Primary Instrument: Sax, baritone
Nick began performing at the age of 16. His grandfather played Saxophone in local NYC big bands and made sure Nick had strong musical training. Nick eventually made his way to NYC's Downtown Jazz scene playing in Luther Thomas band, which featured the likes of Dennis Charles, Billy Bang, and On Davis. By 1990, Nick caught the ear of European radio and film star Ursula, whom he went on tour with. Throughout his career Nick has had the distinction of recording and performing with many great musicians, including: Dr John, Marshall Allen, Kenny Wollesen, Chris Parker, Hugh McCracken, Butch Morris, Karl Berger, Sabir Mateen, Juini Booth, Jojo Kuo, Daniel Carter, Jesse Harris, The Brazilian Girls, and Nublu Orchestra.
Rick Bottari has been playing Piano since the age of 5 and began performing in his teens. His father was a pro drummer and would bring young Ricky to sessions and gigs to sit in. After graduating High School Rick joined Taylor Dayne's band and then went on Michael Jackson's European tour. Through the 90's Rick worked as a studio musician and recording engineer. Producing early House music, Indie Rock, Hip Hop, R&B. Ricks synthesizer appears on countless recordings and is a feature for the band EVOLUTION.
On Ka'a Davis is a eclectic, electric guitar player. He has played professionally since the 1970's in his tenure as Guitarist with Sun Ra Arkestra and Don Ayler Quintet. In the 1980's On cofounded the Black Rock Coalition with his contemporary Vernon Reid. Throughout his career Davis has performed and recorded with Luther Thomas, Jef Lee Johnson, Nick Russo, Melvin Gibbs, Tess Marsalis, Juini Booth, Matthew Shipp, Sabir Mateen, Daniel Carter, Graham Haynes, Victor Jones, Kim Clarke, Andrew Lamb, Andre LaSalle, Vernon Reid, Charles “Bobo” Shaw and many others.
Dmitry Ishenko is an experienced and versatile bass player. He has performed with such Jazz masters as Steve Lacy, John Tchic- ai, Joe Lovano, Myron Walden, Sam Yahel, Roy Campbell, Jr., Marty Ehrlich and many others. Equally at home on both the acoustic and electric bass, he is also a busy session player, most recently recording and touring with Paul Banks of Interpol for his solo proj- ect Julian Plenti. Dmitry was born in Odessa, Ukraine, where he studied piano as a child, and moved to the San Francisco Bay Area at the age of 13. In High School, he began gig- ging professionally with his school jazz band and several rock outfits.
Dalius Naujokaitis is an expert Drum- mer/percussionist. He began his musical ca- reer in the late eighties as part of the Vilnius jazz scene in Lithuania. He made an impres- sive entry to the NYC scene in 1995 with a series of original solo performances at Jonas Mekas’ Anthology Film Archives. He began to collaborate with Auguste Varkalis, Jonas Mekas and friends in Free Music on Second Street group, and partaking in the Now We Are Here Orchestra’ projects. His drumming is featured in films by Jonas Mekas and other avant-garde filmmakers. He has played and recorded with a variety of New York bands such as Kenny Wolleson’s Himalayas and Wollesonics, Art Baron, Butch Morris, Joey Barron, Brazilian Girls and Otomo Yoshihide.
“emotion pours from his horn like hot poetry over perfumed stationary” --Cadence Magazine
“The debut release will float by as effortlessly as the sound of Nick Gianni's flute or the various saxes in play” Newsday
