Dawkins' New Ensemble; Feather's Nouveau Stride - Bob Stewart

One of the life goals of Ernest Dawkins is for his music and compositions to reflect the evolving collective cultural memory of the American jazz aesthetic. Dawkins is one of the world's premiere saxophonists and composers. He is an entrepreneur with years of experience working with new media technologies to produce and promote his work and that of the jazz community online and in digital venues. He leads several groups, including his New Horizons Ensemble and the Ethnic Heritage Ensemble, he's the founder of Chicago's South Side Englewood Jazz Fest and a former president and leader of the influential Chicago AACM. Dawkins has chosen a brand new group for his newest CD, "Afro Straight", a program of straight ahead original jazz and his takes on tunes by Coltrane, Shorter, Gillespie and others.

Nouveau Stride is the duo of lyricist/vocalist Lorraine Feather and acclaimed pianist Stephanie Trick. Feather has won rave reviews for both her collaborations with living writers and her lyrical adaptations of jazz classics. Rising star Trick is one of the very few female stride piano players on the scene, tours internationally, and was awarded the "New Talent Prize 2011" by the Hot Club of France. Their new CD "Fourteen" features Feather's lyrics set to classics by departed masters such as Fats Waller and James P. Johnson, as well as living composers Robin Frost and John Novacek. The disc is predominately stride but also includes some ragtime and boogie-woogie.