Some musicians chase the notes—Zack Page lets them chase him, which might explain how he's managed to average 275 gigs per year since the mid-1990s, turning bass lines into highways that stretch from Virginia backroads to Swiss jazz festivals to Asheville's intimate listening rooms. This rhythm section nomad carries dual citizenship in the worlds of heavy metal and jazz, a musical passport stamped by legendary drummer Billy Higgins and acclaimed clarinetist Eddie Daniels, earned through decades of wandering between Los Angeles studios, New York City sessions, and now the Blue Ridge Mountains. His four strings have held down the low end on cruise ship stages and gypsy jazz jams with equal authority, whether he's anchoring 'One Leg Up' in Asheville's Django-influenced underground or laying foundation stones for folk rock storytellers. From electric bass at eleven to acoustic mastery in college, Page embodies the restless spirit of American music itself—always moving, always grooving, always making everyone around him better. As fellow trumpeter Justin Ray observed, that's the hallmark of truly great musicians: they don't just play their part, they elevate everyone else's.

It started with his mother's ear. *"I'd wanted to play an instrument, but I didn't know which one I was going to pick. My mom said, 'I like saxophone.'"* And just like that, Florence, South Carolina sent another voice into the continuum. Peter Dimery didn't just pick up the tenor—he picked up the *weight* of it. The lineage. The responsibility. He emerged from **Furman University** with technique and training, but the real education came through obsession: two albums that rewired his musical DNA. ***Blue Train. Giant Steps.*** **John Coltrane** became the map and the territory. The question and the answer. The thing he was grasping for before he knew what grasping meant. What came out the other side? A tenor man in the old sense—big sound, soulful phrasing, the kind of tone that fills a room before the first phrase resolves. He moves through contemporary classical, soul, and jazz like they're dialects of the same mother tongue. Because they are. A cornerstone of **The Wheel Sessions**—that underground jazz series in West Greenville where the real ones gather—Peter has spent years building the Upstate's sonic vocabulary alongside conspirators like Phillip Howe, Shannon Hoover, and Kevin Korschgen. Now he's bringing that Florence-to-Furman-to-the-future energy to the Zack Page Euphemism, where his horn speaks the things we only imply.

Ryan Ptasnik honed his drumming skills in Pinedale High School band classes in Wyoming, a foundation that would eventually carry him from garage bands to performing at the Opera and Ballet Theatre in Shymkent, Kazakhstan. This jazz-trained drummer has become a versatile force in multiple musical worlds, from his work with the experimental group Moyindau—where he performed Kazakh poetry settings at the base of Pik Lenin in southern Kyrgyzstan on a stage constructed from two pickup trucks—to anchoring the Asheville-based Grateful Dead tribute band Clouds of Delusion. Ptasnik's musical journey includes traveling to Central Asia with pianist Alex Kreger, where they presented music in Tajikistan with Norwegian saxophonist Mette Henriette, and recording with Moyindau—a group that blended jazz with arrangements of popular and folk tunes from Macedonia and Tajikistan. Now based in Asheville, he maintains an active presence supporting local artists like Whitney Monge and Rick Cooper at venues like Highland Brewing, while also serving as the rhythmic backbone for Batdorf & The Brother Wolf. From Wyoming band rooms to makeshift mountain stages in Kyrgyzstan to Asheville's vibrant music scene, Ptasnik proves that the best drummers don't just keep time—they become the adaptable foundation that allows wildly diverse musical visions to flourish, whether channeling Jerry Garcia's spirit or bringing Kazakh poetry to life through rhythm.

Some cats talk about paying dues. Keith Davis bought the whole building. Forty years moving through the jazz continuum—from the polished brass lineage of the **Glenn Miller** and **Artie Shaw Orchestras** to the sweat-soaked blues authenticity of **Matt "Guitar" Murphy** (yes, *those* Blues Brothers). He's traded phrases with **David "Fathead" Newman**, **Donald Byrd**, **Wallace Roney**, **Javon Jackson**, and a constellation of giants whose names read like a syllabus for an advanced degree in swing. He sharpened his blade at **Berklee**, studied with the incomparable **Jerry Bergonzi**, then ascended to the mountain—literally—at the **1985 Banff Jazz Workshop**, absorbing transmissions from **Dave Liebman**, **Dave Holland**, **John Abercrombie**, and the high priest of the avant-garde himself, **Cecil Taylor**. In 2017, the **Coastal Jazz Hall of Fame** made it official. But Keith already knew who he was. Now operating from Greenville, SC, teaching the next generation at **Furman University**, leading his trio, and—in a twist that speaks to his pursuit of balance in all things—practicing and teaching **Hunyuan Chen Style Taiji**. The hands that voice those chords? They also know the forms. The stillness between notes? Cultivated.

keithdavismusic.com