The Staple - Russian-American Jazz Project

Mark Shim - tenor-sax, New York,
Alexey Podymkin - piano, Moscow,
Youriy Galkin - bass, Moscow,
Colin Stranahan - drums, New York.

Born in Kingston, Jamaica, saxophonist Mark Shim moved to Canada then later settled in Richmond, Virginia. He started on saxophone in seventh grade, graduating from high school in 1991 and attending Virginia Commonwealth University and William Paterson College. In 1994 he moved to Brooklyn, where he played and recorded with Hamiett Bluiett in Harlem. He then played with Mose Allison, Betty Carter, Greg Osby, and the Mingus Big Band. Shim's debut recording Mind Over Matter (Blue Note, 1998) was followed by New Directions , a young group project, that included Osby, Jason Moran, and Stefon Harris and then his second recording as a leader, the outstanding Turbulent Flow, both released on Blue Note in 2000. With a unique deep timbre and chops that range from swinging bop, uncut funk, to avant-garde, Shim continues to perform, record, and tour with artists such as Delfeayo Marsalis, Carmen Lundy, The Headhunters, Michele Rosewoman, Liberty Ellman, and Steve Lehman.

Colin Stranahan has had a passion for music since he was a very young child. The son of a music/jazz educator, he has always been surrounded by music, most specifically jazz. His interest developed when he sat down at a drum set at age eight and was able to play. From that time forward, music has been his life focus and passion. He has sought out and followed every opportunity to learn about, listen to, play and write music.

Colin has received multiple recognitions and awards including In 2005 he was chosen to be a member of the Clifford Brown/Stan Getz Fellowship Jazz Combo who performed at IAJE in Long Beach and Miami, Florida as part of the National Foundation of the Advancement of the Arts honors. He was also a recipient of the prestigious Betty Carter Fellowship Residency program at the Kennedy Center, which recognizes outstanding young adult jazz composers. He is also a recipient of the Presidential Scholar in the Arts Award. Colin spent a year at the Brubeck Institute where he worked and studied with greats like, Greg Tardy, Lewis Nash, Matt Penman, Brian Lynch, Ravi Coltrane, and many more). He studied in New York, where he attended the New School University and had the great pleasure of studying with Ari Hoenig and Nasheet Waits. He is currently studying at the prestigious Monk Institute in New Orleans, where Terence Blanchard, Herbie Hancock, and Wayne Shorter are directing him. While at the institute he has worked with, John Scofeild, Steve Coleman, Kurt Rosenwinkel, Lewis Nash, Benny Golsan, Ron Carter, Danilo Perez, Nicholas Payton, Brian Blade, Dave Holland, and many others.

Colin currently performs, and tours with such artists as; Maria Neckam, Ben van Gelder, Lucas Pino, Brian Lynch, and David Binney.

Alex Podymkin grown in Barnaul, and then for many years lived and worked in Novosibirsk, and finally, since 2003, he is on a Moscow jazz scene. One of the best pianists of the Russian jazz scene, Podymkin worked with artists of a wide stylistic range, among them David Goloshchekin and Igor Butman and Valery Ponomarev, and Arkady Shilkloper, and many American musicians, for part of which Alex is an organizer of successful concert tours - it should be mentioned first of all different years touring with saxophonist Abraham Burton, trumpeter Jason Palmer and drummer Rudy Royston.

Bassist Yuri Galkin was educated at the jazz department of the Royal Academy of Music in London for seven years living and studying in the UK has performed with trumpeters ensemble of Abrem Wilson (USA) and Gerard Presenser (UK), trombonist Wycliffe Gordon (USA), violinist Nigel Kennedy ( UK), and others. With his own nonet (an ensemble of nine musicians) Galkin recorded album in London «Nine Of A Kind» (F-IRE Presents) and this material has toured across the UK with the support of Arts Council England grant. In 2012, "Jazz.Ru" wrote that "having worked on the British scene, Yuri Galkin returned to Russia as a master. And that master combines knowledge of traditional jazz idioms /style, and the pursuit of originality in this idiom. "