Milena Casado: Trumpet
Called “a revelation” by The New York Times, Spanish composer, trumpeter, and flugelhorn player Milena Casado is quickly gaining notice for her unique and deeply personal approach to music. Both as a composer and instrumentalist, Casado masterfully blends the familiar and the unknown — rooted in tradition, yet reaching for something fundamentally new. Having already caught the attention of many renowned artists, Casado has performed with such greats as Terri Lyne Carrington, Aaron Parks, Kris Davis, Vijay Iyer, Jazzmeia Horn, and Jorge Rossy, among others. She has been featured at many of the world’s top venues and festivals, including Carnegie Hall, the Village Vanguard, the Kennedy Center, the Blue Note NYC, North Sea Jazz Festival, Montreal Jazz Festival, and Monterey Jazz Festival. An increasingly notable bandleader in her own right, Casado now leads her own working quintet, with recent performances at NYC Winter Jazzfest, Savannah Jazz Festival, and other major venues. Backed by this group, she is currently producing her debut album.
Keyanna Hutchinson: Guitar
Keyanna Hutchinson is a Brooklyn-born versatile musician. The multi-talented artist uses her Caribbean lineage, love for music, conservatory training, experience with rock, jazz, R&B and experimental composition tours as inspiration. While known for her mastery of the guitar, Hutchinson is also a multi-instrumentalist, songwriter, and producer. Hutchinson reveals that the efforts of Terri Lynne Carrington, Lizz Wright, and Brandon Ross of Harriet Tubman have motivated her throughout this journey. Her mentors inspired her to craft a sound that pays homage and to propagate the roots of black and indigenous sound. She also is a recent awardee of the prestigious Next Jazz Legacy fellowship through New Music USA.
Justo Kelly: Voice
DMV-born artist, Justo Ontario, also known as Justo Kelly, is an electrifying soul and R&B artist. Ontario grew up surrounded by music, and throwback R&B classics influences him. R&B legends like Prince and Usher also inspire him. However, the best part is, Ontario stays true to his own soulful melodies, even as his influences come and go. In 2015, Ontario dropped his first single, “Fever,” and then his first self-titled EP, Justo Ontario, in 2017.
Evan Lawrence: Bass
Evan Jelani Lawrence, also known as 13TH LAW, is a Queens-born bassist, composer, and sound designer. Evan has been a sought-after electric bass player in the R&B and rock scenes and an upright bass player in jazz settings across the Tri-state music scene. They have toured and recorded with several well-known indie acts, including KEIYAA, L’Rain, Nappy Nina, Marquis Hill, Maurice Brown, Vagabon, and more. Evan works closely with QPOC-owned and operated Brooklyn label Lucidhaus, an independent and eclectic arts collective co-founded by OneBeat alum Nappy Nina. At Lucidhaus, they are involved in organizing events and promoting new releases. As a bassist, Evan’s adventurous playing and compositional sense often focus on textural playing, featuring a range of vibrant tones and effects, while they seamlessly hop between disparate genres and idioms.
Roy Nathanson: Sax
Roy Nathanson has had a varied career as a saxophonist, composer, bandleader, poet, actor and teacher. During the thirty years Nathanson has led the Jazz Passengers, the band has recorded 10 CDs and toured extensively. As primary composer for the band, Nathanson has written songs for a variety of singers including Elvis Costello, Deborah Harry, Jeff Buckley, Jimmy Scott and Mavis Staples. His radio play, You’re The Fool, was performed and commissioned on NPR and his meditation on time, The Rock Concert, was commissioned by the Science Museum of the University of Wisconsin. His first book of poetry Subway Moon is on Buddy’s Knife Editions and his poems have appeared in Natural Bridge, 5AM, the Brooklyn Rail and other publications. He has also collaborated in theatre and film with David Cale, Chantal Akerman, Peter Sollett and Ray Dobbins through composition, co-writing and acting. Nathanson has received two New York Foundation for the Arts composing awards, a Chamber Music America Award in composition and grants from the Rockefeller Foundation and NPR. He was a recipient of a Bessie Award and a Joseph Jefferson Award in Chicago.
Aidan Scrimgeour: Piano & Accordion
Aidan Scrimgeour is a musician, composer and educator based in Brooklyn, NY. Growing up in Salem, MA, Aidan was inspired by the energy and talent of the local North Shore music scene and started performing with jazz and funk bands as a teenager. After spending a couple years in the Contemporary Improvisation Program at New England Conservatory studying piano performance with Ran Blake and Hankus Netsky, he graduated with a B.A. in Performance & Representation from Tufts University. Currently, he is performing in duo projects on piano and accordion with Roy Nathanson, Alida Torres and Alber Baseel. These projects celebrate different types of folk music and explore possibilities for improvisation within the genres. He is an in-demand versatile musician and has travelled throughout the country with several touring acts.