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With his edgy style and innovative beats, jazz and blues drummer Isaiah Spencer has carved out a unique reputation in Chicago and beyond. Critics have called his sound propulsive, fiery, and incendiary. A North Side native, Spencer has studied with Dr. Curtis Prince in Chicago’s All-City Jazz Band, with Dana Hall and Ernie Adams in the Ravinia Jazz in the Schools program, at Roosevelt University, and with legendary jazz educator Ronald Carter at Gallery 37, a paid summer job teaching the arts to youth. He has also studied with Ralph Peterson Jr., Kenny Washington, Greg Hutchinson, Ed Soph, Hamid Drake, Albert "Tutti" Heath, and Wilbur Campbell. Now, Spencer is the one doing the teaching. He is a teaching artist and mentor for a nonprofit organization called Youth Guidance, and a percussion teacher and assistant band director at New Trier High School. He directs his own drum camp program and through his mentoring and volunteer work, he teaches children how music can help them to overcome obstacles and reach greater heights. He has performed at the Chicago Blues Festival, the Englewood Blues Festival, Jazz Showcase, House of Blues, and Rosa’s, and shared the stage with greats including Fred Anderson, Pine Top Perkins, Eddie Clearwater, Buddy Guy, Clark Terry, Roy Hargrove, Tom Harrell, Donald Harrison, Wynton & Branford Marsalis, James Moody, Cyrus Chestnut, Johnny O'Neil, and Nicole Mitchell. He has toured with William Parker, Ernest Dawkins, and Guy King, among others.

Steve Schneck (flugelhorn) Mike Stryker (piano) Scott Mason (bass) Phil Gratteau (drums) Steve Schneck grew up in New York with jazz and classical music in the background and a photo of Louis Armstrong in his bedroom. From the beginning, his mother wanted Steve to be a trumpet player. After learning to play the ukulele (from his Dad) and piano (from his Mom), Steve began studying trumpet at age 9 and he’s been playing the trumpet and flugelhorn for more than 50 years. Steve’s mother taught classical piano, and his father played folk guitar. His extended family, including 4 generations of mandolin players, regularly played music whenever they got together, and they still do. While in high school, Steve studied at the Juilliard, Manhattan and Eastman schools of music, and was a member of the New York State Music Association All-State Jazz Ensemble, McDonald’s Long Island Jazz Ensemble, and Nassau County Jazz Ensemble. He also taught trumpet for two summers at Camp Encore/Coda in Maine. Throughout college, Steve played in the Cornell University Jazz Ensemble, which he also directed during his junior and senior years. While in law school, Steve played in the New York University Jazz Ensemble and in a jazz quintet directed by Joe Lovano. Soon after moving to Chicago, Steve regularly joined jam sessions and gigs with local musicians, and in 1990, Steve started his own group. The Steve Schneck Quartet (www.steveschneckmusic.com) has been playing throughout Chicago for the past 34 years and released 2 CDs: “Together Again” in 1994, and “Dedicated to You,” in 2012. The Steve Schneck Quartet performed at the Chicago Jazz Festival in 2016. Steve was also a member of Marshall Vente’s Project Nine for several years and he has performed throughout Chicago as a side man with other musicians including Pat Mallinger, Jeff Newell, Jim Massoff, Richie Fidoli, Bob Centano, Bob Ojeda, Stuart Rosenberg, John Mose, Frank D’Rone, Don Stiernberg, Dave Baney, Curt Morrison, Neil Soroka, Jimmy Ryan, Don Stilley, Frank Caruso, John Baney, Eric Hochberg, Nick Tountas, Alejo Poveda, Izzy Perez, Mo Jennings, Tim Davis and Barrett Deems. In September 2022, Steve joined New Orleans clarinetist Doreen Ketchens and her quartet at the Sisters Folk Festival in Oregon. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VckPQkgF578) Since 2009, Steve has volunteered as the Director of the Hawthorne Scholastic Academy (a Chicago public elementary school) Jazz Ensemble, for musicians in grades 5 through 8. Steve created the ensemble and arranges all of its music. In 2016 and 2018, the Hawthorne Jazz Ensemble performed at the Chicago Public Schools Jazz Festival. In September 2024, while continuing to lead the Hawthorne Jazz Ensemble, Steve started another elementary school Jazz Ensemble at the Rogers Park Montessori School, where he arranges all of the music and directs an ensemble of musicians in grades 4-8.