And just like in a song, Dana Maria continues her journey from Romania to the US. As a Romanian native and accomplished musician/composer, she combines her passion from her rich culture and delivers it into a beautiful repertoire of Jazz!

Being born and educated in a different culture and environment has heightened her understanding and concepts of integration and freedom in her music.

Her professional career as a musician started with taking piano lessons and singing lessons at the early age of five through High School and continuing with Music College in Romania and Wayne State University of Detroit in the US where she graduated with a Vocal Music Education degree as well as a master’s degree in educational leadership. Along with her music career Dana brought her creativity into the business world.
Owner of Muse Piano Studio LLC, which is a music studio designed for private piano and voice instruction, Dana continued to bring her knowledge and expertise to numerous students. Dana’s compositions are compiled in an album called “Expressions” that will be soon available on all social media platforms.

John “Tbone” Paxton is a veteran trombonist and vocalist professionally active in Southeastern Michigan for many years. He is the featured singer and trombone soloist with the award-winning jazz ensemble, the Planet D Nonet. John is a 2nd generation musician and a son of the “Jazz Age.” His soulful sense of swing, phrasing, and his ability to interpret and bring personal meaning to a lyric allows him to connect to his audience at an emotional level, both as a vocalist and as an instrumentalist.

Sarah D'Angelo does it with verve, class, confidence, poise, perfect intonation, spot-on phrasing, terrific dynamic, personal expression and loads of love. She's an incredible team player with her own exquisite persona." Linda Yohn, WEMU 89.1

Vibraphonist and voclisr Cary Kocher trained at the University of Michigan under Michael Udow, the late Charles Owen, and Salvatore Rabbio. Kocher plays with Latin jazz group Los Gatos and co-leads a classic vibraphone quartet with bassist Paul Keller.

Keyboard specialist Chris Codish has steadily made himself a vital part of the Detroit musical community. A perennial winner at the Detroit Music Awards over the past fourteen years, he has received multiple honors for his vocal and songwriting skills as well as his keyboard mastery...

Duncan Williamson McMillan began studying piano at age 5. His musical studies continued with Frederic Dehaven at Christ Church in Grosse Ponte, singing in the boys choir (1980-1987). From 1989-1992, Duncan studied jazz piano and music theory with James Hohmeyer, Bess Bonnier and Matt Michaels. Upon graduation from Western Michigan University in 1997 (B.M. piano/jazz studies), Duncan has established a reputation as a versatile musician, working with such diverse artists as Jon Hendricks, Aretha Franklin, Rodney Whitaker, Ira Sullivan, Marcus Belgrave, Eric Marienthal, Nelson Rangell, Chris Standring, and The Four Freshman. In demand as both a pianist and organist,

Duncan Williamson McMillan began studying piano at age 5. His musical studies continued with Frederic Dehaven at Christ Church in Grosse Ponte, singing in the boys choir (1980-1987). From 1989-1992, Duncan studied jazz piano and music theory with James Hohmeyer, Bess Bonnier and Matt Michaels. Upon graduation from Western Michigan University in 1997 (B.M. piano/jazz studies), Duncan has established a reputation as a versatile musician, working with such diverse artists as Jon Hendricks, Aretha Franklin, Rodney Whitaker, Ira Sullivan, Marcus Belgrave, Eric Marienthal, Nelson Rangell, Chris Standring, and The Four Freshman. In demand as both a pianist and organist,

Chris Plansker is a composer,pianist and session musician based in the united states. His work has been featured on various recordings,television shows and commercials globally.Trained in classical and Jazz piano Chris holds a degree in music composition from the University of North Texas. When not composing, Chris also performs on a regular basis with his group as well as the long time keyboardist with Detroit singer/songwriter Stewart Francke. It has been with Francke that Chris has arranged for Motown's Funk brothers and opened for acts such as Brian Adams, Rick Springfield and Bob Seger.

Co-leading Detroit's little big band the Planet D Nonet since 2007 has kept James O’Donnell in the limelight of the music scene in Detroit. The band has garnered seven Motor City Music Awards for Outstanding Jazz Recording or Outstanding Traditional Jazz Ensemble. The band’s “Salute to Strayhorn”, a tribute to Duke Ellington collaborator Billy Strayhorn released on Detroit Music Factory, was considered for a Grammy Award in 2017 and received airplay throughout the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom. James has toured through 13 states in the Midwest and the deep South with PD9.

Michael Zaporski creates astonishing music that merges American jazz traditions with a West-African-influenced rhythmic dialogue. Serving as the pianist for the late Detroit saxophonist Sam Sanders, Zaporski traveled to West Africa, playing and teaching jazz through the U.S. State Department.

John “Tbone” Paxton is a veteran trombonist and vocalist professionally active in Southeastern Michigan for many years. He is the featured singer and trombone soloist with the award-winning jazz ensemble...