𝗧𝗵𝘂𝗿𝗺𝗮𝗻 𝗕𝗮𝗿𝗸𝗲𝗿. Growing up in Chicago in the 1950s, Thurman Barker was exposed to the city’s rich musical heritage, regularly hearing R&B, doo-wop, soul, jazz and blues musics. Accordingly, he began his professional career at age seventeen by anchoring the rhythm section for blues legend Mighty Joe Young. He then attended the American Conservatory of Music and later Roosevelt University where he received classical training. While serving as percussionist for the city’s Shubert Theatre throughout much of the 1960s, Thurman played for numerous national touring productions, including “Hair,” “The Wiz,” “Grease,” “One Mo’ Time” and “Ain’t Misbehavin’.” A versatile drummer and percussionist, Barker also performed with singers Billy Eckstine, Marvin Gaye, Bette Midler and Vicki Carr, and worked with classical groups like the Chicago Chamber Players and the New York City Opera. Perhaps Thurman Barker’s most notable musical experience has been with the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (AACM), an organization founded in the 1960s to promote innovative music and its players. A charter member of the group, Thurman first appeared in AACM productions with Joseph Jarman’s pioneering ensemble. He then went on to play with many other members, including Muhal Richard Abrams, Amina Claudine Meyers, Anthony Braxton, Leroy Jenkins, Roscoe Mitchell and Henry Threadgill. In the 1970s and ‘80s, after moving to New York, Barker worked with jazz giants Cecil Taylor, Sam Rivers and Billy Bang, touring with their groups and recording numerous albums with them. Most recently, Thurman has performed with trombonist and composer George Lewis at the Festival International Musique Actuelle in Victoriaville, Quebec. Since creating Uptee Records in the late 1980s, Barker has released seven recordings as a leader, including Voyage (1987), The Way I Hear It (1999), Time Factor (2001), Strike Force (2004) and Rediscovered (2008), South Side Suite (2017) and Impact (2023, his first CD featuring chamber music. In 1994, his work “Dialogue,” commissioned by Mutable Music, premiered at Merkin Concert Hall in New York City. The Woodstock Chamber Orchestra premiered Thurman’s chamber piece, “Expansions,” in May 1999, and that same year he became a lecturer at Smolny University in St. Petersburg, Russia.
𝗧𝗮𝗿𝗮 𝗠𝗶𝗱𝗱𝗹𝗲𝘁𝗼𝗻 Tara Middleton is a dynamic vocalist, violinist and lyricist. Her performances are shaped by honesty and a deep connection to the moment. She is the lead vocalist for the grammy nominated Sun Ra Arkestra and makes new work with her cosmic duo Jupiter Blue, a project rooted in sonic sound, and creative freedom. Her music draws from jazz, experimental traditions, and her own spiritual roots. Whether on violin or voice, Tara plays with purpose centered in truth and guided by instinct.
𝗧𝗲𝗿𝗿𝘆 𝗟𝗮𝘄𝘀𝗼𝗻 is a Philadelphia powerhouse. Originally from Roanoke, Virgina, Terry studied and performed in the Howard University Jazz Ensemble under the tutelage of Donald Byrd. Moving to Philadelphia, he has spent decades performing with the likes of the Odean Pope Sax Choir, The Sun Ra Arkestra, The Hip Ensemble under the direction of Roy Haynes, Sonic Liberation Front with Kevin Diehl, Larry Young's Organ Ensemble, The Stylistics, the Sam Reed Ensemble, and Leon Mitchell's Bid Band. Terry has also performed with organist Butch Cornell, trombonist Tyrone Hill, drummer Sunny Murray, bassist Jamaaledeen Tacuma, and more. Terry considers himself a student of Donald Byrd, Marshall Allen, David Baker, and Odean Pope.
𝗖𝗮𝗿𝗹𝗼𝘀 𝗦𝗮𝗻𝘁𝗶𝗮𝗴𝗼 is a violinist, improvisor, and composer. Although he is well equipped to play within the classical tradition, Carlos chooses a path of self expression through the art of free improvisation, welcoming the challenges of spontaneous composition and deeper, active, listening. For decades he has operated within new music ensembles and improvisation groups (Arcana Ensemble, Network For New Music, The People's Music Supply), played in math rock/fusion groups (Normal Love, G. Calvin Weston), performed to silent films with "Not So Silent Cinema", and has recorded with many artists. He is also the founder of Arcx String quartet, and a former founding member of the Bismuth String Quartet.
𝗦𝗮𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗮 𝗞𝘂𝗼 is a singer/songwriter, percussionist, self-taught guzhengist, improviser, and educator, based in Philadelphia (Lenape territory). They have a deep admiration for black American music, world folk, free improvisation, and 60s/70s fem singer/songwriters. They write music that blends genres and utilizes uncommon instrumentation to create a unique yet cohesive and familiar sound. By confronting personal experiences with grief, depression, and love, Kuo’s storytelling invites listeners into their world and share in their healing. They release music under St. John’s Wort (vibraphone indie-pop/rnb/soul) and River Full of Fruit (freak-folk chamber orchestra). Their debut full-length album is forthcoming. They have performed in venues across the U.S. and Canada, ranging from basements to art galleries to concert halls.
𝗣𝗲𝘁𝗲 𝗗𝗲𝗻𝗻𝗶𝘀 (they/he) is a musician, improviser, composer, visual artist, and teacher. Living in West Philadelphia, Dennis is inspired by their beautiful community and the future. Other ever present inspirations include William Parker, the works of Octavia E. Butler, their partner Abigail, and the knowledge that all vibrations carry the potential to transmit the truths of life and death. Dennis’s recorded creations are released using the project name Search for the Infinite Light and include but are not limited to Killing a Dixie Hummingbird (2019), World’s End Welcoming Committee (2021), and pastē (2022). Their most current projects and collaborations include 99 Futures, Oarsman, Mitamu, St. John’s Wort, and an ongoing poetry/bass duet performance with Abigail Swoboda. They believe that sound is the foundation of healing and would like to acknowledge all master improvisers of the past,present, and future.
𝗗𝗮𝗻 𝗕𝗹𝗮𝗰𝗸𝘀𝗯𝗲𝗿𝗴. Appearing everywhere from West Philly basements to Carnegie Hall, trombonist, composer, and educator Dan Blacksberg connects people, sounds, and cultures in respectful and vitalizing ways. Acknowledged as the foremost practitioner of klezmer trombone and a respected voice in jazz and experimental music, Dan creates music inside and outside known genres, from danceable klezmer melodies on his album Radiant Others, to genre-busting projects like his Hasidic doom metal band Deveykus. He has performed and recorded with artists such as klezmer masters Elaine Hoffman Watts and Adrienne Cooper, and experimentalists like Anthony Braxton and extreme doom metal band The Body. His latest solo record, The Psychic/Body Sound System has been called “a powerful improvised statement that blends wild soundscapes and drone with gnarled extended technique and commanding free trombone flights (Nick Metzger, Freejazzblog.org).” He also makes the Radiant Others Klezmer Podcast.
𝗝𝘂𝗹𝗶𝘂𝘀 𝗠𝗮𝘀𝗿𝗶 is a Philadelphia based multi instrumentalist, and performer/composer for the city's dance community at large. Born in Tripoli, Lebanon, he moved to the States in 1990 and began drumming a year later. He studied with Philadelphia instructors Carl Mottola, Elaine Hoffman-Watts, and as an undergraduate at Bard College, with AACM's Thurman Barker, Richard Teitelbaum, and Joan Tower. Julius plays drums, circuit modified Casio keyboards, Oud, Kamancheh (aka Rabab, Spike Fiddle), and various other instruments. He currently performs in groups such as grind/crust metal bands Night Raids, Nomad War Machine, free jazz groups Humanosity Project and Dromedaries, trombone and synth duo Superlith, and more. In 2021, he released a solo album "The Arabic Room" under the name of Mephisto Halabi. Julius is a recipient of a 2022 Yaddo Fellowship for composition, as well as the 2022 University of the Arts Creative Research and Innovation grant.
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