Born in Lansing, Michigan, Hans Schuman began playing drums at the age of 13 while growing up in Tucson, Arizona.

A graduate of Boston’s prestigious Berklee College of Music, Hans has performed with world renowned artists including Benny Green, Cyrus Chestnut, Eric Reed, Wynton Marsalis, Brad Mehldau, Larry Goldings, Antonio Hart, Christian McBride, Marcus Strickland, Stefon Harris, Mark Turner, Kurt Rosenwinkel, Seamus Blake, Geoffrey Keezer, and Joshua Redman among many others.

In 1994, Schuman founded JazzReach Performing Arts & Education Association, Inc. with proceeds from the reluctant sale of an inherited Steinway Grand Piano. Since inception, Schuman has successfully positioned the organization as one our nation’s leading provider of live educational content for young audiences. As Founder, he has overseen the organization’s day-to-day operations and as Artistic Director, he has conceived, developed, written, and produced the organization’s entire repertoire of touring programs and has participated as a performing member of METTA QUINTET in its 20+ year history.

Greg began playing saxophone as a young boy growing up in Peoria, IL. Currently based in the NYC-area, Ward has had the opportunity to perform and record with a varied group of distinguished peers and luminaries including Prefuse 73, Lupe Fiasco, Tortoise, William Parker, Andrew D’Angelo, and Mike Reed.

A 2004 graduate of Northern Illinois University, Ward spent years cutting his teeth on the Chicago jazz scene, taking advantage of every opportunity that was offered to him including projects for the International Contemporary Ensemble, Chicago Symphony Orchestra’s Chamber Music Series, the Peoria Ballet Company, and the Jazz Institute of Chicago. Since his arrival on the NYC scene in 2009, he’s produced a number of adventurous, widely praised recordings as a bandleader and composer.

In recent years, he’s composed and performed a commission for the Brazos Valley Symphony Orchestra and was selected as one of the two New Music USA Van Lier Fellows. He was also commissioned by NYC’s Jazz Gallery to write a visionary multi-media piece for septet inspired by the life and work of renowned artist and sculptor, Preston Jackson. He’s also recently collaborated with composer, sound designer, and performer Caleb Willitz on the film score for Beresford Bennett’s film “Pinch” and on an electro-acoustic project “Gaps and Spaces: Synoptic Optiks.”

2014 Downbeat Critics Poll Rising Star Winner and Grammy Award winning tenor saxophonist Wayne Escoffery has become one of the jazz world’s most talented rising stars and in-demand sidemen. He has recorded eight studio dates as a leader and been on numerous other recordings.

He began his professional career touring and recording with The Eric Reed Septet. Since then he has been a member of many groups, including The Mingus Big Band, Orchestra and Dynasty, Ron Carter’s Great Bigband, Abdulah Ibrahim’s Akaya, The Ben Riley Quartet, and Jazz At Lincoln Center’s “Music of the Masters,” consisting of musicians hand picked by Wynton Marsalis to perform the music of jazz legends Dexter Gordon and Miles Davis.

Since 2006, Wayne’s been a member of the renowned trumpeter Tom Harrell’s working quintet with whom he has recorded seven CDs with. He also leads, records, and tours with his own critically acclaimed groups. Grammy-award winning jazz writer Niel Tesser writes of Wayne: “Pay special attention to tenor man Wayne Escoffery, whose rapid development – from album to album (and seemingly solo to solo) – has given us a jazz hero for the coming decade.”

Rashaan Carter grew up in the Washington, D.C. area. It was there, with the nurturing of his father, a saxophonist, and his mother, a jazz radio programmer, Rashaan forged an interest in music. After stints with various instruments, the bass became the voice for his musical expression.

Rashaan worked and gained experience in the local scene in Washington, D.C. and after high school, moved to New York City to attend the New School University. At the New School, Rashaan studied with Buster Williams and Reggie Workman. While attending the New School he also began to work with many of the faculty including Joe Chambers and Jimmy Owens, among others. Since moving to New York, Rashaan has become entrenched in the jazz scene and has worked with Benny Golson, Curtis Fuller and Louis Hayes, Wallace Roney, Marc Cary, Cindy Blackman, Doug and Jean Carn, Antoine Roney, Sonny Simmons, and many more. He’s also studied with one of his prime influences, Ron Carter.

Rashaan regularly performs with a myriad of artists in and outside of New York and can be found on various recordings as well.

Glenn Zaleski is one of the leading up-and-coming voices in the New York jazz scene. Originally from Boylston, MA, Glenn has made a name for himself playing with the likes of Ravi Coltrane, Lage Lund, and Ari Hoenig. His debut album, “My Ideal,” was released in March of 2015. Downbeat Magazine named it “sublime,” JazzTimes called it, “an engaging set by a talent worth watching,” and the NYTimes said, “a strong statement,” praising its “fluent but unhurried sense of phrase.”

He’s also released two recordings with the collective, Stranahan/Zaleski/Rosato as well as a duo record with his brother, saxophonist Mark Zaleski. (“Duet Suite,” 2010). In 2011, Glenn was a semi-finalist in the Thelonious Monk International Jazz Piano Competition, as well as a finalist for the 2011 APA Cole Porter Fellowship in Jazz. He attended the Brubeck Institute Fellowship program in Stockton, CA from 2005-2007 and then finished his undergraduate studies at The New School in 2009. From 2009-2011, while working towards his graduate degree at NYU, Glenn was also on NYU’s faculty, teaching a variety of classes and private students.