one of jamaicas most highly-rated vocalists, alton ellis made an incredible contribution to the islands popular music. blessed with a particularly emotive voice that brings shivers to the spine whether singing original material or cover tunes, ellis was born and raised in trench town, the west kingston ghetto area that gave rise to bob marley and the wailers and countless other singers. ellis and singing partner eddie parkins hit big in 1961 with the ballad muriel for coxsone dodd, and after parkins moved to the usa, ellis teamed briefly with john holt, and then began fronting the flames harmony group. he excelled in the rock steady style, christening the genre with rock steady and i have got a date, bouncing between studio one and treasure isle for a number of years. from 1971, he spent increasing period in london, but continued to record hits in jamaica for various producers. the 1979 release love to share was arranged by the great studio one keyboardist, jackie mittoo, who co-produced the album with junior lincoln, founder of the london-based bamboo label, the disc straddles the line between lover’s rock and roots reggae, remaining a lesser-known classic

born in the distinctively puerto rican neighborhood of lincoln park chicago, ricardo was named after legendary salsa singer ricardo ray. after major puerto rican displacement (urban renewal) ricardos parents settled in the noble square section of west town for many years. his music reflects a traditional house culture that goes beyond just sound or legendary stories. while his industry peers recite fond memories of the music box, the bismark and other musical institutions – ricardo sat in front of a big pioneer radio listening & recording mixes from chicago radio stations wrrg, wbmx am/fm & wgci which included a hefty dose of early house music, italian imports and electro. but, it was the new sound of chicago house that made a profound impact on his soul.

james ross is a guitarist and composer living in brooklyn, n.y. originally from pittsburgh, pa., he has studied guitar at the university of pittsburgh and the mannes college of music in new york city. he has studied sitar with pandit krishna bhatt, and north indian classical music and composition with la monte young and marian zazeela. a composer in a variety of genres, james has written music for orchestral and chamber ensembles, as well as solo music for the guitar and the zhongruan (a type of chinese lute). he has also performed and recorded electronic and improvised music. recent performances as a composer and performer on the electric guitar, laptop and other instruments include sets at the bell house, at the small beast at the delancey with percussionist joseph benzola, a performance with kyle bobby dunn at issue project room, at pianos with richard lainhart, at glasslands gallery with michael vincent waller, at goodbye blue monday with david beardsley, providing live music for katherine liberovskaya and ursula scherrer’s optosonic tea series at diapason gallery in brooklyn, with video artist alex carpenter at the tank in manhattan, and at damrosch park at lincoln center as part of the guitar ensemble for rhys chatham’s “a crimson grail.” a recording of the -crimson grail- performance was released on nonesuch records on sept. 14, 2010. as a classical guitarist, james has performed as a soloist and ensemble player throughout the northeastern united states. he received a solo recitalist fellowship in 1992 from the pennsylvania council on the arts and won the 1993 mannes college of music concerto competition, resulting in a performance of joaquin rodrigo’s “fantasia para gentilhombre,” at symphony space in new york city.