Ron Miles
was born on May 9, 1963, in Indianapolis, Indiana, and moved with his family to Denver when he was 11 years old. Soon after he began playing trumpet and studied both classical and jazz. He went on to study music at the University of Denver, University of Colorado Boulder, and the Manhattan School of Music. In 1987, Ron released Distance for Safety, the first of a dozen albums he would make over the next 35 years including such critically acclaimed works as Heaven (2002), Quiver (2012), and I Am A Man (2017). Ron received a GRAMMY nomination for his performance on Joshua Redman’s 2018 album Still Dreaming. Miles also led a distinguished and lengthy career in music education as a Professor of Music at the Metropolitan State University of Denver where he had taught since the late 1990s.

Miles’ final album was his Blue Note Records debut, Rainbow Sign, which was released in 2020 and featured an extraordinary quintet with Frisell, Moran, Blade, and bassist Thomas Morgan. Written in tribute to Ron’s father Fay Dooney Miles, who had passed away in 2018, DownBeat called it “a deeply touching album” and “by far Miles’ most impressive work as a bandleader.”

Bill Frisell
Bill’s career as a guitarist and composer has spanned more than 40 years and many celebrated recordings, whose catalog has been cited by Downbeat as "the best recorded output of the decade."

In recent years, Frisell has forged a distinctive and fruitful collaboration with the Blue Note label, releasing HARMONY, Valentine and FOUR to great acclaim.

"Frisell has had a lot of practice putting high concept into a humble package. Long hailed as one of the most distinctive and original improvising guitarists of our time, he has also earned a reputation for teasing out thematic connections with his music... There’s a reason that Jazz at Lincoln Center had him program a series called Roots of Americana." - New York Times

Recognized as one of America’s 21 most vital and productive performing artists, Frisell was named an inaugural Doris Duke Artist in 2012. He is also a recipient of grants from United States Artists, Meet the Composer among others. In 2016, he was a beneficiary of the first FreshGrass Composition commission to preserve and support innovative grassroots music. Upon San Francisco Jazz opening their doors in 2013, he served as one of their Resident Artistic Directors.

Bill is the subject of a documentary film by director Emma Franz, entitled Bill Frisell: A Portrait, which examines his creative process in depth, as well as an extensive biography by Philip Watson, Beautiful Dreamer: The Guitarist Who Changed The Sound of American Music.

Brian Blade
A native of Shreveport, Louisiana, Brian Blade established himself as a versatile, accomplished drummer early in his career, appearing on albums by the likes of Joshua Redman, Kenny Garrett, and Bob Dylan. Blade released his first album, Brian Blade Fellowship, at the age of 27 in 1998 and followed two years later with Perceptual, both on Blue Note. Always an in-demand sideman and collaborator, Blade continued to find work with a varied bevy of artists, including Joni Mitchell, Bill Frisell, and Wayne Shorter. Ten years after releasing his first album as the Brian Blade Fellowship, Blade returned with Season of Changes in 2008, this time on Verve. A year later he released the solo Americana, singer/songwriter effort Mama Rosa for the label.

At the beginning of 2014, the BBF band re-signed with Blue Note in a cooperative deal with the Shreveport, Louisiana-based Mid-City Records. Their fourth album together, Landmarks, was issued in April of 2014. The quintet was augmented by guitarists Marvin Sewell and Jeff Parker.