Brian Torff is a renowned bassist and composer, and currently appears with his seven-piece band, Thunderstick, featuring a horn section, with jazz violinist Randy Sabien, as well as the Union trio, Torff's professional career began in 1974 when he began touring with Cleo Laine before he recorded and performed with pianists Mary Lou Williams and Marian McPartland, and violin virtuoso, Stephane Grappelli. He is noted for his collaboration with George Shearing and their third album won a Grammy for vocalist Mel Torme.
One of the best-kept secrets among Brazil's bossa nova pioneers, Manfredo Fest's popularity and profile rose dramatically in the 1990s. Legally blind since birth, Fest's greatest early influence was George Shearing, but he developed his own approach apart from Shearing and other Brazilian jazz pianists, unleashing relentlessly flowing streams of bop-flavored notes against a Brazilian pulse, occasionally letting his classical roots show, and enjoyed recording success upon signing with Concord Picante in the early '90s and producing a series of energetic, Brazilian-flavored, bop-grounded, small-group albums.