A University of Alabama School of Music alum, JASON MINGLEDORFF has become one of New Orleans’ most versatile and in-demand saxophonists since moving there in 1995. He’s toured extensively with internationally known acts like St. Paul & the Broken Bones, Clint Black, The New Mastersounds, and Galactic. His critically acclaimed brass band, The New Orleans Nightcrawlers, won a Grammy in 2021 (Best Regional Roots Album), was nominated for another Grammy in 2024, and was featured in a 2018 episode of The Simpsons. His all-star quintet, Papa Grows Funk, is the subject of the award-winning full-length documentary Do U Want It?. Other artists that Jason has performed and/or recorded with include Maceo Parker (Soul Food: Cooking with Maceo), Dr. John (Grammy-winning The City That Care Forgot), Harry Connick, Jr., Aretha Franklin, Tony Bennett, Lady Gaga, The Temptations, and The O’Jays. A D’addario Woodwinds Artist since 2017, Jason has recorded on over 100 albums and has appeared on numerous movies and TV shows, including Green Book, Tremé, and Austin City Limits. Jason has been teaching Saxophone, Improvisation, and Jazz Ensembles at the University of Loyola in New Orleans since 2006. He has also written articles for the Saxophone Journal, adjudicated numerous big band competitions, and been a clinician throughout the Southeast. Jason’s debut album as a leader, 2023’s Start It!, was nominated for Best Contemporary Jazz Album in Offbeat Magazine’s Best of the Beat Awards. His latest album, 2025’s The Journal Sessions, pays tribute to the many infectious grooves of his home, New Orleans.   Bert Cotton hails from Birmingham, Alabama and studied guitar at Auburn University and Berklee College of Music in Boston before moving to New Orleans in the early 1990s. Bert came up playing classic rock with local Birmingham bands before getting heavily into jazz, blues, r&b, and funk music. His mastery of these various styles is evident in his work with an array of popular New Orleans bands – including traditional jazz with James Andrews, New Orleans R&B with The New Orleans Catahoulas, New Orleans funk and jazz with Funk Monkey, and Trombone/Tuba Rock with world renowned Bonerama. He has also performed with New Orleans legends such as Johnny Adams, Kermit Ruffins, and Ingrid Lucia, among others. Bert plays from the heart and soul….and means it! This tour with Jason Mingledorff is the culmination of a long friendship and musical collaboration, between kindred spirits.   Mike Lemmler was raised just a few blocks from Fats Domino and his keyboard skills have made him a fixture on the Crescent City music scene. Mike is known especially for his longtime work with legendary Meters bassist George Porter, Jr. With almost thirty years in the Runnin’ Pardners band, Mike has traveled the world playing with one of the originators of New Orleans funk. Mike has also thrilled audiences with his event band Jubilation (a longtime Mardi Gras Ball staple) and as a member of the soul-funk trio TriFunctA along with Wayne Maureau and Chris Adkins. He’s backed a host of notables ranging from Leah Chase to Lenny McDaniel and regularly performs solo with tributes to James Booker and others. Ed Wise, a native of Houston, Texas, has been performing music professionally for over 50 years. An accomplished performer on both string bass and electric bass, Ed has toured with Harry “Sweets” Edison, Monty Alexander, and Texas R&B legend Delbert McClinton. He has performed with world-famous jazz musicians, including Lee Konitz, Mose Allison, Arturo Sandoval, Herb Ellis and Jim Hall, as well as legendary vocalists Billy Eckstine, Cab Calloway and Frank Sinatra Jr. and New Orleans masters Al Beletto and Luther Kent. Ed has also served as staff musician for the Delta Queen Steamboat Company as a bassist, band leader and arranger. In 2005, Ed Wise was a recipient of New Orleans Magazine’s Jazz All-Star award. As an educator, Ed is on faculty at Loyola University in New Orleans, where he teaches bass instruction, jazz combo, pop ensemble and music theory. Doug Garrison has been living and performing music in New Orleans since 1993 as drummer of the roots rock band The Iguanas, with whom he’s made eight albums and logged many miles, performing just about everywhere in the US. Doug also works with many other bands in town, playing country, rock, traditional jazz, modern jazz, free improvised music, and klezmer. He is frequently called upon for a variety of New Orleans studio gigs, and has contributed to many movie and television soundtracks, on and off screen. As a freelance drummer he often accompanies visiting artists, and has performed alongside musical luminaries such as Mose Allison, Milt Jackson, Anthony Braxton, and Clarence “Gatemouth” Brown. Prior to moving to New Orleans, Doug was an active part of the rich musical scene in his hometown, Memphis, Tennessee. While there, he played and recorded with rock icon Alex Chilton for roughly ten years and toured and recorded with an array of legendary Memphis artists, including Rufus and Carla Thomas, Donald “Duck” Dunn, Andrew Love of the Memphis Horns, Charlie Rich, and the great piano genius Phineas Newborn, Jr.