Pete Carney teaches at the City Colleges of Chicago and Saint Xavier University, and is Assistant Band Director for Chicago All City Jazz Ensemble. As a saxophonist, he has performed and composed music for Grammy winners including Kirk Franklin, Tito Puente, the Winans, and the Plain White T’s. He studied composition with William Bolcom and William Albright at the University of Michigan and classical saxophone with Donald Sinta, before completing graduate school at Florida International University and the University of Miami. As a Jazz artist, Pete Carney headlines Jazz festivals in the US and overseas with his group Orange Alert. He was the first American to be featured at the Aberdeen Jazz Festival in Scotland. He lives in Chicago with his wife Caroline. For more information and music go to petecarney.net

Dr. Brian Felix is a music performer, composer and educator. He is an Assistant Professor of Music at the University of North Carolina at Asheville where he teaches classes on jazz piano, jazz history, music business, the Beatles and the Grateful Dead. His ensemble, OM Trio, has toured extensively throughout the US and garnered considerable critical acclaim. Felix holds a Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and lives in Asheville, NC with his wife, Bridget, and sons, Sean and Gavin. For more information, visit brianfelix.com