Tenor / soprano saxophonist Rob Scheps has performed with Gil Evans Band, Vanguard Jazz Orchestra, John Scofield, George Russell, Bob Moses, Terumasa Hino, Al Grey, Buddy Rich, Aretha Franklin,Clark Terry, Sam Rivers,Ray Charles, Julius Hemphill, Duffy Jackson, Cecil Taylor, Joey Calderazzo Quartet. He leads his own bands; Magnets! with Kim Clarke; The Rob Scheps Big Band in Portland, Oregon; and the Rob Scheps Core-tet in NYC, which has a new CD entitled Live at Smalls. His newest CD is Comencio, released March 2019 on Steeplechase.
Roger Wilder was born and raised in Rochester, N.Y. After receiving a Bachelor of Music from University of Miami in 1986, he continued to record and perform in South Florida, then New York. He and his family settled in Kansas City in 2000. His debut CD, Stretch, came out in 2013. Wilder has performed with most of the great jazz artists in Kansas City as well as with the Kansas City Symphony. Wilder has also recorded with Angela Hagenbach, The Sons of Brasil, Duffy Jackson, Dan Thomas, Mike Metheny, Monique Danielle, Kim Park, The Aurora Consort, The Boulevard Big Band, Bob Bowman, and the Westport Art Ensemble. Mr. Wilder is an adjunct jazz professor at the University of Missouri in Kansas City. For 10 years he has hosted his own Jazz Radio Show as "The Jazz Geek" on 90.1 fm KKFI (www.kkfi.org) Fridays from 1 to 3 pm.