Pianist Ahmad Jamal has been one of the most successful small group leaders in jazz for over five decades and one of the most influential innovators since Charlie Parker. A native of Pittsburgh, Jamal's economical and imaginative piano trio concept has been praised for having "all the surprise and dynamic variation of an imaginatively ordered big band."
Originally from South Carolina, Justin Haynes came to Knoxville to study at the University of Tennessee under Donald Brown. Haynes has performed across the Southeast with trombonist Wycliffe Gordon, is a member of Robinella's band and serves as the Contemporary Music Director at Middlebrook Pike United Methodist Church.