Wayne Wallace — trombone
Five-time Grammy nominee, WAYNE WALLACE, is one of the more respected exponents of African American-Latin music in the world today. He is known for the use of traditional forms and styles in combination with contemporary music, and has earned recognition with his recent placement in the Downbeat Critics Polls under the trombone and producer categories.

Mr. Wallace is an accomplished arranger, educator, and composer with compositions for film and television. He has also received grants form the Creative Work Fund,the National Endowments for the Arts, the Lila Wallace Foundation, and the San Francisco Arts Commission.

Mr. Wallace has performed, recorded and studied with acknowledged masters of the Afro-Latin and Jazz idioms such as Aretha Franklin, Bobby Hutcherson, Earth Wind and Fire, Pete Escovedo, Santana, Julian Priester, Conjunto Libre, Whitney Houston,Tito Puente, Steve Turre, John Lee Hooker, Con-funk-shun, Francisco Aguabella, Manny Oquendo and Libre, Max Roach, and Orestes Vilató. This experience has provided a solid foundation for Mr. Wallace's current explorations of the intersections of diverse cultural styles, and rhythmic concepts.

Born and raised in San Francisco, California, May 29th 1952, at an early age Wayne was exposed to Blues, Country and Western, and Jazz . The fertile musical environment of the San Francisco Bay Area shaped his career in a unique way. His studies of Afro-Latin music and Jazz have included several trips to Cuba, New York, and Puerto Rico.

Mr. Wallace is widely respected as a teacher and historian and is currently an instructor at San Jose State University, Stanford University and the Jazzschool in Berkeley. He has conducted lectures, workshops and clinics in the Americas and Europe since 1983. Currently he is a member of the Advisory Committee of the San Jose Jazz Society.

As the head of his own record label, Patois Records, Wayne has created a unique company with a passionate mission of developing and chronicling the multi-lingual styles of the San Francisco Bay Area music scene. Patois Records is gaining attention in the industry and internationally. Under his direction the label has released 9 different recordings to critical acclaim. The labels oeuvre currently contains recordings by Mr. Wallace, Marc and Paul van Wageningen, vocalists Kat Parra, Alexa Weber Morales, and Kristina. Wayne is an endorsee of Conn-Selmer trombones.

Murray Low — Piano
Murray Low is a veteran pianist of the Bay Area jazz scene and has been playing, composing, arranging, recording and teaching professionally for over thirty years. His fluency in all forms of jazz and its blending with other idioms has led to a multi-faceted career spanning a wide variety of musical contexts.

Murray is perhaps best known for his contributions to Latin Jazz, Salsa and Afro-Cuban musical landscape. In his twenty-two years of involvement he has established himself as one of the premier pianists in that genre, being nominated as 2008 Pianist of the Year by the Latin Jazz Corner and for a Grammy in 2004 as part of Machete Ensemble. He is or has been the regular pianist/collaborator with several top Bay Area ensembles including Wayne Wallace’s Quintet, John Calloway’s Diaspora, Jesus Diaz y su QBA, Pete Escovedo Orchestra, and John Santos’ Machete Ensemble. He has also collaborated with Latin Jazz giants Ray Vega, Tito Puente, Poncho Sanchez, Nestor Torres, and Andrea Brachfeld. In 2008 he also performed with famous Cuban flautist Orlando Valle at the Monterey Jazz Festival as part of a specially commissioned project including Jon Benitez, David Sanchez, Horacio “El Negro” Hernandez, and Giovanni Hildalgo.

David Belove — bass
A Kansas City native, David Belove relocated to San Francisco in 1973 and soon became the Bay Area’s most prominent Latin and Brazilian bassist. He has recorded, performed or toured with Pete and Sheila Escovedo, Tito Puente, John Santos and the the Machete Ensemble, Rebeca Mauleón, Francisco Aguabella, Jovino Santos Neto, Edgardo Cambon y Candela, Rolando Morales, Ray Obiedo, Homenagem Brasiliera, Wayne Wallace, The Oakland Interfaith Gospel Choir and many more. David has also worked with Jazz artists including Joe Henderson, Blue Mitchell, Eddie Harris, Max Roach, Dizzy Gillespie, Larry Coryell, Louis Bellson, Danilo Perez, Mark Levine, Mark Murphy and Pat Metheny. Also an educator, David teaches at the Jazz School in Berkeley, Ca., at Jazz Camp West, the Jazz In the Middle program for SF Jazz, and he is an adjunct faculty member at Mills College. In addition, he teaches bass privately at his studio in Oakland where he also works on his photography and graphics projects.

Colin Douglas — Trap Drums

Colin Douglas began playing music at the young age of eleven years old. Born into a musical family, he experimented with many different instruments as a child but soon was drawn to drums and percussion. As a student he was exposed to many diverse styles studying everything from classical percussion, to rock, jazz and funk. Douglas eventually attended both the acclaimed Lawrence University Conservatory of Music as well as the Manhattan School of Music. After college he became deeply interested in afro-cuban music and after moving to the San Francisco bay area began an extensive of Cuban folkloric percussion with esteemed instructor Michael Spiro, as well as many other master Cuban teachers. As a professional drumset artist and percussionist Mr. Douglas has performed and recorded with an extensive list of diverse artists such as the Wayne Wallace Quintet, Jesus Diaz y su Qba, Chuchito Valdez, Donna Summer, Slash, Enrique Bunbury, Eddie Palmieri, and many others.

Michael Spirro — Congas, percussion
Michael Spiro is an internationally recognized percussionist, recording artist, and educator, known specifically for his work in the Latin music field. He has performed on thousands of records, co-produced and played on several instructional videos for Warner Bros. Publications (including Talking Drums, Changuito, Giovanni Hidalgo, and Ignacio Berroa), and produced seminal recordings in the Latin music genre, including Orquesta Batachanga, Grupo BataKetu, Mark Levine and the Latin Tinge, and Grupo Ilu-Aña.

Michael’s recording and performing credits include such diverse artists as David Byrne, Cachao, The Caribbean Jazz Project, Dori Caymmi, Changuito, Richard Egues, Frank Emilio Flynn, Ella Fitzgerald, David Garibaldi, Gilberto Gil, Giovanni Hidalgo, Ray Holman, Toninho Horta, Bobby Hutcherson, Dr. John, Mark Levine and the Latin Tinge, Machete Ensemble, Bobby McFerrin, Andy Narell, Ray Obiedo, Chico O'Farrill, Eddie Palmieri, Lazaro Ros, David Rudder, Carlos Santana, Grace Slick, Omar Sosa, Talking Drums, Clark Terry, McCoy Tyner and Charlie Watts. In addition, he has recorded soundtracks to such major motion pictures as Soapdish, Henry and June, True Stories, Sworn To The Drum, Walker, Eddie Macon's Run, and Dragon-The Life of Bruce Lee; and wrote several arrangements for the Tony Award winning Broadway show BLAST! which was released on video by PBS in 2002.

Michael is a frequent visiting artist at universities worldwide. In addition to the position he held in the Jazz Department at the University of California, Berkeley, he has taught at numerous colleges throughout North America and Europe, and continues to be a presenter at national and statewide conventions of P.A.S. (The Percussive Arts Society) and the I.A.J.E. (International Association of Jazz Educators). He currently resides in San Francisco, California where he is an integral part of the Bay Area music scene.