February 11-12, 2006

TOPSY CHAPMAN, vocals
New Orleans, LA

Topsy grew up in Kenwood, Louisiana, where she became partial to music at any early age due to the fact that her father was a local vocal music instructor.  After high school she moved to New Orleans where she developed a gospel group, The Chapman, which performed at the New Orleans Jazz Festival, for many clubs and organizations in the area and also for German radio in Cologne and Bohn, Germany.   She gained national and international recognition as one of the original cast members of the Broadway hit "One Mo' Time" that played New York's Village Gate, London's West End and toured most of Europe.  The cast album was nominated for a Grammy.  Topsy constructed the vocal harmony arrangements for the show and was also cast as Elenora in the production of "Staggerlee" which played at the New Orleans' Toulouse Street Theatre.

Topsy has toured all of Europe, Asia, Australia, the Americas and Canada performing gospel and traditional jazz.  She has performed for the Democratic Party, the Queen of England and the Duke of Edinburgh and appeared on Australia's "Midday" show.  She has also appeared several times on Garrison Keillor's "A Prairie Home Companion" and "Riverwalk - Live from the Landing".   She has performed with Butch Thompson, Dick Hyman, Herb Ellis and Bob Haggart and recorded with The Jim Cullum Jazz Band, Nicholas Payton, New Orleans Rascals from Japan and many others.  Topsy has been featured in publications such as Time, Ebony and Jet magazines and has received rave reviews in the New York Times, New York Post, Variety, Times Picayune and Lagniappe publications.

ALLAN VACHE, clarinet
Orlando, FL

Allan has performed with many of the top jazz performers such as Bobby Hackett, Wild Bill Davison, Vic Dickenson, Pee Wee Erwin, Gene Krupa, Dick Hyman, Clark Terry, Bob Wilber, as well as having been with The Jim Cullum Jazz Band for twelve years. Allan has performed at numerous jazz parties and has many recordings to his credit, several under his own name. Noted jazz critic, John S. Wilson said in High Fidelity Magazine, "Vache is vintage Goodman. Allan has all the phrasing and power of his model as a young man ..."

John is recognized by many as one of the most versatile, talented and exciting musicians to come along for quite awhile. The early years of his musical career were spent playing the drums and piano, but he has since earned a reputation as the East Coast's premier swing vibraphonist. When not playing festivals and jazz parties in the U.S. and abroad, you can catch him on Tuesday and Wednesday nights at the 219 Restaurant in historic Old Town Alexandria VA. He currently has two shows running on the BET jazz network/the Jazz Central show. John has performed at the Kennedy Center, the Corcoran art gallery, the Smithsonian, the National Press Club, the Meyerhoff Symphony Hall in Baltimore and Washington DC's premier jazz club Blues Club.

Johnny was born in Brooklyn and began studying piano at age ten.  As a teenager he went to jam sessions on the lower East side where he met some of the greatest players of the era such as Willie “The Lion” Smith, “Big Sid” Catlett and “Hot Lips” page.  Since that time he has played with Bobby Hackett, Buck Clayton, Wild Bill Davison, Pee Wee Russell, Yank Lawson, Peanuts Hucko plus working on the Jackie Gleason Show.  In 1965 he moved to Miami Beach and worked on the Jackie Gleason Show and also worked with Flip Phillips, Billy Butterfield and toured with the Dukes of Dixieland.  After a fourteen-year stint in the Los Angeles area, he returned to Florida where he resides in the Tampa Area.  Johnny plays jazz festivals, parties and concerts worldwide and has many recordings on a variety of labels.  The most recent recordings have been for Arbors where he has recorded extensively in solo, trio and band format under his own name.  His high visibility on the jazz scene has made him one of the more popular jazz pianists.  As noted by many jazz critics, “The beat is always there.”

Brad moved to the Big Apple in 1990 via Montreal.  Soon after his arrival he was introduced to Clifford Jordan and was asked to join his big band which led to many tours both nationally and abroad.  He also has appeared on recordings and film scores with the Illinois Jacquet Big Band, the Dave Holland Big Band, the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra, the Vince Giordano's Nighthawks and the Duke Ellington Orchestra under the direction of Mercer Ellington.  Currently he can be heard recreating Jack Jenny and Jack Teagarden solos on the soundtrack for Martin Scorcese’s upcoming movie, “The Aviator”, due out in the fall of 2004, as well as on the newly released CD of swing standards by Danny Aiello.  In the past few years, Brad has been able to return to the roots and the music that originally attracted him to become a musician – traditional and swing music.  He is currently in a Duke Ellington alumni small group under the direction of Barrie Lee Hall, as well as a regular member of Vince Giordano’s Nighthawks (music of the early 1900’s), John Gill’s Jazz Kings (traditional New Orleans music) and the Manhattan Ragtime Orchestra in New York City.

RICHARD SIMON, bass
Los Angeles, CA

Richard has a Master of Arts (English) from SUNY, Stony Brook NY, and has studied with Abe Luboff of the Los Angeles Philharmonic and Red Callender and John Clayton.  He has toured Turkey, Greece, Italy & Spain for the State Department, plus tours and festivals in Hawaii, France and Japan and many jazz festivals around the country.  Richard has several recordings on his own label (UFO-Bass Records) plus many others on various labels.  The most recent of these, “Pacific Standard Time” on UFO-Bass features Richard, Sam Most and Al Viola.  He received a Grammy nomination in 2001 and along the way has performed with artists such as Houston Person, Allan Vache, Rickey Woodard, Kenny Davern, Ed Polcer, Frank Capp, Anita O’Day, Keeley Smith, Frank Vignola and many others.

Ed received his first pair of drumsticks at the tender age of three from the drummer in his dad’s dixieland band.  He played his first professional job when he was twelve and hasn’t stopped since.  Some of his private teachers include Butch Miles, J. D. Heard, Dave Samuals, Mousie Alexander, Elliot Zigmund and Horace Arnold.  A graduate of the acclaimed Jazz Studies program at William Paterson College, Ed has performed with Count Basie Orchestra, Chick Corea, Arturo Sandoval, Woody Herman Orchestra, Scott Hamilton, Clark Terry, Dick Hyman, Milt Hinton, Tommy Newsom and Ken Peplowski.  In 1999, Ed was given the opportunity to record his own group for the Nagel-Heyer label of Hamburg, Germany, titled “Tough Assignment”, and is a tribute to the great jazz drummer from the 30’s and 40’s, Dave Tough.  He has appeared on more than 50 recordings with such artists as Bob Wilber, The Canadian Brass, Kenny Davern, Warren Vache Jr., Bucky Pizzarelli and Allan Vache.  Ed travels the world with a calendar full of concerts, festivals, tours and recordings, and is on the teaching staff at several jazz camps around the country.