Peter Paulsen is an active performer on the Philadelphia jazz scene as well as Principal Bass of the Allentown Symphony Orchestra and Section Bass of the Harrisburg Symphony Orchestra. He has received three PA. Council on the Arts composition grants and was recognized with a PEW Fellowship in Composition. Mr. Paulsen has released five critically acclaimed CDs of his compositions, “Three-Stranded Cord” Peter Paulsen Quintet; “Tri-Cycle” Peter Paulsen Trio; Peter Paulsen “Change of Scenery” Sextet; “Goes Without Saying” Peter Paulsen Quintet and “A Few Thoughts” Peter Paulsen Trio, all on his label, SquarePegWorks. He is Assistant Professor of Double Bass & Jazz Studies at West Chester University and is committed to the education of young students through numerous master classes, clinics and performances at universities and schools throughout the country. Mr. Paulsen is Director/bassist of TurksHeadKnot Contemporary Music Ensemble & Jazz Quintet, commissioning new works by contemporary composers and can be heard on the PARMA/Navona release “Shanghaied Paisano” The Chamber Music Of Peter Paulsen, with Special Guest Dali String Quartet.
Dr. Chris Hanning is a Professor of Percussion at West Chester University, a recording artist for NFL Films, and performs with the Peter Paulsen Quintet, the Bach Festival Orchestra of Bethlehem, and Philadelphia’s premier contemporary music ensemble Relâche. His performing has taken him throughout Europe and the United States with engagements at such prestigious venues as Carnegie Hall, the Kennedy Center, and Royal Albert Hall in London. In 2006 he released Island Grooves, an instructional drum set DVD that received a 4 1/2 out of 5 star rating from Modern Drummer magazine. Chris has recorded several CD’s with Relâche, the Bach Choir of Bethlehem, David Liebman and the Manhattan Saxophone Quartet, and a new release with the Peter Paulsen Quintet titled Goes Without Saying. Chris performed on numerous recordings for NFL Films over the past twelve years including several Emmy Award Winning projects. You can hear Chris every year when the Lombardi Trophy music is played during the Super Bowl. He is currently co-writing music with long time NFL Films composer and producer Tom Hedden. You can check out some of his music at firstcom music (firstcom.com). Chris is an artist/clinician for Vic Firth, Pearl/Adams, Remo, Zildjian, and Panyard and has presented clinics at Universities, conventions, and percussion festivals across the United States and abroad. Chris also chairs the Percussive Arts Society Contest and Audition Procedure Committee and serves on the PAS Board of Directors.
Ron Stabinsky recently released his debut album, Free for One, the culmination of more than a decade of evolving his improvised solo language. In addition to continuing to pursue his ongoing interest in solo piano improvisation, he enjoys working on music in a stylistically diverse array of situations throughout the United States and Europe with many other musicians and ensembles, including free-improvising saxophonist Jack Wright, bass trombone virtuoso David Taylor, Meat Puppets bassist Cris Kirkwood, and NEA Jazz Master David Liebman. Recent festival appearances include Newport Jazz Festival, North Sea Jazz Festival (Netherlands), Moers Festival (Germany), Jazzfestival Saalfelden (Austria), Outreach Festival (Austria), and Jazz and More Festival Sibiu (Romania). He is currently a regular member of the band Mostly Other People Do the Killing, the new music ensemble Relâche, the Charles Evans Quartet, and the Peter Evans Ensemble, a new expanded conception of the critically acclaimed Peter Evans Quintet.
Jonathan Ragonese, composer-arranger-saxophonist, is a native of New Cumberland, Pennsylvania. He moved to New York City in 2007 to attend the Manhattan School of Music, he has lived and worked there since. As a saxophonist he has performed and recorded with a wide array of musicians including Steve Wilson, David Liebman, the Harrisburg Symphony Orchestra, Tim Warfield, Tin Can Buddha and Steve Rudolph. As a composer his works have been commissioned and premiered by saxophonist Steve Wilson, Jazz @ Lincoln Center, The Museum of Modern Art, the Vermont Mozart Festival Orchestra, the Harrisburg Symphony, and the The Righteous Girls, Bucknell University, West Chester University and the Harrisburg Youth Symphony. In 2014 Ragonese premiered his ‘Not-this’ for two saxophones, at Carnegie Hall. Jonathan is an active educator, with lectures, writings, and the development of Music Before Words, a music program for infants with educator Renee Bock. His first recording, Ardent Marigolds, was released in 2013, a duo with musical father Steve Rudolph. 2017 brings two new releases, and many premieres.
John Swana was drawn to jazz at the age of 17 after hearing Dizzy Gillespie, and the interest developed into a passion while he was in college, where he began transcribing the solos of Freddie Hubbard, Clifford Brown, Miles Davis, and Tom Harrell. Swana has performed and/or toured with the Mingus Big Band, and the Dave Holland Big Band, and has also played with well known jazz names such as Don Patterson, Shirley Scott, Mickey Roker, Stanley Turrentine, Harold Mabern, Cecil Payne, Johnny Coles, Ralph Peterson, Charles Fambrough, Bobby Watson, Craig Handy, Chris Potter, Stephen Scott, Tim Warfield, Eric Alexander, Sam Newsome, Brad Mehldau,Vincent Herring, Uri Caine, Tim Armacost, Peter Leitch, Peter Bernstein, Mark Turner, Jon Gordon, Donny McCaslin, Ravi Coltrane, Ralph Bowen, Greg Hutchinson, Ari Hoenig, Seamus Blake, and Robin Eubanks. He has also been heard with Freddie Hubbard, Phil Woods, Ronnie Cuber, Eddie “Lockjaw” Davis, Clark Terry, Frank Foster, John Faddis, Slide Hampton, J.J. Johnson, Bob Minzer, and Charlie Persip.
John can be heard on recordings with: Benny Golson, Grover Washington Jr., Chris Potter, Ralph Bowen, Donny McCaslin, John Patitucci, Eric Alexander, Charles Fambrough, Craig Handy, Tito Puente, Bill O’Connell, Lenny White, Ricky Sabastian, Eric Harland, Greg Hutchinson, Marlon Simon, Ed Simon, Dave Valentin, Cafe’, Art Webb, Adam Holtzman, Ron Blake, Peter Bernstein, Carl Allen, Mulgrew Miller, Benny Green, Kenny Barron, Tim Warfield, Lewis Nash, Clarence Penn, Kevin Hays, Chris McBride, Uri Caine, Peter Leitch, Marvin “Smitty” Smith, Ralph Peterson, Bobby Zankel, and Tom Harrell.
