Paul Bollenback - guitar

"Not one jazz virtuoso could put the definition of jazz into words, but all agreed that you know it when you hear it. That's the way it is with Paul Bollenback. It's bona-fide playing, unambiguous, up-front and powerful," summarizes guitar master George Benson,

Paul Bollenback has appeared on the Tonight Show, Good Morning America, Joan Rivers, The Today Show, and Entertainment Tonight. He has played with an impressive spectrum of musicians, including Stanley Turrentine, Gary Bartz, Joey DeFrancesco, Jeff "Tain" Watts, Joe Locke, Gary Thomas, Chris McNulty, Tim Garland, David "Fathead" Newman, Steve Wilson, Geoffrey Keezer, Terri-Lyne-Carrington, Grady Tate, Shunzo Ohno, James Moody, Jack McDuff, Charlie Byrd, Paul Bley, Carol Sloane, Melissa Walker, Carter Jefferson, Herb Ellis, Jimmy Bruno, and East Meets Jazz, with Sandip Burman.

Billy Peterson - bass

Billy has been called a chameleon and at home in any “bag” of music weather it be jazz, rock, pop, R&B or country. You can catch Billy performing with various artists in different genres of music. He played with Carlos Santana and Neil Young at the 1993 Earthquake Relief in San Francisco. He played with folk-singer/songwriter Pete Seager on the Smithsonian Folkways recording Well May the World Go, which he also produced. He performs frequently with jazzers Benny Carter, Mose Allison, Dave Leibman, Dewey Redman, Lew Tabakin, Slyde Hampton, Clark Terry, and feels fortunate to have performed with the late Harry “Sweets” Edison and the late Jack MacDuff. He's recorded as a sideman on many projects with great artists such as:

* Guitarist Neal Schon of Journey on his Higher Octave recording Beyond the Thunder
* Alto-saxophonist David Sanborn on the St. Paul Atlantic Record's release Down to the Wire
* Drummer Eric Gravatt of Weather Report on Natural Life's City Traffic recording
* Drummer Vinnie Colaiuta for Sting on Ricky Peterson's Smile Blue recording
* Alto-saxophonist Phil Woods on Ben Sidran's release On the Live Side
* Keyboardist Tony Hymas for Jeff Beck on his upcoming release on Universal Europe
* Guitarist Robin Ford on Ricky Peterson's Windham Hill recording Souvenir

Ricky Peterson - Organ/Rhodes

A life long Minnesotan whose sound has always focused on a characteristically "Minneapolis" sound, Ricky Peterson is best known for his now 25 year association with saxophone legend David Sanborn and for having, produced, written and played keyboards for Prince on and off since his early days on the Twin Cities scene (perhaps most notably producing and arranging the song "The Most Beautiful Girl in the World").
Playing on David Sanborn records since the mid 80's, he ensembled with and produced Sanborn on "Songs from the Night Before" and Prince on "Gold", "Emancipation", "Crystal Ball". Peterson also played a big part in writing and producing George Benson's "That's Right" CD.
This is just the icing on a career whose associations (either live or in the studio) read like a diverse pop and jazz trivia encyclopedia: Bonnie Raitt, Billy Joel, Anita Baker, James Taylor, Mavis Staples, Joe Sample, Sting, Sergio Mendes, Brian Wilson, Ben Sidran, Rodger Waters, Rick Braun, Kirk Whalum, Phil Upchurch, Jimmy Buffet, Fine Young Cannibals, Steve Miller Band, GoGos, Paula Abdul, Boz Scaggs, Dave Koz, Lalah Hathaway, Sheryl Crow, Jonathon Butler, Bruce Willis, The Jets, Jermaine Jackson, Rhythm Syndicate, Chaka Khan, Robben Ford, Howard Hewett, Larry Graham, Tuck & Patti and John Mayer.

Ricky is now working on his 5th solo CD that will be available within the next 6 months. He's promising the same musicality and funkiness that has been a mainstay in his previous CDs.
Friend and colleague Ben Sidran put it best when he said of Peterson: "There are two kinds of genius, the kind that is, as the saying goes, 90 percent perspiration, 10 percent inspiration, and the other kind. Ricky Peterson is clearly the other kind, a born singer with a great range, a gifted keyboard player with his own sense of style and literally, a musical force of nature. It's all music to him. He's not a rock player trying to learn jazz or a jazz player trying to do rock...He's able to go into the memory bank and constantly come up with new sounds."

Peter Schimke - piano

Peter began playing piano and drums at the age of eight. The music collection of his older brother, which included records by artists like B.B. King, Johnny Winter, Jimmy Hendrix, and the Beatles, provided his earliest rock influences. By the age of twelve he was playing boogie-woogie and blues piano, while singing with his older brother’s blues band. ?After sitting in on vocals, keyboards and drums with bands throughout his teens, Peter’s first professional gig was with the New Psychenauts.

He went on to be lead singer for the Swingin’ Combo; both bands were part of the early MPLS rock scene that launched the Replacements and Husker Du. It was about this time that he played his first professional rock gigs on keyboard, most notably with Hammond organ with blues harmonica legend Charlie Musselwhite at the Blue Max on Maui. He is a recipient of a National Endowment for the Arts Grant and a scholarship to the Banff Arts Centre. Peter has also studied classical piano with James D. Johnson and Gary Kirkpatrick of the Verdehr Trio. He studied jazz piano with Brazilian pianist Manfredo Fest, Jim McNeely and Memphis born Harold Mabern.

Over the years Peter has either toured, performed or recorded with, among others, Iffy, Likehell, Art Farmer, Tom Harrell, Fareed Haque, Mark Murphy (co-produced “The Latin Porter” for Ben Sidran’s Go Jazz label, Julee Cruise of “Twin Peaks”, El Buho, Jeff Sipe, Victor Wooten, Estaire Godinez ,Rita Coolidge and many more. Most recently, Peter has recorded a live concert with saxophonist Jerry Bergonzie that will be released on DVD as well as collaboration with Marcos Casal to be released on the label Universal Spain. He is also singing, playing and composing for his own new solo project that is currently in production.

Glenn Swanson - drums

Glenn moved to Minneapolis in the early 70's where he quickly became involved in the recording scene, playing sessions on national commercials and record projects. From early roots in hometown Duluth, he performed with Metropolitan Opera and was introduced to jazz through performance with Cannonball Adderly.

He has performed with Jack McDuff, Monty Alexander, Bobby Peterson, Ricky Peterson, Gypsy, Tommy O'Donnell, Roy Buchanan.

He has received grants from the General Mills and Cargill Foundations. Produced and composed for Sheila Robinson, daughter of legend Ray Charles who described his work as genius. When asked of his musical highlight, he points to opening jazz dates reading his poetry to audiences while on tour in Japan.

"I have yet to find a drummer with more passion and feel for music. All tyoes of music. Swanny has always made the music we play swing harder whether its Jazz or a serious funk tune. Not to mention his talents for producing, arranging and all around musicality." Ricky Peterson