BIOGRAPHIES

SHENEL JOHNS, VOCALS

With a voice that embodies grace and passion and a personal style that sways effortlessly from jazz to R&B to gospel, Shenel has emerged as one of the shining stars of her generation. A native of Hartford, Connecticut, Johns has been performing since she was fourteen years of age, and has developed a distinctive, eclectic style that has increasingly caught the attention of her peers and some of the industry’s top performers. Johns received a B.A. in music management from the Jackie McLean Institute at the Hartt School of Music and studied performance with such jazz legends as Rene McLean, Jimmy Greene, and Nat Reeves. She has shared the stage with music royalty including Curtis Fuller, Hank Jones, Dionne Warwick, and Sheila Jordan, and has performed and recorded with an impressive array of leaders in the field. In 2016, Johns completed a musical residency at Jazz at Lincoln Center Doha in Qatar and, several months later, honored Billie Holiday as part of Jazz at Lincoln Center’s New York production of Billie and the Boys. She has also paid tribute to another of her idols, Lena Horne, at Jazz at Lincoln Center’s famed Appel Room. Most recently, Johns was the winner of the Riga Jazz Stage Competition in Riga, Latvia, and was featured in the Hartford Jazz Festival’s Ella Fitzgerald Tribute.

GABRIEL MEDD, TRUMPET

Gabriel Medd played his first gig at the age of ten, and he has been performing on his trumpet ever since. Now 23, the Iowa City native has occupied venues at the North Sea Jazz Festival, Monterey Jazz Festival, Iowa City Jazz Festival, Jazz Standard, Iridium, Chicago Jazz Showcase, Dizzy’s Club Coca-Cola and the Blue Note. He has embraced opportunities to blend his ideas and sounds with those of other incredible musicians in the Gibson/Baldwin Grammy Jazz Ensemble, the Next Generation Jazz Orchestra, the Juilliard Jazz Orchestra, and the Grammy Award-Winning Mingus Big Band.. He was included in Wynton Marsalis’ list of “The Next Generation of Jazz Greats” that appeared in JET magazine in 2011, and was selected as a semi-finalist in the prestigious Thelonious Monk International Jazz Trumpet Competition in 2014. Gabriel graduated with his Bachelor’s degree from The Juilliard School in 2014 and completed his Master’s degree at Juilliard in 2016.

MARIEL BILDSTEN, BAND LEADER & TROMBONE

Mariel Bildsten is a trombonist, based in New York City. Mariel currently works as a bandleader and side-woman, playing in jazz big bands and small groups, as well as AfroLatin music, rock, funk, and R&B bands. She has performed at Carnegie Hall, Jazz at Lincoln Center, Radio City Music Hall, London’s O2 Arena, and the Apollo Theater, among other venues and festivals. Mariel has also performed alongside Jennifer Hudson, Dee Dee Bridgewater, Roy Hargrove, The Manhattan Transfer, Wycliffe Gordon, Brian Lynch, Cyrus Chestnut, and Frank Lacy. Her own groups, ranging from duo to septet, have headlined jazz festivals, played around the country, and perform regularly in New York City. Her debut quintet record Backbone (2020) received rave reviews.

LUCAS PINO, REEDS

Tenor Saxophonist Lucas Pino works frequently as a sideman for artists including Gideon van Gelder, Richard Boukas, David Lopato, Bryan Carter, Rafal Sarnecki, Nick Finzer, and Jeremy Siskind. His past performance experience also includes Dave Brubeck, Curtis Fuller, Benny Golson, Jimmy Heath, Christian McBride, Carl Allen, Benny Green and David Sanborn. Lucas has performed in Australia, Poland, Spain, Britain, The Netherlands, Brazil, and Costa Rica, as well as throughout the United States and Canada. He has appeared at venues including The Blue Note, Dizzy’s Club Coca Cola, The Jazz Standard, Yoshi’s, The Jazz Kitchen, The Rex, and Chicago Symphony Hall. As a leader, he has maintained a monthly residency at Smalls with the No Net Nonet since March 2013. Originally from Phoenix, Arizona, Lucas grew up singing hymns in church, and in the choir at school. He started playing saxophone at age 10, and the first music he ever listened to was jazz. As a high school junior, Lucas won the DownBeat award for Best Instrumental Soloist in 2004. He attended the Brubeck Institute from 2005-2007, where he studied closely with Dave Brubeck. Lucas finished his Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Jazz Performance at The New School in 2009, and then attended Juilliard, where he received a Master of Music in 2011. Lucas’ major influences on the saxophone include Stan Getz, Lucky Thompson, John Coltrane, Michael Brecker, and Chris Cheek. Compositionally, he is heavily influenced by the sound of big band, and composers including Wayne Shorter, Maria Schneider, Walt Weiskopf, and Thad Jones.

MATHIS PICARD (PIANO)

Mathis Picard is a French-Malagasy pianist, composer, producer, and bandleader who currently resides in New York City. Rooted in the tradition of live acoustic performance while incorporating the latest technology, Mathis creates his own musical style influenced by his multi-national background. Mathis, who began playing the piano at the age of 3, was immediately passionate about music’s healing quality and now focuses on sharing that passion globally. Mathis currently leads a solo project, a trio project and his orchestra, The Sound Orchestra. Mathis has had the honor of working with artists such as Ron Carter, Lillias White, Wynton Marsalis, Christian McBride, Lee Ritenour, Daniel J. Watts, DJ Kindness, Braxton Cook, Veronica Swift, Etienne Charles, and more.

MARK LEWANDOWSKI, BASS

Award winning New York City based bassist and composer Mark Lewandowski originally hails from Nottingham, England. A graduate of the Guildhall School of Music in London and New York’s prestigious Juilliard School, he has earned the respect of his peers and elders alike as a creative, supportive and individual sideman and bandleader. Lewandowski has also performed frequently as a member of Pulitzer Prize winning trumpeter Wynton Marsalis’ quartet including performances in such esteemed venues and festivals as London’s Barbican Hall, Cheltenham Festival and The Institute of Peace, Washington D.C. Mark’s work as a bandleader include two releases, Waller (2017), an exploration of the music of one of the early innovators of the jazz genre, Thomas ‘Fats’ Waller, and Under One Sky (2021), comprised of exclusively original material. Lewandowski’s unique and personal compositional style is at the foreground of this album which was described by the UK’s renowned critic, John Fordham (The Guardian, Jazzwise Magazine) as ‘a sublime confection on compositional class and individual improv skill.”

TJ REDDICK, DRUMS

TJ is an American musician and educator, as well as a graduate from The Juilliard School. He currently resides in New York City, which has led to collaborations with artists including Wynton Marsalis, Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra, Chick Corea, Jon Batiste, Nicholas Payton, Alicia Olatuja, Will Downing, Mwenso and the Shakes, and many more. He has performed at many venues including Radio City Music Hall, Jazz at Lincoln Center’s Rose Hall, Lincoln Center’s Alice Tully Hall, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Balboa Theatre, Adrienne Arsht Center, Smalls, The Blue Note, Smoke, the Marciac Jazz Festival, Belize Jazz Festival, Jacksonville Jazz festival, Jacksonville Bethel Baptist Church, Greater Refuge Temple, Mattox Revival Center, and City Tabernacle. TJ believes art shapes and gives color to the world we live in, and that art plays an integral role in building communities.