Greg Abate jazz saxophonist, flutist, composer continues as an International Jazz/Recording Artist with 225 days a year touring the globe. In the mid 70’s after finishing a four year program at Berklee College Of Music, Greg played lead alto for the Ray Charles Orchestra for 2 years. In 1978 Greg formed his group Channel One which was a favorite in the New England area and from there had the opportunity to play tenor sax with the revived Artie Shaw Orchestra under leadership of Dick Johnson from 1986 to ’87.

Born into a musical family, Larry has been playing the guitar since he was seven years old. In his early years he studied with legendary guitar master Jimmy Wyble, and at the age of fifteen he recorded an album with his father, guitarist Dave Koonse, entitled Dave and Larry Koonse; father and son jazz guitars. In 1984, Larry was the first recipient of a Bachelor of Music in Jazz Studies at the University of Southern California.
Immediately after graduating from USC Larry toured extensively for six years as a member of the John Dankworth quartet, traveling all across the globe and backing up Cleo Laine. He is a member of Billy Child’s landmark chamber sextet whose most recent CD release is titled Autumn: In Moving Pictures. He has received multiple grammy nominations for the aforementioned CD (jazz album of the year and instrumental performance); for the sextet’s first release Lyric (ensemble performance); and for two Luciana Souza releases (best vocal album for Tide and Book of Chet). He has also toured with Mel Torme, Bob Brookmeyer, Billy Childs, John Patitucci, David Friesen, Karrin Allyson, Luciana Souza, Natalie Cole, Bob Mintzer, Tierney Sutton, Peter Erskine, Hubert Laws, Warne Marsh and was a featured performer with the Percy Faith Orchestra on a tour of Japan.
At the invitation of Nelson Mandela and UNICEF, Larry traveled to South Africa to perform for the first annual SAMIX festival with the Steve Houghton quintet. He also performed with Gary Willis in Sao Paulo for a government sponsored concert at SESC Ipiranga. In his travels, he has performed at Carnegie Hall, the Academy of Music, Disney Hall, the Sydney Opera House, and has been a featured soloist with the L.A. Philharmonic, the Philadelphia Orchestra and many other orchestras throughout the world.
Having been featured on over 300 albums, Larry has recorded with Cleo Laine, Al Hirt, Jimmy Rowles, Bob Brookmeyer, Luciana Souza, Lee Konitz, Larry Goldings, Mel Torme, Alan Broadbent, Ray Brown, Bill Perkins, Toots Thielemanns, Rod Stewart, Seth MacFarlane, Linda Ronstadt, David Friesen, Bob Sheppard, Bob Mintzer, Peter Erskine, Warne Marsh, Charlie Haden, Natalie Cole and many other jazz artists. His solo guitar work was featured throughout “Crazy”, a feature film chronicling the life of the great guitarist Hank Garland.
The founder of the Player’s School, the renown bassist Jeff Berlin, contacted Larry in 1995 to write a guitar curriculum which is currently used for their program. He was co-leader of the L.A. Jazz Quartet which released their fourth CD, Conversation Piece (NAXOS Records) in September, 2000. The quartet’s first three CDs, Astarte (GOWI), Look To The East (NAXOS), and Family Song (NTR), have received critical acclaim for their originality and musical depth. Larry’s most recent recording, Conversations, a CD featuring the great pianist David Roitstein in a set of originals and standards, is now available through Jazz Compass (www.jazzcompass.com). He has four other releases on the Jazz Compass label: Americana (a recording featuring Scott Colley on the bass), Dialogues of the Heart (featuring his father Dave Koonse in a guitar duo setting), Storybook (featuring the bassist Darek Oles), and What’s in the Box, featuring the music of the great guitarist/composer Jimmy Wyble in various settings. Larry has been a faculty member at the California Institute of the Arts since 1990.

Dr. Mark Jenkins began his musical studies on the euphonium at the age of 11 in his home state of Nevada. During his early studies, he was awarded top honors at state, regional and international solo competitions, including the Nevada Governor’s Scholarship to attend the prestigious Interlochen Fine Arts Camp in Michigan and 1st prize at the 1996 Leonard Falcone International Tuba and Euphonium Competition. After graduation, Mark continued his musical training with legendary euphonium virtuoso and pedagogue Dr. Brian Bowman at Duquesne University, Pittsburgh, then at the University of North Texas in Denton. During his studies at the College of Music, he was again awarded 1st prize at the Falcone Competition in 2000, as well as a 2nd prize at the I.T.E.C. Artist solo euphonium competition in Lahti, Finland in 2001. After completing a Bachelor’s Degree in Music Performance, graduating Magna Cum Laude in 2003, he continued his education at the University of Maryland in College Park, where he was awarded a Master’s degree of Music in 2006. He went on to complete a Doctorate of Musical Arts degree at George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia in 2017. Dr. Jenkins has been teaching as the Adjunct Professor of Euphonium at the George Mason School of Music since 2012.

Multi-Grammy nominated pianist and arranger Christian Jacob first gained widespread exposure as music director for Maynard Ferguson and later as leader of the Christian Jacob Trio and co-leader of the Tierney Sutton Band. Christian is also the musical director for both Broadway legend Betty Buckley and American icon Jack Jones. He has performed around the globe, with many of the musical giants that inspired him since childhood.

Pianist/Composer Darren Litzie has been performing professionally in a wide variety of settings for over fifteen years. He holds a Master of Music in Jazz Studies Degree from The Hartt School’s Jackie McLean Institute of Jazz at the University of Hartford, and a Bachelor of Music in Jazz Performance Degree from Western Connecticut State University. While completing his graduate studies, Darren was nominated by The Hartt School faculty for membership in the Pi Kappa Lambda Honor Society for achieving musical and academic excellence.

The most exciting and creative music being made today crosses stylistic boundaries and blends diverse traditions to create engaging new sounds. Charged Particles features three of the country’s virtuosos doing just that in the acoustic and electric jazz arena. Murray Low is a keyboard wizard with dazzling Latin-jazz technique and imaginative improvisational skills. Aaron Germain is an inventive and sophisticated acoustic and electric bassist. Along with fiery drummer Jon Krosnick, these players are making some of the most electrifying jazz in the country today.

Welker, the only child of parents who were both working jazz musicians in New York and Boston, first picked up the trumpet at the age of nine. He credits his mother as being the major influence on his life and music career. “She really inspired me,” Welker said. “Born blind, she sang on the coast-to-coast Camel Caravan show with Al Pearce and His Gang from 1935 to 1939.” After studying at Berklee College of Music, Welker moved to the San Francisco Bay Area. He led a sextet which was the house band at the famed Jazz Workshop in North Beach from 1961 to 1965 and featured piano player George Duke.
He has toured and/or recorded with the likes of Van Morrison, Santana, Cold Blood, Jesse Colin Young, Buddy Miles and Dr. John.

Born and raised in the state of Iowa, Dick Oatts was brought up in a musical family. He was introduced to the saxophone by his father Jack Oatts, a respected jazz educator and saxophonist. After high school, Dick attended Drake University and in 1972 he began his professional career in Minneapolis/St. Paul.

The Capitol Bones’ inaugural performance was in a restaurant called Firenzi’s in Arlington, VA approximately 1990 or so not long after I joined The U.S. Army Band “Pershing’s Own” in Washington, DC in 1988. Our first big concert was at the International Trombone Festival at the Eastman School of Music in 1991 after winning the Kai Winding Competition sponsored by the International Trombone Association. The competition was the impetus that motivated me to forge the group into a trombone band like no other. This was followed by concerts at schools, concert halls, and festivals for the next 30 years. The current trombone section has been intact for well over ten years. We use the Stan Kenton model for The Capitol Bones, two bass trombones and three tenor trombones. To me the bass trombonists are the power and stability that the rest of the section locks onto and builds from. Jeff Cortazzo and Jerry Amoury are the bass trombonists and the tenors are Jay Gibble, Jim McFalls, and myself. This is my ultimate dream team.

Valery Ponomarev worked with Art Blakey & the Jazz Messengers for 4 years. With the Messengers, he performed at major concert halls, clubs, and festivals all over the world and recorded eleven record albums. He also made numerous television appearances with the Messengers in Europe, Japan, and Brazil. In the United States he has made television appearances on “To Tell The Truth,” on the PBS network, National Geographic Today, and CNN. He performed at the Clifford Brown Memorial Concert in Wilmington, Delaware, 1991, which featured the music of the legendary Max Roach/Clifford Brown Quintet with Max Roach (leader) on drums, Harold Land, tenor sax, George Morrow, bass, Sam Dockery, piano, and Valery Ponomarev, trumpet.
Mr. Ponomarev returned to Russia in 1990, the first time after a 17-year absence, to participate in the First International Jazz Festival in Moscow along with many of the world’s greatest jazz superstars. Since then Mr. Ponomarev has traveled regularly to Russia with American musicians, including Benny Golson, Curtis Fuller, Bobbie Watson, James “Sid” Simmons, Bradford Leali, Vincent Lewis, Byron & Robert Landham, Sean McGloin, Evelyn Blakey, joining local stars for concerts and tours of the major cities in Siberia, Moscow and St Petersburg.
As a solo artist, Mr. Ponomarev has completed two tours of Australia, China and numerous European tours, including a special tour with Harold Land featuring the music of Clifford Brown. He was also featured as a European superstar at the Charlie Parker in Paris Festival.
Mr. Ponomarev has also played concerts with Benny Golson, featuring Mr. Golson’s music. He was also a member of the memorial “Art Blakey & the Jazz Messengers” band led by Mr. Golson.
Mr. Ponomarev is frequently heard as a sideman in live performances and recordings.
He was featured in the movie “Frozen In Amber,” a documentary about the contributions of Russian ex-patriots to art and the performing arts in the USA. “Messenger from Russia,” a documentary by independent producer Jason Scadron about Valery Ponomarev’s life, was aired on the National Geographic Today channel for the first time in March 2002 and most recently in January 30th & 31st 2003. “Trumpet-player from Russia” is a 54-minute documentary about Mr. Ponomarev’s life produced by world famous writer Edward Topol and sponsored by Russian State filming company. It is in progress as of this writing.
Mr. Ponomarev has been written about very positively in many publications including: Oxford University Press, the Grove Encyclopedia of Music, Penguin Guide to Jazz on CD by Richard Cook & Brian Morton, All Music Guide to Jazz, Hard Bop Academy by Alan Goldsher, Top Brass by Bob Bernotas, Trumpet Kings by Scott Yanow, and many others.

Hailed as “one of the foremost performers and teachers of trumpet in the US and Canada”, Richard Stoelzel maintains an active career as an international soloist and orchestral and chamber musician. His trumpet playing has been described by reviewers as “virtuosic and lyrical”.
He began his career as solo cornet with the United States Coast Guard Band, a presidential band. He has performed as a soloist in China, Turkey, Singapore, Russia, Costa Rica, Japan, Canada, Germany, Poland, Italy and Greece.
As an orchestral musician, Stoelzel was assistant principal trumpet of the New Orleans Symphony and won the principal trumpet position in 1993. He was a member of the Miami City Ballet, Ballet Florida, Florida Symphonic Pops, New World Symphony, South Florida Symphony, Colorado Music Festival, Des Moines Opera, Domaine Forget, and Masterworks Festival and has performed with the Detroit Symphony, Naples Philharmonic, Baltimore Symphony, Montreal Symphony Orchestra, Orchestre symphonique de Québec, Jacksonville Symphony and Louisville Symphony. Richard is currently the principal trumpet of the Palm Beach Opera Orchestra and a frequent performer with the Syracuse Symphoria Orchestra.
As a chamber musician, Stoelzel is the founder, first trumpet and director of the highly acclaimed Avatar Brass. He was also a founding member of the New World Brass and has performed and toured with the Michigan Chamber Brass and the Grammy-winning Chestnut Brass. In addition to his live performances, Richard has recorded over 20 CDs with groups such as the Avatar Brass, Louisville Orchestra, Baltimore Symphony (PBS Broadcast), New Orleans Symphony, Asaph Orchestra, US Coast Guard Band and Dallas Wind Symphony. His first solo recording, BORN TO BE MILD, was released on the prestigious Albany record label to critical acclaim, as was his latest solo CD recorded in 2018 with the Polish Camerata Chamber Orchestra.
As a pedagogue, Stoelzel was on the Artist Faculty at the HARID Conservatory in Boca Raton, Florida, Professor of Trumpet at Grand Valley State University (GVSU) in Grand Rapids, Michigan, Visiting Professor at the University of Michigan, and is currently Professor of Trumpet at McGill University in Montreal, Quebec. His students have consistently won numerous national and international awards. For example, under his direction, the GVSU Trumpet ensemble placed 1st in 2006 and 2008 at the National Trumpet Competition in Fairfax, Virginia. They also hold positions in various orchestras, military bands and professional chamber ensembles, such as Pershing’s Own Army Band, the President’s Own Marine Band, Seattle Symphony, Baltimore Symphony, Louisiana Philharmonic, Detroit Symphony, Buffalo Philharmonic, Xalapa Symphony, Canadian Brass, Atlantic Brass, Burning River Brass and Proteus 7 – and have performed in the popular rock groups “Pink Martini” and “Absolute”, as well as the Broadway hits “Annie”, “Wicked” and “Hairspray”.
Stoelzel has commissioned over 40 new works for trumpet and brass quintet by composers such as Eric Ewazen, James Stephenson, Arthur Weisberg, Robert Buckley, Erik Morales, Sean O’Loughlin, Frank Horvat and Robert Bradshaw.
Richard is also an accomplished conductor. He was the principal pops conductor for the HARID Conservatory, as well as music director of the Florida Wind Symphony. He is presently the conductor and music director of the Lakeshore Concert Band in Montreal, Quebec. He was also a recent guest soloist and conductor with the Xalapa Symphony Orchestra Brass.
Stoelzel was the co-founder and artistic director of the GVSU International Summer Trumpet Seminar, which ran from 2005 to 2014, and co-hosted the 2013 International Trumpet Guild conference. He is also the co-founder and current president of the World Trumpet Society. Richard is a Yamaha International Performing Artist