John Brown

John Brown is a native of Fayetteville, NC and is a graduate of the School of Music at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro and the School of Law at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He currently serves as Professor and Director of the Jazz Program at Duke University, and serves part time on the faculties of UNC-Chapel Hill and North Carolina State University. When he was very young, John took piano lessons from Frances Hunter (a close family friend) and then began studying the bass when he was just 9 years old with Susan Ellington. He has been performing ever since. John began performing with the Fayetteville Symphony Orchestra at thirteen, and was playing Principal Bass with that orchestra while still in high school. At UNC-Greensboro, he studied bass with Jack Budrow, and while still an undergraduate, he began performing regularly with the North Carolina Symphony.

In college, John developed a great love for jazz, and began pursuing performance opportunities in both jazz and classical music. He has performed in the US and abroad with artists like Wynton Marsalis, Ellis Marsalis, Delfeayo Marsalis, Elvin Jones, Nnenna Freelon, Diahann Carroll, Rosemary Clooney, Nell Carter, Lou Donaldson, Slide Hampton, Nicholas Payton, Frank Foster, Cedar Walton, Fred Wesley and Mark Whitfield to name a few. John also has a Grammy nomination for his performance and co-writing on Nnenna Freelon’s 1996 Concord release, “Shaking Free.” His extensive experience includes performances at notable venues like Carnegie Hall, the Kennedy Center, the Blue Note, Blues Alley, and the Hollywood bowl and at major jazz festivals like the Playbot Jazz Festival, the JVC Jazz Festival, the Montreal Jazz Festival, the Free Jazz Festival (Brazil) and Jazz e Vienne (France).

Equally gifted in other areas of performance, John has performed for major theater productions including the Japan tour of “Blues in the Night” with Roz Ryan and Freda Payne, shows at the National Black Theater Festival, the Broadway Series South and off Broadway performances. John made his acting debut in 1991 when he co-starred in the role of Jimmy Powers (re-written for John as a bassist) in Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar & Grill at the Broach Theater and performed in the same show (as the onstage performing bassist) with Jackee Harry. John has also appeared in “The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles,” “Stompin’ at the Savoy,” “Radioland Murders,” and “Hellraiser III.” Among John’s television credits is the soundtrack for “Moon Over Miami” on ABC, done with Delfeayo Marsalis.

In addition to his teaching responsibilities, John still performs as a substitute with the North Carolina and Charlotte Symphonies, and he is the Director of the Triangle Youth Jazz Ensemble which is an all-star group made up of high school students in a 75-mile surrounding radius of the NC Triangle. John also serves on the Boards of the American Federation of Musicians, the North Carolina Jazz Foundation and the Duke Cancer Patient Support Program. John officially endorses Acoustic Image Amplifiers, AMT Microphones and Warwick basses, amplifiers and loudspeakers.

Ray Codrington

Ray Codrington is a native of Fayetteville, NC and is a graduate of Howard University. He has performed and recorded with Eddie Harris, the JFK Quintet, Larry Willis, Hugo Montinegro and Godfather II, and has headlined bands of his own in his nearly fifty-year career. His career has taken him to the famed Apollo Theater in New York, the Howard Theater in Washington, D.C. and festivals and clubs all along the East Coast. Ray has also served as an adjunct professor at East Carolina University and remains in high demand among musicians in the Southeastern United States.

Brian Miller

Brian Miller is a native of Kinston, NC and is a graduate of North Carolina Central University. Brian was first exposed to music at his church and developed a strong passion for music at an early age. By the time he graduated from high school, he played saxophone, tuba, trumpet snare drum, bass clarinet and valve trombone. While a student at NCCU, he worked with jazz artists like Clark Terry, Slide Hampton, Maceo Parker, Grady Tate, and Nicholas Payton, and played at the Montreux and Vienne Jazz Festivals. Brian performed with the NCCU Jazz Band twice at the White House for President Bill Clinton, and the band has recorded his original composition, "Desmond Street." He has also performed with Tom Browne at Blues Alley and remains in very high demand among jazz, gospel and R&B musicians alike.

Gabe Evens

Gabe Evens is a native of Chapel Hill, NC and is a graduate of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He has been called "an exceptionally sensitive, tasteful, swinging pianist." While his style is original and personal, a deep sense of lyrical melody and a gentle yet precise rhythmic feel naturally draws listeners in. Gabe is also a composer whose tunes display a remarkable sense of geometry, humor, and surprise. Wherever Evens is living, he is consistently sought out by the top-notch musicians and has performed extensively in North Carolina, New England and Spain with artists like Nnenna Freelon, the Jimmy Dorsey Orchestra, Carlos Deleon (former member of the Tito Puente band) and Lois Deloatch.

Adonis Rose

Adonis Rose, hailed by New Orleans Magazine as a “Contemporary Jazz All Star,” is one of the most sought after drummers in jazz today. He has played with some of the world’s most esteemed jazz artists, from nine-time Grammy winning trumpeter Wynton Marsalis to three-time Grammy winning vocalist Dianne Reeves to jazz/pop entertainer Harry Connick Jr., himself a three-time Grammy winner. Indeed, Rose’s beats reach further than the jazz world. Pioneering rap group Public Enemy, soul diva Chaka Kahn and the late R&B chart-topper Gerald Levert have asked Rose to tour with them.

Born in New Orleans in 1975, Rose was practically raised to be a drummer. His father was a drummer and gave Adonis his first drum set when he was just 2 years old. Even before graduating from New Orleans’ Warren Easton High School, Rose was refining his skills at the New Orleans Center for Creative Arts (NOCCA) and jamming with the likes of Clyde Kerr, who headed the jazz program at the NOCCA, and Nicholas Payton, winner of the 1997 Grammy for Best Jazz Instrumental Solo.

After graduating from high school in 1992, Rose toured with trumpeter Terence Blanchard. Rose received a four year scholarship to study at the prestigious Berklee College of Music.

Spring 2007, Rose released On the Verge, his third recording on the Criss Cross label, following 1998’s Song for Donise and 1999’s The Unity. Rose has spent the last few years playing and recording with trumpeter Nicholas Payton, Irvin Mayfield and the New Orleans Jazz Orchestra, pianist Ellis Marsalis, and Harry Connick Jr. He recently created and played the drum arrangement’s for Spike Lee’s HBO documentary, “When The Levees Broke: A Requiem In Four Acts.” Rose’s rhythms have been included on more than 30 recordings during the past decade.

On September 25, 2007, Rose released his first recording for his own House of Swing Records, Untouchable by Adonis Rose & the N.O. Vaders.

In 2005, Rose founded The Fort Worth Jazz Orchestra, Inc. and serves as it’s Artistic Director.