To contact TranceFormation, please get in touch with any of the musicians; email addresses are at the end of each bio.

Connie Crothers, improvising pianist, has been recognized by critics for her originality, virtuosity and range of musical expression. “A lioness on the keyboard” (Jean Quist) and “a stunning pianist” (Stuart Broomer) who has “forged a truly individual path in music” (Francis Lo Kee), she was included in Cadence magazine’s centennial issue list of the most important and influential musicians in the last twenty-five years of the 20th century. Connie has performed solo and with various groups (including her quartet with Richard Tabnik, Ken Filiano, and Roger Mancuso) in concerts and festivals around the world. Her discography includes the duo with Max Roach, “Swish” (New Artists); “Spontaneous Suites” (RogueArt), a four-CD box set of duos with David Arner; and numerous solo and collaborative recordings including several Connie Crothers Quartet offerings. Nine of her CDs have been chosen by critics for their list of the best records of the year. Connie is the founder and president of New Artists Records. She teaches improvisation. ConnieCrothers@aol.com

Ken Filiano performs throughout the world, playing and recording with leading artists in jazz, spontaneous improvisation, classical, world/ethnic, and interdisciplinary performance, fusing the rich traditions of the double bass with his own seemingly limitless inventiveness. Critics have called him a “creative virtuoso,” a “master of technique” . . . “a paradigm of that type of artist. . . who can play anything in any context and make it work, simply because he puts the music first and leaves peripheral considerations behind.” An integral member of numerous ensembles, Ken also composes for his own quartet, Quantum Entanglements, (with Michael Attias, Michael T.A. Thompson, and Tony Malaby). His extensive discography includes the solo bass CD, “subvenire” (NineWinds) and his Quantum Entanglements CD, “Dreams From a Clown Car” (Clean Feed). Ken teaches bass and improvisation at his Brooklyn studio, and is on the teaching roster at The New School in New York. KFiliano@gmail.com

Andrea Wolper has been described as a singer with “an inventive, thrilling, appealing musical vision” (Blogcritics) who “brings songs to life, whatever their source, working in a milieu that begins with jazz and reaches out to embrace an expressive area that is uniquely her own” (International Review of Music). Mixing genres, crossing boundaries, Andrea approaches all her music with an adventurous improviser’s spirit. Her quintet CD, “Parallel Lives” (Jazzed Media) received stellar reviews upon its release in late 2011, and was included in three end-of-year critics’ lists; her 2005 release, “The Small Hours” (VarisOne.Jazz), also earned high critical praise. Andrea leads her own group, appearing in her New York home base, and touring nationally and internationally; is a member of an original music big band; and has appeared as a guest artist with numerous other jazz and improvising ensembles. She teaches vocal technique, and leads workshops for vocalists and for all musicians on using improvisation as a tool for releasing music with spontaneity and freedom. She is a former president of International Women in Jazz and was on the Advisory Board of the Jazz Vocal Coalition. Music@AndreaWolper.com

photo by Michael Weintrob