Gilbert Isbin - acoustic guitar
Jeff Gauthier - violin
Scott Walton - double bass, piano
w/ special guest
Vinny Golia - reeds, flutes

Belgian guitarist Gilbert Isbin's early influences, from classical to folk, jazz, blues, ethnic and freeform music, has ultimately contributed to his now distinctive and refined style. Isbin released thus far 20 acclaimed albums with his own compositions and a CD project with arrangements of Nick Drake songs for solo guitar. He collaborated and performed all over Europe and in the US with a. o. Cameron Brown, Joe Fonda, Scott Walton, Ernst Reijseger, Jan Kuijken, Jeff Gauthier, Michel Godard, Philippe Deschepper, Achim Kirchmair, Jatinder Thakur, Hugh Hopper, Wolfgang Reisinger, John Ruocco, Sandro Di Stefano, Sandor Szabo and Iep Fourier. Gilbert has written music for documentaries and shortfilms and composed scores for solo, duet, trio and quartet guitar settings of which his 'Summer Moon Dance' has been added to the repertoire of the internationally acclaimed Quartetto Chitarristico Italiano. Apart from composing he is also interested in free (melodic) improvisation and open for new projects.

Violinist, composer and producer Jeff Gauthier has worked with many prominent musicians in a variety of creative contexts during a career that spans over 20 years. As an improvising violinist Jeff Gauthier has performed and recorded with Yusef Lateef and Adam Rudolph for Meta Records, The Alex Cline Ensemble for ECM, Nine Winds & Cryptogramophone Records, the Cline/Gauthier/Stinson trio for Cryptogramophone and Nine Winds Records, and The Vinny Golia Large Ensemble and Quartetto Stig for Nine Winds Records. His own ensemble, the Jeff Gauthier Goatette, has recorded three CDs including Internal Memo and The Present for Nine Winds and Mask for Cryptogramophone. Gauthier has also performed in ensembles with bassist Mark Dresser (Banquet) and drummer/percussionist Gregg Bendian (Bone Structure). As a founding member of the seminal ensemble Quartet Music (with Nels Cline, Alex Cline and Eric von Essen) in the late 70s, Gauthier recorded four albums, received two NEA grants, toured with the California Arts Council touring roster, and performed twice as soloist with the Milwaukee Symphony. Gauthier also founded and produced the Inner Ear new music concert series in Los Angeles.

In demand as a producer of jazz and new music recordings, Gauthier has worked with such jazz luminaries as Alan Broadbent, Nels Cline, Mark Dresser, Peter Erskine, Lou Levy, Jimmy Rowles, Stacy Rowles, Alan Pasqua, Don Preston, Theo Saunders and many others, having produced CDs for Cryptogramophone, Jazz’halo, Delos and Nine Winds Records. In a former life as a concert violinist, Jeff Gauthier has performed with the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, Los Angeles Music Center Opera, Los Angeles Mozart Orchestra, Long Beach Symphony, the Oregon Bach Festival and the Carmel Bach Festival. Gauthier performed on the 2000 Grammy Award winning CD Credo, by Kristoph Penderecki with the Oregon Bach Festival Orchestra and Chorus. Jeff Gauthier is a graduate of California Institute of the Arts.

Bassist and pianist Scott Walton's interests cut across musical genres. He has collaborated with poets, dancers, performance artists, filmmakers, and multimedia artists, and is featured on recent CD releases with the Vinny Golia Quintet (One, Three, Two), Cosmologic (Syntaxis), O'Keefe, Stanyek, Walton, Whitehead (Tunnel), and Jeff Kaiser (17 Themes for Ockodektet). Current projects include work with the Vinny Golia Quintet (Vinny Golia, Michael Vlatkovich, Nels Cine and Alex Cline), Cosmologic (Jason Robinson, Michael Dessen, Nathan Hubbard), the Rain Trio (Eric Barber, Alex Cline), and O'Keefe, Stanyek, Walton, Whitehead (Pat O'Keefe, Jason Stanyek, Glen Whitehead). As a pianist Walton has commissioned and premiered works by numerous composers (most recently, Cort Lippe's Music for Piano), has toured the U.S. with the Octagon Ensemble for New Music, and has collaborated in interactive computer and multimedia performances with Vibeke Sorenson in Lemma 2, the latest result of the Global Visual Music project. He prformed an improvisationally inspired interpretation of Charles Ives' Concord Sonata. As a bassist he has also recorded with George Lewis, Bobby Bradford, Anthony Davis, and Carmell Jones, and has performed with a. o. Wadada Leo Smith, John Carter, J.D. Parran, Gerry Hemingway, Quincy Troupe, Ray Anderson, John Abercrombie, Phillip Gelb, Davey Williams, Toshiko Akiyoshi, Clifford Jordan, Al Cohn, Buddy Tate, and Frank Wess. He has recorded on the Soul Note, Nine Winds, Jazz'halo, Circumvention, pfMentum, Koch, Centaur, Albany, and Revelation labels.

Vinny Golia is a composer who fuses the rich heritage of Jazz, contemporary classical and world music into his own unique compositions. As a bandleader, Golia has presented his music to concert audiences in Europe, Canada, Mexico, Japan and the United States in ensembles varying dramatically in size and instrumentation. Mr. Golia has won numerous awards as a composer, including grants from the National Endowment of the Arts, The Lila Wallace Commissioning Program, The California Arts Council, Meet the Composer, Clausen Foundation of the Arts, Funds for U.S. Artists and the American Composers Forum. In 1982 he created the on-going 37 piece Vinny Golia Large Ensemble to perform his compositions for chamber group and jazz orchestra.

A multi-woodwind performer, Vinny's recordings have been consistently picked by critics and readers of music journals for their yearly "ten best" lists. In 1990 he was the winner of the Jazz Times TDWR award for Bass Saxophone. In 1998 he ranked 1st in the Cadence Magazine Writers & Readers Poll and has continually placed in the Downbeat Critic's Poll for Baritone Saxophone. In 1999 Vinny won the LA Weekly’s Award for "Best Jazz Musician". Jazziz Magazine has also named him as one of the 100 people who have influenced the course of Jazz in our Century.

Golia has also contributed original compositions and scores to Ballet and Modern Dance works, video, theatrical productions, and film. As an educator Vinny has lectured on music & painting composition, improvisation, Jazz History, The History of Music in Film, CD & record manufacturing and self-production throughout the United States, Europe and Canada. He currently teaches at California Institute of the Arts. In 1998 Golia was appointed Regent's Lecturer at the University of California at San Diego.

Vinny has been a featured performer with Anthony Braxton, Henry Grimes, John Carter, Bobby Bradford, Joelle Leandre, Leo Smith, Horace Tapscott, John Zorn, Tim Berne, Bertram Turetzky, George Lewis, Barre Phillips, The Rova Saxophone Quartet, Patti Smith, Harry "the Hipster" Gibson, Eugene Chadbourne, Kevin Ayers, Peter Kowald, John Bergamo, George Grüntz Concert Jazz Band, Misha Mengelberg, Han Bennink, Lydia Lunch, Harry Sparnaay and the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra amongst many others.

Instruments: Ab, Eb, Bb, C, A, Alto, Bass, Contra-Alto & Contra-Bass Clarinets, Piccolo, G, C, Alto, & Bass Flutes, Sopranino, Soprano, Tenor, Baritone, & Bass Saxophones, English Horn, Bassoon, Contra-Bassoon, Strich, Taragoto, & various ethnic aero phones.

Vinny Golia has presented his music extensively in the United States, Canada, Mexico, Europe, and Japan, with ensembles varying dramatically in size and instrumentation.