Steve Gilmore
Bass
Three-time GRAMMY®-winning jazz bassist and quiet cornerstone of modern straight-ahead jazz; best known for his 40+ year run as the anchor of Phil Woods’ legendary quartet/quintet, including the GRAMMY®-winning The Phil Woods Six – Live From the Showboat. A master of deep time and melodic support, he’s the kind of player whose feel elevates everyone on the bandstand.
Bill Charlap
Piano
GRAMMY®-winning pianist, bandleader, and one of jazz’s definitive modern storytellers; winner for his work with Tony Bennett (The Silver Lining: The Songs of Jerome Kern) and a five-time GRAMMY® nominee whose trio has become a gold standard for swing, taste, and deep musical conversation. He also serves as Director of Jazz Studies at William Paterson University and received Jazz at Lincoln Center’s 2024 Award for Artistic Excellence.
Dennis Mackrel
Drums
GRAMMY®-winning drummer, composer, and arranger with big-band pedigree—joined the Count Basie Orchestra at 20 (and later returned as its leader/chief conductor, 2010–2013), was handpicked by Mel Lewis to fill the Vanguard Jazz Orchestra drum chair, and went on to become chief conductor of Amsterdam’s Jazz Orchestra of the Concertgebouw. His arrangements appear on McCoy Tyner Big Band’s GRAMMY®-winning albums The Turning Point and Journey.
Jon Gordan
Alto Saxophone
Prizewinning alto/soprano saxophonist, composer, and bandleader—winner of the 1996 Thelonious Monk International Jazz Saxophone Competition and a Juno-nominated artist for Stranger Than Fiction. A prolific leader with a deep catalogue and a reputation for virtuosity and burnished tone, he’s also an educator (University of Manitoba) and the author of Jazz Dialogues, spotlighting the voices and stories behind the music.
THE BAND
THE TEAM
Chris Allen
Engineer, Mixing, Mastering
Chris Allen is a multiple Grammy® Award winning recording, mixing, and mastering engineer. With nearly three decades of experience, Chris is one of today’s busiest NYC-based engineers, working with legendary artists in jazz and rock, as well as soundtracks for film and television.
Dave King
Executive Producer
Emmy®-recognized documentarian, jazz historian, and cultural producer working between New York City and Florida’s Gulf Coast. He’s the founder of SOWAL House, president of SOWAL Foundation (SOFO), and the creator behind the SIDEMAN documentary and soundtrack, plus South Walton’s flagship comedy and jazz festival programming.
Rob Cantave
Associate Producer
Soundscape engineer and technologist working at the intersection of audio and human experience. With an MBA from Cornell and a decade-plus advising Fortune 100 brands through digital transformation, he brings precision and musical intuition to SIDEMAN’s soundboard. He also produces electronic music as Distant Comets, crafting immersive sonic worlds through original releases.
Charlie Ortiz
Associate Producer
Jazz guitarist, composer, and producer with a BA in Jazz Performance and an MA in Music Education. After years of performing and creating music since the early 2000s, he founded and now leads WHIN Music Community Charter School in Manhattan, where every student receives daily choral and orchestral training alongside a progressive academic curriculum.
THE STUDIO
Sear Sound is a living time capsule of New York recording history. Widely regarded as one of the city’s oldest and most legendary jazz studios, it has a way of transporting you back to an era of studio craft that’s mostly disappeared: the smell of wood and warm electronics, the quiet authority of a room built for performance, and a sense that great records are still lingering in these walls.
