The acclaimed Chicago singer, Perrian Jordan, revels in his portrayal of “Brother Ray,” with wholehearted backup from the three “Raelettes,” Dee Alexander, Yvonne Gage and Joan Collaso. Formerly a drummer with Gene Chandler, Perrian has performed vocally with James Brown, Frankie Valli, Chubby Checker, The Stylistics, The Blue Man Group, Tony Orlando, Lou Rawls and Willie Nelson.

A regular at venues throughout Chicago, including the Gaslight Club, Perrian can also be heard at New York’s Blue Note and the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, DC.  One of his favorite gigs is singing the National Anthem before Chicago Bulls’ games. In addition to performing on stage, Perrian is an executive producer and co-owner of an independent record label based in Chicago, and participates in music conferences around the country.

Michael Kocour is an Associate Professor and the Director of Jazz Studies at Arizona State University. Hailed by the Chicago Tribune as “one of the most sophisticated pianists in jazz,” he has performed at venues around the world, including a memorable appearance on Marian McPartland's internationally syndicated NPR program “Piano Jazz.”

Mike has appeared with many artists and ensembles, among them Dizzy Gillespie, Eddie Harris, James Moody, Eddie Daniels, Randy Brecker, Benny Golson, Ira Sullivan, Carl Fontana, Dewey Redman, Lew Tebackin, and the Chicago Symphony.

Jeff Lindberg represents a new breed of American conductors who are equally adept with the literatures of the American jazz orchestra and the European symphony orchestra. He is artistic director of the Chicago Jazz Orchestra and music director of the Wooster Symphony Orchestra in Ohio, now in its 90th season. He has conducted artists such as Misha Dichter, William Warfield, Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg, Milton Hinton, Clark Terry and Joe Williams.

Jeff received his bachelor’s and master’s in music education degrees from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champagne. In addition, he earned a Paul Harris Fellowship from Rotary International for post-graduate study at the Academy of Music in Vienna and a Conducting Fellowship at the Aspen Music Festival. Currently, he is a professor of music at the College of Wooster in Ohio.

Under the direction of Mike Kocour, the ASU Concert Jazz Band of the Herberger Institute School of Music is the premier large ensemble of the Jazz Studies program. Students study and perform music from the classic Big Band repertoire, as well as commissioned works, student compositions and recent works by contemporary jazz composers.