Winko Ljizz

Born: 1955

Something has been missing from the northeast corner of 22nd and J streets for the past couple months. Those familiar with the weekend scene in this area have noticed the absence of a large, purple truck bearing the words, “Acoustic Sanctuary.”

Many people have become acquainted with this entertainment venue on wheels from the inside, while others maintain certain levels of curiosity from afar.

Accompanied with the green, lighted words, “OneManBand” and “Storyteller,” and stairs leading up to its purple curtain-covered entrance, this unique roadside attraction has been hard to miss. It had been a fixture of this midtown street corner on Thursday, Friday and Saturdays evenings since 2002.

Zurich Jazz Orchestra

Active since: 1995

The European jazz scene boasts a number of world class professional Big Bands, all with their own rich history and tradition. The Zurich Jazz Orchestra, founded in 1995, undoubtedly belongs to this exclusive club.

The big band recorded its fifth studio album in the winter of 2020/21, the second under the direction of Steffen Schorn, who was musical director for six years before changing to his current role as congenial composer in residence.

Fortunately. The album “Dedications” is a worthy successor to “Three Pictures”, released in 2018. Schorn’s compositions and thus the sound of the orchestra have, if at all possible, become even richer, more colorful, more differentiated, but at the same time more powerful

Willie D

Born: November 20, 1987

Tim Shaghoian

Born: February 28, 1991

Tim Shaghoian is a Los Angeles-based saxophonist and composer. He released his debut album, Gentle Beacons, in 2020 on Origin's OA2 Records. Gentle Beacons features 9 of Tim's original compositions and a creative reimagining of the beloved jazz standard “My Foolish Heart”. All About Jazz called the release “a well-crafted work of modern jazz.” Tim performs regularly in the LA area and has had the opportunity to work with a number of the most respected creative musicians in LA, such as Mark Ferber, Vardan Ovsepian, Darek Oles, and Billy Mohler

Joan Hutton

Born: May 18, 1969

Joan Hutton is a woodwind performer, composer and music educator residing in Minneapolis and hailing from Toronto, Canada. Her varied musical interests have led her over the years to classical, jazz, funk, free improvisation, pit orchestras and more. Joan has released two albums of original music on Shifting Paradigm Records with co-leader Sue Orfield: Take That Back (2022) and Splash (2024). She is also a long time member of the Ancia Saxophone Quartet, with recordings on the Naxos and Albany labels.

Tara Davidson

Born: 1979

Tara Davidson is a JUNO Award-winning alto and soprano saxophonist who has performed around the world at such prestigious venues as New York City’s Carnegie Hall, the acclaimed North Sea Jazz Festival in the Netherlands, the JZ Jazz Club in Shanghai, China, and The Kennedy Center, in Washington, D.C.

As a bandleader, Davidson has produced seven recordings since 2004 and performed on approximately forty recordings as a side musician. Five of her seven recordings as a leader or co-leader (Carn Davidson 9) have been nominated by the JUNO Awards for “Jazz Album of the Year”. Davidson has been associated with seven additional JUNO nominations for her work as a side musician with Ernesto Cervini's "Joy" project, Andrew Downing’s Otterville, Ernesto Cervini’s Turboprop (x2), the Mike Murley Septet, CBC Records’ “Jazz Legends Live” project, and Jens Lindemann’s Order of Canada Band (Yamaha Big Band member). In 2020, Davidson won a JUNO Award for Jazz Album of the Year: Group as a member of Ernesto Cervini’s Turboprop.

David Borgo

Born: February 8, 1970

David Borgo started playing alto saxophone at the age of 8. He had formative jazz experiences growing up in the Washington D.C. area, and went on to earn his B.M. in Jazz Studies at Indiana University, under the tutelage of renown jazz educator David N. Baker.

After graduation, David began touring widely, and his travel experiences in Turkey, Israel, Morocco, and more, sparked an interest in "world music" and the academic field of Ethnomusicology. He went on to earn M.A. and Ph.D. degress in the field from UCLA, studying with one of the world's preeminent Ethnomusicology faculty.

Sohrab Saadat

Born: April 1, 1953

A Comprehensive Biography of SoSaLa

The early years

Sohrab Saadat Ladjevardi (aka SoSaLa) was born to Iranian parents in Zurich, Switzerland, in 1953. However, following the sudden death of his business partner, Sohrab’s father had to close down their joint business and, on the advice of a family member and when Sohrab was just three months of age, the Saadat Ladjevardi family moved to live in Hamburg, Germany. There Sohrab’s father established an export trade company called Iran Hamburg.  Growing up in Germany, Sohrab’s early lessons on piano ended abruptly, when his teacher found she couldn’t abide his style of playing.

Harrison Argatoff

Harrison Argatoff is a Canadian tenor saxophonist and composer based in Toronto. A 2018 graduate of The University of Toronto’s jazz program, his music combines the study of jazz, classical, and free-improvised music to to cultivate a versatile, controlled, yet distinctly personal sound. Having grown up a Doukhobour, in the interior of British Columbia, teachings of pacifism, communal music making, and respect for life and nature deeply influence his personal and artistic endeavours.

After Five Jazz