Andrew Oliver, piano and keyboard
Andrew Oliver is a pianist and composer from Portland, Oregon. He grew up playing classical music but switched to jazz at the beginning of high school, when he began taking lessons from Randy Porter. He lived in New Orleans from 2002 until 2005, where he studied jazz at Loyola University and performed as both a bandleader and sideman. After evacuating from Hurricane Katrina in the summer of 2005, he returned to Portland and finished his studies in music and French at Portland State University. His primary teachers have been Matt Lemmler, Randy Porter, and Darrell Grant.  He received a generous scholarship to attend the Banff International Workshop in Jazz and Creative Music in 2009.  Since returning to Portland in 2005, he has been a leading force in the younger generation of Portland jazz musicians, founding and directing the Portland Jazz Composers Ensemble, a large group dedicated to promoting new jazz composition in Portland, as well as performing and recording with the Andrew Oliver Sextet, the Bridgetown Sextet, the Ocular Concern, the Canadian-American collective Tunnel Six, Devin Phillips and New Orleans Straight Ahead, the Sam Howard Band, and of course the Kora Band.

Kane Mathis, kora and guitar
At 16 years old, after hearing many African records from all over the continent, Kane felt a strong interest in pursuing West African music and did so by incorporating the styles into his solo acoustic guitar playing. Just before the first year of his education at the Lawrence University Conservatory, Kane procured a 21-string West African harp from an American kora player, David Gilden. After his first year at Lawrence, Kane had the opportunity to travel to the birthplace of Kora, The Gambia, to study with the Jobarteh family, one of the country’s most famous musical families. There, in the same compound that had produced three generations of the Gambia’s most famous musicians, Kane would start his new musical education. Surprisingly, the father of the compound, Malamini Jobarteh, oversaw Kane’s education himself. This study resulted in diplomas and certificates of recognition from Malamini Jobarteh, The Gambian minister of culture, and the President of the Gambia. Subsequent trips have found Kane headlining concerts organized by the American ambassador to The Gambia, performing with his Gambian trio on national television, and performing at the first annual Gambian heritage festival.

Chad McCullough, trumpet
Once again making his home in Seattle, Chad has toured the world playing both trumpet and piano. He has shared the stage with Jay Thomas, Claudio Roditi, Marc Seales, Thomas Marriott, Ingrid Jensen, Bob Florence, Allen Vizzutti, and several others. The 2002 winner of the ‘Outstanding College Trumpet Soloist’ award from the Lionel Hampton Jazz Festival in Moscow, ID, he has toured the Northwest with his own bands for more than a decade. Working as a soloist, lead player, and chamber musican, Chad keeps an active performance schedule in many varieties of music. He is also in high demand as an educator, and frequently speaks about jazz music and the trumpet to students of all ages, giving clinics at high schools and colleges throughout the country. His private students maintain a high level of excellence and have recieved many honors at district, state, and national competitions.

Brady Millard-Kish, acoustic and electric bass
Brady Millard-Kish grew up in Michigan, where he studied with Peter Dominguez and earned a B.A. in classical music at Michigan State University. A graduate fellowship then took him south to the world-renowned University of New Orleans jazz studies program, where he studied under greats like Ellis Marsalis and Harold Battiste. During the five years he spent in New Orleans as a full-time musician, Brady was a founding member of the critically acclaimed jazz ensemble “Quintology.” He also performed and recorded with members of Soul Asylum, G. Love and Special Sauce, Blind Melon, and Galactic, among others. Now a resident of Seattle, Brady also performs with The Sahel Band and offers private bass instruction (www.seattlebass.com).

Mark DiFlorio, drums and percussion
In 1986 Uncle Dennis gave Mark his first drum set. In 1993 Mark moved to New Orleans seeking to tap into the source of jazz. By 1999 he had toured Austria and Italy, graduated with a M.M. in Jazz Performance from the University of New Orleans and had recorded the “Best new Jazz Album in New Orleans, 1999″. Playing on the scene in New Orleans with great bands such as Astral Project, Quintology, The New Orleans Klezmer Allstars, James Singleton and Ed Petersen shaped Mark’s person and his performing. In 2002 Mark left The Big Easy to wander through the forests and search for something or nothing. After a short and difficult time in Brooklyn, New York and then a few months at Plum Village, Thich Nhat Hanh’s Buddhist monastery in Thenac, France, he went back to New Orleans in the beginning of 2005 and back to music. Hurricane Katrina flooded Mark out of that magical city and he washed up on the west coast in Portland, Oregon. Portland and the people were kind, helpful and gracious. Mark was performing all over the city with great local musicians as well as a small contingency of displaced New Orleanians. In 2007 he had the great opportunity to be part of The Rhythm Road: American Music Abroad Program, sponsored by The U.S. State Department and Jazz at Lincoln Center. Mark toured 5 countries in Africa as a cultural ambassador of the U.S.A.. After meeting Lilla, his wife, Mark moved to Seattle where he now performs, has a very successful teaching studio, Red Sparkle Drum Studio, and is raising his family.  Mark DiFlorio is endorsed by Bosphorus Cymbals.