in 1997, Jon studied at the JazzSchool in Berkeley from 1999-2008: arranging for big band under "Dave Lefebvre, post-bop jazz with Steve Erquiaga, and Brazilian jazz with Marcos Silva. Brazilian music became a particular passion. With his long-term collaborator, saxophonist Stephen Herrick, he founded the Jazz Horizons Octet in 2013. It continued until Jon moved away in 2020. Stephen died of cancer in 2019. Jon is currently a student of James VanDemark (Eastman) and a member of the Rochester Metropolitan Jazz Orchestra, which recorded his arrangement of “In a Mellow Tone". Jon's primary influences are Pat Senatore (TJB), James Jamerson(Motown), Ray Brown, and Eddie Jones(Count Basie Orchestra). While a member of the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Huntington, he composed numerous choral works, some of which are still performed there.

Kenneth Scott is retired from 33 years of public school teaching in Wayne and Oswego Counties. He was an active member of NYSSMA, MENC, and a NYSSMA adjudicator of woodwinds for 12 years. In 1977 Ken graduated from the Crane School of Music in Potsdam, NY with a B.M. in music education and performance. Earning a MS/CAS in Educational Administration from SUNY Oswego in 1989. Ken served as Music Department Chair for three years in Oswego County before moving back to Rochester. Ken studied clarinet and bass clarinet with Stan Gaulke and Chester Rowell of the RPO, and clarinet with David Etheridge and Alan Woy at Crane. Other studies include saxophone with Steve Mauk, J.R. Monterose, and flute with John Oberbrunner of the SSO. He formally directed the Penfield Pops Concert Band, ECMS Vintage Jazz Ensemble and currently co-conducts the New Horizons Clarinet Choir. He’s a member of the Penfield Big Band, Rochester Metropolitan Jazz Orchestra, Music Educators’ Big Band, Southern Tier All-Star Jazz Band, and New Energy Jazz Orchestra.

Will Frazier is trombonist, bassist, and arranger based in Rochester, NY since June of 2021. Will is currently performing with big bands, Latin bands, and jazz combos. Will was the Assistant Director of America’s Hometown Band in Muncie, Indiana and a middle school band director in Indianapolis. Will performed with the national tour of Oliver the Musical, a European tour of A Chorus Line, My Sinatra, Manhattan Transfer, Lorna Luft, Dom Deluise, the Eddy Howard Orchestra, the Ted Weems Orchestra, the Jimmy Dorsey Orchestra, and the Harry James Orchestra. While living in New York City, Will performed in numerous big bands, orchestras, brass quintets and show bands. Will also has played his trombone and bass on Princess Cruise Lines, Carnival Cruise Lines and Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines. Will has a Masters Degree in trombone performance and Bachelors Degree in Music Education. He has also completed all course work towards a Doctorate at Ball State University. While at Ball State, Will has directed the Studio Jazz Ensemble and combo program, taught private trombone and jazz improvisation, and coordinated the annual Dimensions in Jazz Festival. His trombone and jazz teachers include Mark Buseli, James Beckel, John Seidel, Larry McWilliams, Flip Miller, Bernard Pressler, Alan Raph, Eric Goletz and Buddy Baker.