Born and raised in Detroit, MI, Rachel Anthony, also known as “Chop Suey”, began playing drums at the age of 13. Her sound is influenced by Gospel music, contemporary classical music, Hip-hop, Funk, Rock/Metal, R&B Soul, and Jazz. Some of her favorite drummers include Karriem Riggins, Questlove, Nate Smith, Chris Dave, Cindy Blackman, and John Bonham. Rachel attend Detroit High School of Arts where she studied orchestra, symphonic band, jazz band, concert band, marching band, music theory, dance, and visual arts. Chop Suey composes and arranges music, has studio experience in recording drums and percussion. Chop Suey is an all-around team player when it comes to being in a band and has even help start a few in Detroit from the ground up. It wasn’t until 2020 that she began creating a clear plan and path for her musical journey in Chicago, Illinois. Rachel began seeking opportunity and started making goals to grow as a musician in the Chicagoland and the north/north west suburbs of Chicago. Chop Suey Began working at as a Drum Instructor and Show Director at The School of Rock in Arlington Heights, Illinois in August of 2021. She spent time planning on how she will make an impact in her career and how she will build connections in a new city, while strengthening her connections and continuing to build her music projects and book shows in Detroit. Since 2020, Rachel has been writing her own drum method and curriculum. She transcribes her own music manuscripts and makes her own lessons. Rachel Chop Suey’s goals are to become a highly recommended recording session drummer/percussionist as well as to record her own albums. She has always dreamed of playing Internationally in large stadiums, cruise ships, and resorts with her own bands and orchestras. Success to her is building solid relationships, maintaining a solid reputation, learning from mistakes and failures, being a profound teacher and director, to experience consistent growth in every aspect of life. The only life that Rachel has ever wanted to live, was one stable by way of earning income, credit and royalties and traveling the world making great impressions by way of music; drums.

Alexandria “Brinae Ali” Bradley was born and raised in Flint, Michigan and is an interdisciplinary artist who believes in using the power of the arts to transform the conditions of the human spirit. 

Brinae has served as the artistic director of Tapology, Inc. in Flint, MI, Fourth Wall Arts Salon, and Sound and Movement, LLC in Philadelphia. She has also partnered and served as a teaching artist with organizations such as Ping Chong and Company, NJPAC, Moving History in Baltimore, and the Apollo Theater Education Department.  She has also received awards for Best Short Play at the Downtown Urban Theater Festival for her one woman show “Steps” and the Vox Populi Independence Music Award for “Destination Forever: Vol.1 EP.”  Her broadway and off-broadway experience include Shuffle Along and STOMP.  

Currently, Brinae is a lecturer at Johns Hopkins Peabody Conservatory, co-creator of a work in progress with trumpeter Sean Jones called “Dizzy Spellz”, a member of the Baltimore Jazz Collective, and cultural ambassador for diplomacy through the lense of Hip Hop culture as an artist in residence with Next Level-USA  in partnership with the U.S. Department of State Education and Cultural Affairs, the University of North Carolina, and the Meridian International Center. 

Priya Fink is a Chicago-based flutist, originally from Houston, Texas. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in Flute Performance with a minor in Communication and Media from DePaul University. Priya is currently the flute teacher at Sistema Ravinia in Chicago’s Austin neighborhood as a part of Ravinia’s Reach, Teach, Play education program. Before starting in this role, for two years Priya taught flute with Through the Staff, an organization that provides students in grades 2-12 with free music lessons. An experienced orchestral player, Priya has played in various musical ensembles including the DePaul Symphony Orchestra, Music School Festival Orchestra at the Chautauqua Institute (MSFO), DePaul’s Baroque Ensemble, Sewanee Symphony, DePaul Concert Orchestra, Cumberland Orchestra, DePaul Wind Ensemble, DePaul’s Ensemble 20+, Virtuosi of Houston, and the Interlochen Philharmonic. In addition to her orchestral work, Priya enjoys chamber music and was recently a part of the Madeline Island Chamber Music Program. A graduate of the High School for the Performing and Visual Arts, Priya has been involved in various creative projects through collaboration with other art forms such as visual art and theater. Priya is currently an Associate Member of the Civic Orchestra of Chicago and freelances around the Chicago area. In her free time, she enjoys spending time outside, reading, and making pottery.

Born in south FL and raised in Arizona, Karim has had a passion for music his whole life. He’s been performing human beatboxing, lyricism, and producing music for over 20 years. He discovered his passion for teaching in 2005 when he began working with developmentally disabled children and adults. In 2017 Karim began teaching at Booker Middle School’s afterschool program. His dynamic skills and ability to build confidence in students through his art forms led to him becoming a part time instructor at both Booker Middle and Booker Highschool, for several years before changing directions. He now performs his music regularly around southwest Florida and is a teaching artist at a local private school in sarasota as well as doing residencies as a teaching artist at various schools in the Tampa Bay Area. 

Jonathan Marks began playing drums at the age of 5 after taking over a blue-sparkled Rogers kit his older brother received as a gift for Christmas. Before becoming a professional musician, he ventured through an obsession with heavy metal and Lars Ulrich as a youth, jazz, Afro-Cuban rhythms, Jeff Buckley, and J-Dilla in high school, and everything in between as a music composition and theory major at Princeton University. He has since moved to Chicago where he performs regularly with the city's best rock, pop, latin, and jazz musicians.  He co-founded the electro-synth-pop outfit Hey Champ, whose highlight performances include the main stage at Lollapalooza and tours with Lupe Fiasco and the Sounds. Jonathan took the throne as drummer for Grammy-nominated, acid-jazz sensation Liquid Soul for 3 years and is the first-call drummer for the Chicago Diamond Trio, winner of the 2014 Chicago Music Award in Jazz.  His latest production/drumming project is Monakr, an electronic pop act signed to Embassy of Music in Germany that released their debut EP in January 2016. That same year, he would begin a 4-year stint with Minneapolis-based pop artist, Dessa, touring across North America in support of her album Sound the Bells. Jonathan embraces the electronic side of music as well, working as a DJ/producer under the moniker Rogue Vogue.  He has spun in clubs throughout the US and Europe and held residencies at such venues as Soho House Chicago and the Waldorf Astoria. Jonathan has channeled these passions for percussion and production into teaching outlets, conducting classes as a teaching artist for Columbia College's Community Schools Program over the last 12 years. Jonathan has performed throughout the U.S. and in Canada, Europe, Russia, Brazil, the Caribbean, and Mexico. He has won a number of awards including an "Outstanding Performance" award from Downbeat magazine and the 2005 Ira Sachs Memorial Prize for Outstanding Musical Performance from Princeton University.

Roy McGrath is a Chicago based tenor saxophonist, composer and bandleader. Born and raised in San Juan, Puerto Rico and educated in Boston, New Orleans and Chicago, Roy brings to bear these diverse influences in his playing and composing. In addition to leading and recording with his own jazz ensembles, he is a member of several others and an in-demand player in the city’s jazz, funk, Latin jazz and salsa scenes. He has led international tours to Mexico, Singapore, Korea and China. As a composer and arranger, Roy is firmly in the jazz tradition, but his Latin American heritage is an ever-present mind set, leading to wholly original works that are a true expression of who he is. His plans for 2017 include recording and releasing a new album of original compositions, Remembranzas, and leading two special big band tribute projects honoring legendary Puerto Rican composer Rafael Hernández and Dizzy Gillespie’s United Nations Orchestra.

Roy sang in school choirs before picking up the saxophone at age 16. After attending the Berklee College of Music Summer Workshop, he earned a full scholarship to attend Berklee’s five-week Summer Performance Program. Back in Puerto Rico, he honed his improvisational skills performing with jazz pianist and Beach Boys alumni Carli Muñoz.

Upon high school graduation, Roy was awarded a scholarship to Loyola University in New Orleans, where he studied under Tony Dagradi (saxophonist for Astral Project) and composer/arranger John Mahoney. He graduated in 2009 with BM in Jazz Performance. After graduation, Roy extended his time in New Orleans, performing in clubs, concert halls and the streets with a variety of musicians. He made three appearances at the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival and an appearance at the New Orleans French Quarter Fest.

The next stop on his musical journey was Northwestern University in Chicago, where he graduated with a master’s degree in Music, studying under Victor Goines, saxophonist for Jazz at Lincoln Center and Director of Jazz Studies at Northwestern University. Graduating in 2014, McGrath decided to put down roots in Chicago because of both its historic role in the development of jazz and the presence of a large and vibrant jazz & Latin music community in which he could continue to pursue his vision. He returned to Northwestern’s Pick-Staiger Concert Hall in 2016 to perform with Victor Goines and Branford Marsalis in Goines’ orchestral composition Crescent City.

He released his debut CD as a leader, Martha, in 2014 with a quartet formed of fellow Northwestern grads Gustavo Cortiñas, Kitt Lyles and Joaquin Garcia, all bandleaders in their own right, and returned the favor by joining their ensembles: Snapshot (Cortiñas), Real Talk Collective (Lyles) and Rhythm Convergence (Garcia). The Roy McGrath Quartet was featured in the Jazz Institute of Chicago’s NextGEN concert series in 2015. Later that year, the Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events (DCASE) awarded McGrath a grant to take the quartet on a month long tour of Mexico. Also in 2015, The Roy McGrath Latin Jazz Quintet performed at the Chicago Latin Jazz Festival.

He also launched the Julia al Son de Jazz project in September 2015, commissioned by Chicago’s Segundo Ruiz Belvis Cultural Center, where he works as director of the youth Afro-Caribbean Jazz Ensemble and collaborates with folkloric ensembles. The project used the writings of revered Puerto Rican poet Julia de Burgos as a springboard for new compositions that included spoken word recitations of her poetry. Its debut was followed by successive performances throughout Chicago including three dates for the Chicago Park District’s Night Out in the Parks summer concert series in 2016. McGrath has since used ideas developed during that period in his latest endeavor, Remembranzas, a new batch of original compositions that incorporate folkloric bomba rhythms and other Puerto Rican elements in a jazz framework.

2016 also saw McGrath joining alto saxophonist Miguel Zenón and traditional music ensemble Bomba con Buya for Folclórico: An Exploration of Jazz and Afro-Puerto Rican Music.

His current quintet consists of bassist Kitt Lyles, keyboardist Bill Cessna, drummer Jonathan Wenzel and percussionist Victor Junito Gonzales. Roy also records and performs with the Four Star Brass Band, Benjamin Scholz Quartet, Victor Bastidas Ensemble, Fatbook, Afinca'o, the Willy Torres Salsa Orchestra and many others.

Roy has taught masterclasses on improvisation at Dulwich College International in Shanghai, Suzhou, and Beijing, at the Universidad del Turabo in Puerto Rico and at Las Musas de Papa Sibarita in Mexico City.

Pharlon Randle is the visionary behind Bangtown Productions & Recordings and the nonprofit BPR Studio on the GO. For nearly a decade, he balanced his role as a school bus driver in Mt. Morris with managing studio sessions from home, producing around 60 albums for local punk, rap, and R&B artists. His career took a pivotal turn in 2006 when he was invited to teach music production at Swartz Creek Alternative Middle School, leading to the creation of BPR Studio on the GO. Since then, the program has trained over 15,000 students in Genesee, Kent, and Kalamazoo counties, with many going on to produce their own music or pursue careers as artists. BPR Studio on the GO is a dynamic nonprofit initiative founded by Pharlon Randle, dedicated to providing hands-on music and video production training to students in Genesee, Kent, and Kalamazoo counties. The program brings a fully equipped mobile studio directly to schools, community centers, and other venues, making professional-grade production accessible to youth who might not otherwise have the opportunity to explore their creative talents. Through BPR Studio on the GO, students learn the technical aspects of music production, including recording, mixing, and mastering tracks. They also gain experience in video production, from shooting and editing to producing finished projects. Randle's success is rooted in his early experiences in a funk band and mentorship from community musicians like Gordon Strozier of Ready for the World and engineer Bernard Terry. One of his proudest achievements is his partnership with the Boys and Girls Club in Flint, which has supported Studio on the GO since 2011. Despite challenges like establishing a board of directors, Randle continues to expand his knowledge and overcome obstacles, driven by his commitment to fostering community-driven music education and mentoring young aspiring artists.

Clifford Sykes was born and raised in Kansas City, Missouri. The youngest of seven children, he is a graduate of Father Flanagan's Boys Town High School (Nebraska). Clifford received both a BA Degree in Music Education and a BS Degree in Mass communication from Lincoln University of Missouri. Clifford earned the MA Degree in Music Education from the University of Wisconsin (Madison) as a student of Dr. Portia Maultsby, and has done extensive work toward the PhD. in Ethnomusicology (African American Musics) from the University of Pittsburgh where he studied with Nigerian Great Chief Fela Sowande, Dr. Nathan Davis and Dr. Kwabena Nketia. Clifford has an extensive (40 years) career as an educator in the Public Schools of Missouri, and Michigan where he has served as Band Director, Department Head (Music), Lead Teacher for Fine Arts, Assistant to the Supervisor, and on the Curriculum Development Committee. His Middle school and High School Concert, Jazz and Marching Bands have traveled extensively winning many awards.

In addition to his Musical Life, Clifford is also an experienced Thespian, having acted in numerous stage plays and movies throughout his career, most notably (as an Extra) 'Real Steel' in 2011 and 'OZ The Great and Powerful', 2013. Clifford is a member of the Omega Psi Phi Fraternity, Inc., he is Treasurer for The Association for the Study of African Life and History (ASALH), serves on the Board of The Consortium for International Management Policy And Development (CIMPAD) and is a charter member of his Community Block Club in Flint, Michigan. He currently serves as a member of The New McCree Theater Repertory Group and teaches Music and Theater Classes in after school programs both at New McCree and at Beecher High School. Clifford A. Sykes is a Teacher, Lecturer, World Traveler, Actor, Musician, Photographer/Videographer, a Lover of Knowledge and World History, Documentaries and The Power of MUSIC.