Recorded in June 2014 by Caleb Willitz

Chris Reyman
accordion

CHRIS REYMAN has forged a multi-faceted career as an improviser, composer and educator. He comes from a musical family - his father is a music professor and his grandfather was an accordionist with a long-running polka band in Iowa. His career as a jazz and improvising pianist is marked by his pursuit for new and innovate sounds, a journey that led him to incorporate accordion into his performance practice. His most recent project, the Koan Ensemble, is a music-dance collaboration that creates innovative and spontaneous collaborative performances. He is an advocate for creativity and development, which he uses in his work with in2improv, an organization that promotes human development and community building through interdisciplinary improvisational arts. He composed music for film, most recently The OceanMaker, which has won awards at festivals across the US and in France. Chris is currently an Assistant Professor of Music at the University of Texas at El Paso, where he teaches piano, improvisation and composition.

Joel Styzens
hammered dulcimer    
percussion

JOEL STYZENS is a multi-instrumentalist, composer, producer, teacher and hearing conservation advocate specializing in drums, percussion, guitar, piano and hammered dulcimer.
His award-winning 2009 album “Relax Your Ears” featured Chicago Symphony cellist Katinka Kleijn.  Serge Kozlovsky, Belarus Music Critic, calls Styzens “a master of sound,” and the National Examiner defines Styzens’ ability to create texturally unique compositions as “music that you feel down in your soul.”
Joel Styzens has been featured on National Public Radio and in such publications as Time Out, the UK Hearing Times, and The Chicago Tribune. 
He continues to compose music for a wide range of projects, including film, animation, television, and his own ensemble.  
He is a full-time faculty member at Chicago’s renowned Old Town School of Folk Music and runs the Chicago Tinnitus Support Group as well as his label, A-Sharp Records.
Visit Joel's website www.relax-your-ears.com

Chris Nolte
acoustic bass

CHRIS NOLTE is a versatile bass player currently working in Chicago. Before moving to Chicago, he was a freelance musician in New York and has performed with well-known jazz musicians Chuchito Valdez, John McNeil, Ryan Keberle, Jimmy Owens, Eric Scheider and Anthony Ponciotti.