Michael Jones
Born into a musical family, Michael Jones is a @GRAMMY award-winning international soloist, chamber musician and clinician. Noted as singing “particularly beautifully” by the Chestnut Hill Local (Philadelphia), Michael has appeared as a soloist with the Philadelphia Orchestra, Choral Arts Philadelphia, Academy of Sacred Drama, Haverford University Choir and Orchestra, Disney’s All-American College Band and Peoria Area Civic Chorale, among several others. Michael has sung at the Finnish National Opera House, Lincoln Center’s Merkin Hall, Los Angeles’ Disney Hall, and Philadelphia’s Verizon Hall at the Kimmel Center, to name a few.
In addition to his extensive solo career, Michael also regularly performs with some of the nation's finest choral ensembles. Most notably, Michael sings with two @GRAMMY award winning groups, The Crossing and Conspirare, as well as Santa Fe Desert Chorale, True Concord Voices and Orchestra, Opera Philadelphia, Apollo's Fire, Variant 6, ekmeles, Les Canards Chantants, Madison Choral Project, Music of the Baroque, William Ferris Chorale, Grant Park Opera Chorus, Constellation Men’s Ensemble, Bridge Ensemble, Vocal Arts Ensemble of Cincinnati, Alium Spiritum and Chorosynthesis. Michael has been a finalist in callbacks with Chanticleer and Cantus and was one of eight, internationally, selected to audition for Voces8 in spring of 2019.
Michael studied at the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music for his bachelors in jazz trumpet. While there, he was under the tutelage of David Adams, Kim Pensyl, Dr. Scott Belck, and Rick VanMatre. For his graduate degree, he attended Northwestern University’s Bienen School of Music for a masters in jazz trumpet, studying with Victor Goines, Donald Nally, Brad Mason, and Keven Keys.
In addition to his vocal career, Michael also plays trumpet all over the world in multiple settings; from New Orleans style brass band to chamber orchestra to small group jazz. You name it: Michael has done it. In the fall of 2019, Michael played with critically acclaimed Youngblood Brass Band, dubbed by Dazed and Confused as "hip-hop's heaviest brass section," for their European fall tour.
When living in Philadelphia, Michael regularly played with Ocean Avenue Stompers the Bachelor Boys Band for private events and weddings all along the east coast. In addition, Michael plays regularly at City Church Philadelphia and whenever one of his favorite people Taylor Kelly calls for a "soul" gig, he's there.
While living in Chicago, he appeared regularly at The Green Mill, Chicago's legendary jazz club, with Alan Gresik and the Swing Shift Orchestra. He is an original member of J-Livi and the Party, The Cincy Brass, Cincinnati's award-winning brass band and played with Four Star Brass Band. All three bands have recorded albums released in the last few years: Cincy Brass released "Ain't Nuttin' Louder" in 2011, Four Star released "Get Your Four Star On" in 2015, J-Livi and the Party released "Come and Share my Life" in 2016, and in 2019, released "Mixtape.". During Michael's time at Northwestern, he was fortunate to co-found a hip hop group called The Syndicate that played around Chicago and Evanston. Their most notable performance was Dillo Day 2015.
In the summer of 2013, Michael auditioned and won the "jazz" trumpet chair in the Disneyland All-American College Band. While in the band, he played five sets a day at Disneyland in Anaheim where he performed with Bob Mintzer, Gordon Goodwin, Wycliffe Gordon, Peter Erskine, Jiggs Whigham, John Clayton, Gregg Field, Steve Houghton, Sal Lozano and Rex Richardson.
Gustavo Cortiñas
Embracing a multicultural language, while investing in a variety of disciplines within the music itself, Mexican born, and Chicago based drummer, composer, & producer Gustavo Cortiñas, has distinguished himself as a dynamic and melodic artist, committed to building empathy and understanding through music, in times of border walls and reductive narratives. “Cortiñas’ music is bluesy and deeply felt..sometimes it is raucus, sometimes solemn, but the music is always drenched in emotion.” (Modern Drummer). This can be heard on his six records as a leader, "Snapshot" (2013), "ESSE" (2017) “Desafío Candente” (2021), “Kind Regards” (2022) and “Live in Chicago” (2024), “the culmination of a decades worth of music” (The Arts Fuse). “Gustavo Cortinas is a musician with a message, one of social justice. He delivers it in a style that fuses the melodic sensibilities of his ancestral Mexico with the complex syncopation of jazz.” (ALLABOUTJAZZ). His sixth discographic production "The Crisis Knows No Borders" presents a compelling musical narrative that examines sustainability and global interconnectedness, featuring an exceptional ensemble that includes guitarist Dave Miller, tenor saxophonist Jon Irabagon, and violinist Mark Feldman. Through these critically acclaimed productions and his participation in more than 40 other discographic productions, “Cortiñas’s deft touch reaffirms his status as one of the great drummers in the City’s new guard.” (ChicagoReader).
A graduate of Loyola University New Orleans (BM Jazz, Minor in Philosophy), and Northwestern University (MM Jazz), Gustavo Cortiñas has developed a successful career in the US for almost two decades, leading and accompanying ensembles in renowned stages and festivals in North America, South America, Asia, Oceania, and Europe. During his time in Chicago, Gustavo has become one of the most sought out drummers, performing and recording with Chuchito Valdés, Entre Amigos, Emily Kuhn, Javier Red’s Imagery Converter, Matt Peterson, Kitt Lyles, Erik Skov, Michael Hudson-Casanova, Roy McGrath, Kyle Madsen, Vladimir Cetkar, Sasha Bayan, Amos Gillespie, and the Carla Campopiano Trio, among other ensembles. Cortiñas is a member of the Chicago Jazz Composer's Collective, performing regularly for their monthly residency at Chicago's very own Green Mill. Gustavo Cortiñas is a proud endorser of Canopus Drums & Bosphorus Cymbals, and has been recipient of grants from the Mexican National Endowment of the Arts (FONCA), the Illinois Arts Council (IACA), the Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events (DCASE), and Pathways To Jazz. His album Desafío Candente, a sprawling meditation on Latin American life and struggles, earned a well-deserved spot in Jazziz, and 33third’s list of the 2021’s Best Releases, amongst Downbeat’s top rated records of the year, and was listed among the Annual Jazz Critics Poll Top Latin Jazz Albums of 2021, among other critical praise. “Cortiñas' music is uplifting, robust, melodic, and gets your body moving; it's an exciting blend of the artist's musical influences from jazz and Latin America, including his native Mexico.” (DOWNBEAT MAGAZINE)
Born and raised in Mexico, son to a Uruguayan university professor and a Mexican elementary school educator, Cortiñas grew up surrounded by books of all kinds, ranging from religion and philosophy, to history, economics and art. Music was just as diverse: be it through voice of Chavela Vargas, Wagner’s operas, the revolutionary cry of Rock en Español, or the soothing songs of Edith Piaf, music of all kinds was always there. At age 10, he fell in love with the drums, and was soon seduced by the syncopated and improvised beat of Jazz. This love inspired a journey far from home. First traveling to New Orleans, the birthplace of jazz, and later Chicago, the place he now calls home. This journey set the foundation for his work: Latin American folklore, classical music, and jazz; philosophy, religion and the Latin American cry for justice. These experiences and streams of inspiration forge the unique voice of an expansive artist who will continue to defy categorization in many years to come.
Cortiñas has relased five albums as a leader, in which he acts as drummer, composer, arranger, bandleader and producer. Snapshot (2013), "a Smörgåsbord of the moods and nuances that make up the human experience," (Jazziz); ESSE (2017) "a fascinating musical realization, exploration, and distillation of the works of Hegel, Aristotle, Descartes, Plato, and other brilliant minds" (AllAboutJazz); and Desafío Candente (2021), “a musical palimpsest that carries the weight of the history of colonialism and neocolonialism of the entire southern part of the Americas” (LatinJazzNet); Kind Regards / Saludos Afectuosos, where he takes on the role of lyricist in a bilingual song set that focused on the immigrant codition, which “triumphs both as a bearer of a message that can’t be heard enough and as purveyor sophisticated acoustic pop of arresting beauty” (LATINO MAGAZINE). His latest album Live in Chicago, “the culmination of a decades worth of music. Cortiñas and band revel in a live setting. They not only demonstrate their intimate knowledge of the compositions, but express their evident joy at melding their musical skills with Cortiñas’s continuing commitment to encouraging social change through music.” (The Arts Fuse)
TICKETS
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