Marshall Belford Allen was born in Louisville, Kentucky, in 1924. He is a famed and beloved jazz musician specializing in American free Jazz and performing as an avant-garde jazz alto saxophone player. He is also accomplished performer on the flute, oboe,and the piccolo.

During World War II, Marshall Allen joined the United States Army and served our nation with honor and distinction in France as a member of the 92 nd Infantry Division. He is one of the last surviving Buffalo Soldiers and was a member of the famous Black Cavalry Unit, and as a soldier, Mr. Allen began to study and learn how to play the clarinet, saxophone and directed a small musical unit to entertain the troops.

After World War II, he continued his clarinet studies under the GI Bill at the Paris Conservatory. He played the saxophone and toured Europe with numerous influential Jazz Musicians as well as playing in small groups he formed.

In 1955, Mr. Allen began performing for famed jazz artist Sun Ra (Herman Poole Blount) and his popular group “The Arkestra”. Since Sun Ra’s passing in 1993, John Gilmoremled the band until his passing in 1995. Soon after Mr. Allen led the Arkestra and helped maintain its status as an elite jazz performing group, and under his guidance, has helped the Arkestra record numerous albums as their bandleader.

Pianist, composer, and artist Jason Moran has released 18 solo recordings with Blue Note Records and Yes Records. In 2022, he was inducted into the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and was recently awarded the 2023 German Jazz Prize for Pianist of the Year. His latest recording, From the Dancehall to the Battlefield, is devoted to the music of World War I jazz pioneer and organizer James Reese Europe.

Moran has collaborated with several contemporary artists, such as Joan Jonas, Kara Walker, Stan Douglas, Theaster Gates, and Remy Jungman.

Alicia Hall Moran, mezzo-soprano, is a multi-dimensional artist performing and composing between the genres of Opera, Art, Theater, and Jazz. Ms. Moran made her Broadway debut in the Tony-winning revival The Gershwins' Porgy and Bess, starring as Bess on the celebrated 20-city American tour. "Moran finds the truth of the character in her magnificent voice," Los Angeles Times.

A unique vocalist performing across the fine arts and in her own contemporary work, Ms. Moran's creativity has been nurtured by, and tapped by celebrated artists including Carrie Mae Weems, Adam Pendleton, Joan Jonas, Ragnar Kjartansson, Simone Leigh, Liz Magic Laser, curator Okwui Enwezor, and choreographer Bill T. Jones, musicians like Bill Frisell, Charles Lloyd, and the band Harriet Tubman, diverse writers from Simon Schama to Carl Hancock Rux, as well as institutions at the forefront of art and ideas worldwide.

John Schreiber is an Emmy and Tony award-winning producer who has served as the President and CEO of the New Jersey Performing Arts Center (NJPAC) in Newark since 2011 with a personal mission to make NJPAC a "civic anchor" for the city of Newark, focusing on community engagement and diverse programming.

“Since it opened in 1997, NJPAC has been a critical economic and cultural engine for the state, especially Newark. Schreiber, hired in 2011, has built on this foundation, not only drawing diverse, top talents, but also making new connections through partnerships and outreach — and the center’s growing real estate footprint.

An arts omnivore: Schreiber has a robust background in the arts that began with jazz. He got his start in the music industry producing jazz festivals and being a road manager, including touring with jazz piano great Oscar Peterson. “It was Oscar, me, and a Bösendorfer. That was it. It was very simple.”

His work as a festival producer taught him the business of putting on shows from the ground up. In his 30 years in New York City, he expanded his repertoire, gaining an appreciation for all art forms. He produced New Yorker Literary and Arts Festival and arts education programs with trumpeter Wynton Marsalis.

When he moved to Los Angeles in 2007, he become executive vice president of Participant Media, the global entertainment company responsible for such films as “Waiting for Superman” and “An Inconvenient Truth.”” - Read more at NJ Spotlight News

KEN KIMERLING & GAMMY MILLER

Ken & Gammy have been longtime supporters of The Jazz Gallery and champions of musicians and the world of Jazz for decades- to say that we couldn’t have done what we’ve been doing for so long without them both is an understatement. Ken has been a member of the board of directors at TJG since 2013, supporting us with sound advice and financial commitment through some very lean times, while Gammy Miller has been our volunteer Gallery curator since 2013 also, and that just scratches the surface: they both always have time for helping out at The Jazz Gallery in whatever capacity is needed. The couple moved to Greenwich Village in the 70s to be close to the music they love dearly. They are staples at any place where jazz is happening and everyone knows them to be incredible supporters of the artists.

“When I think of Ken & Gammy, aside from the actual work they have put into The Jazz Gallery, I think of Gammy's distinct laughter and Ken's gentleness and how their presence always seems to put a smile on everyone's face not only at The Jazz Gallery, but any place they frequent.” - Rio Sakairi, TJG Artistic Director.

Kenneth Kimerling has 45 years of civil rights litigation experience and has argued three cases in the U.S. Supreme Court. Joining AALDEF in 1997, he developed a docket of employment and labor cases on behalf of Asian immigrant workers in the restaurant, garment, and hotel industries and brought the first wage and hour cases on behalf of restaurant take-out delivery workers in New York City. He was previously Associate Counsel of the Puerto Rican Legal Defense & Education Fund (now known as Latino Justice PRLDEF). In his 24 years at PRLDEF, he litigated a broad range of civil rights cases including employment discrimination, housing discrimination, educational equity, and voting rights cases. He has served as an adjunct professor at Fordham Law School. Ken is a graduate of Columbia Law School. 

Gammy Miller is an artist whose drawings are accumulations of marks, stitching and collage that reflect her interests in natural history including marine biology as well as the concern that we are on the precipice of a much diminished biosphere. Her work has been exhibited in small group shows throughout the U.S. and in Botswana as well as solo exhibitions including the Hudson Opera House Gallery and The Courthouse Gallery in Lake George, New York; it is also included in the collections of The Roberson Museum, Binghamton, NY and The Decorative Arts Museum in Little Rock, Arkansas.  After she received her degree in Languages from Adelphi University, Gammy moved to Manhattan where she has lived in the West Village for 50 years and in the last 10 years has had the honor of working as volunteer horticultural assistant on the High Line.