John Gross

John Gross is an internationally respected musician, has resided in Portland since 1991. Among his employers past and present; Harry James, Stan Kenton, Lionel Hampton, Shelly Manne, Don Ellis, Woody Herman and Toshiko Akiyoshi. He performs regularly with Gordon Lee Quartet, David Friesen, David Frishberg, Alan Jones Sextet and his own groups Blema Bii and the John Gross quartet. John has taught at universities in the US and Europe and is the author of “185 Multiphonics for the Saxophone, A Practical Guide” published by Advance Music. (http://www.johngrossmusic.com)

Billy Mintz

Billy Mintz was born in Queens, New York. By the age of 15 he was playing in the show bands of the Catskill Mountain resorts developing his musicianship. In 1981 Mr. Mintz relocated to Los Angeles where he was a member of the Mike Garson Trio with Stanley Clarke ; the Kim Richmond Sextet; the Bobby Shew Quintet, the Joey Sellers’ Jazz Aggregation, and the Vinny Golia Quartet.Throughout his life Mr. Mintz has taught privately and done clinics at schools around the world, including the Berklee School of Music, NYU, California Institute of the Arts, North Texas State University the Dick Grove School of Music, Musikgymnasium in Innsbruck, Austria, Long Island Drum and Percussion Club, Eagle Rock H.S., Arizona State University at Tempe, and University of Arizona at Phoenix,. He also taught extensively while on tour with various artists in Sydney, Australia, Tel Aviv, Israel and Wellington, New Zealand. He is the author of two books on modern jazz drumming and his articles have been published in Not Just Jazz and Modern Drummer magazines. He currently lives in New York where he performs with the Hal Galper Trio, Roberta Piket Trio, the Russ Lossing Trio, and the Mark Feldman-Sylvie Courvoisier Quartet, among others. (www.billymintz.com)