Louis Sedell Hayes was born May 31, 1937 in Detroit Michigan. He was always surrounded by music, actually first starting with the piano, before his father gave him a set of drums at age 10. A cousin noticed his talent, took him under his wing and made sure that his approach to the instrument would serve him well. And well it did, for after developing his skills in the fertile musical ground of Detroit in the 1950's with the likes of Yusef Lateef, Kenny Burrell, Doug Watkins and others, Louis found himself at the tender age of 18 in New York as a member of the great Horace Silver Quintet. His first recording with Horace, the classic Six Pieces Of Silver would introduce him to the jazz world as a new force to be acknowledged.

Louis continued to enhance his reputation with Horace from 1956 until 1959 when he joined Cannonball Adderley where he propelled the quintet to joyous musical heights and timeless recordings through 1965. He joined piano master Oscar Peterson from 1965-67 during which time he and bassist Sam Jones became known as the “dynamic duo”, recognized as the most powerful rhythm duo in jazz. Louis would rejoin Oscar in 1971 for a year.

For the next decade or more he became leader or co-leader of a series of electrifying groups which included musicians such as Freddie Hubbard, Kenny Barron, Junior Cooke, Woody Shaw and Dexter Gordon. Louis also spent several years touring with McCoy Tyner. The Louis Hayes Group with Herald Mabern and Frank Strozier culminated four years of artistry with the album; Variety Is The Spice which received five stars, truly an accomplishment during a period when his style of hard driving, “bebop” was less preferred. He continuously traveled throughout the United States, Europe and Japan making musical history wherever he performed.

Louis has played and recorded with jazz greats such as John Coltrane, Thelonious Monk, J J Johnson, Sonny Rollins, Jackie McLean, Wes Montgomery, Joe Henderson, Cedar Walton, George Benson as well as Ravi Shankar, John Lee Hooker and others.

He has had numerous honors and awards, here is just a sampling:

• The Down Beat New Star Award — 1961
• State Of Louisiana Special Recognition Award — 1986
• State Of Michigan Special Tribute — 1996
• The Society of the Culturally Concerned Appreciation Award — 1996
• The Greater Jamaican Development Corp. In Appreciation Of — 1996
• Spirit Of Detroit Award — 2004
• Life Time Achievement Award From Bakers Keyboard Lounge — 2004
• United States House Of Representatives Special Tribute — 2004

Recent engagements of note would include The Kennedy Center for the Arts, The JVC Jazz Festival, The New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, and the Chivas Jazz Festival in Brazil.

His current endeavors primarily involve the leadership of The Cannonball Legacy Band, which pays tribute to the gifted art form of that heritage and The Jazz Communicators which is Louis' desire to continue bringing exciting musical alternatives to audiences around the world.

Ilya Lushtak was born in St. Petersburg. When he was three, his family moved to San Francisco, where later he began his career of a jazz musician. In 2003 in New York he began working with the legendary saxophonist of the Count Basie Orchestra Frank Wess. This resulted not only in regular collaborative live performances, but also in recording of two albums featuring Hank Jones. Ilya Lushtak have performed and recorded with such musicians as Barry Harris, Jimmy Cobb, Louis Hayes, Melvin Rhyne, Cedar Walton, Ray Appleton, Ronnie Matthews, and Jimmy Lovelace.

Todd Herbert, hailing from the vibrant community of Evanston, Illinois (just north of Chicago), began his musical life at the age of 10 and eventually found his way to his instrument of choice – the tenor saxophone. His advanced studies in music came at the University of Miami which is considered by many to be one of the country’s foremost training grounds for jazz musicians. Todd has been playing professionally for over 15 years and had his first break with the Charles Earland Quartet. In November of 2006, Todd signed with Metropolitan Records in New York City and released his debut album “The Path to Infinity” (July of 2007). With sterling reviews of his debut CD, Metropolitan Records signed Todd on to record another CD, “The Tree of Life”, which was released on August 19, 2008. Todd is currently working on his next project with Metropolitan Records, which will be recorded in the fall of 2011. Pianist Willie Pickens calls Herbert “a young giant” and predicts that the jazz world will hear a lot more of his stylistic notes in years to come. Pickens looks forward to Herbert's occasional trips to Chicago and the opportunity to include him in any set that he has booked.

Participants of the concert:

Louis Hayes (New York) — drums

Ilya Lushtak (New York) — guitar

Nikolay Zatolochny (St. Petersburg) — bass

Andrey Zimovets (St. Petersburg) — piano