Heavily influenced by jazz, as well as the traditional music of Ghana, Indonesia, India and the Balkans, their music is difficult to place into a specific genre. This, along with their unique variable instrumentation makes for a dependably intriguing collection of sounds and timbres. Chord Four won first place in the first international  2017 CONAD Jazz Contest and has performed at the Umbria Jazz and Umbria Winter Jazz Festivals as well as many jazz venues throughout the Western United States. The members of the ensemble are, in score order: Andrew Conrad on tenor saxophone, clarinet, bass clarinet, and melodica, Brandon Sherman on trumpet, flugelhorn, and melodica, Emilio Terranova on double bass, and Colin Woodford on drums, cymbals, and melodica.

ANDREW CONRAD Tenor Sax/Clarinet/Bass Clarinet/Melodica

Andrew Conrad is a single reed artist residing in Los Angeles, CA. He began studying clarinet at age 10 on the Central Coast of California, later picking up the tenor saxophone in high school. Growing up Andrew studied traditional Western Classical repertoire on the clarinet and went on to study Jazz and Improvisation through college. He has also spent time studying the music of Ghana, Eastern Europe, Bali, India, Cuba and more. He has studied privately with Charlie Haden, Vinny Golia, Larry Koonse, Peter Epstein, Ralph Alessi, David Ake, Paul Novros, James Miley, David Roitstein and Alfred Ladzekpo. Andrew is a co-leader of the improvisational jazz quartet Chord Four, plays regularly with the balkan funk band Orkestar Meze, and is the leader of his own group called A Conrad Trio. He was a 2011 LA weekly theater award winner for best original music and has performed and composed music with Poor Dog Group, Vinny Golia, Wild Up, Angel City Jazz Festival, Jon Armstrong Jazz Orchestra and theBABAorchestra.

BRANDON SHERMAN Trumpet/Flugelhorn/Melodica

Brandon Sherman, a native of Southern California, has been performing music for over 25 years. He started trumpet at age 10, and began studying privately with such names as Bobby Shew, Leslie Drayton, John Fumo, Howie Shear, Ralph Alessi, and other New York names like Brad Shepik, John Hollenbeck, Jason Moran, Ben Wendel, Shane Endsley and Jim Black. In 2002, Brandon moved to Reno, Nevada where he made a name for himself as a freelance musician, leader and sideman in a variety of jazz and improvisational music ensembles. While in Reno, Brandon developed a love for composition and began writing and arranging music for Brass Quintet, Jazz Small Ensemble and Jazz Big Bands. Brandon has studied with Charlie Haden, David Roitstein, Larry Koonse, Vinny Golia, and Wadada Leo Smith among others. He studied music from Ghana, Indonesian, India and the Balkan region of Eastern Europe. In 2010, Brandon was a recipient of the ASCAP Young Jazz Composer’s Award. Brandon currently resides in the Reno/Northern Nevada Area; he continues to lead an active performance and recording schedule in Reno as well as in Los Angeles, New York and Europe.

EMILIO TERRANOVA Double Bass

Emilio Terranova’s first introduction to jazz was through the music of Charles Mingus which led to an immediate fascination and love of all things gritty and improvised. He studied jazz bass under the guidance of Gary Pratt, Darek Oleszkiewicz, Putter Smith and Charlie Haden. Emilio has recording credits on over 12 recordings, and performs alongside such greats as Larry Koonse, David Roitstein, Kim Richmond, John Daversa, Imani Gonzalez, Gary Fukushima, Tina Raymond, Nick Mancini, Aaron Serfaty, Joey Sellers and countless others at top jazz venues in Los Angeles and throughout the Western United States. His current creative projects include Chord Four, Trevor Anderies Quintet, A Conrad Trio, theBABAorchestra, and Michael Mull Octet.

COLIN WOODFORD Drums/Cymbals/Melodica

Colin Woodford is a composer, drummer, bandleader, and improviser from Los Angeles. He plays most regularly with modern jazz band ‘Chord Four,’ who won the first international Conad Jazz Competition, and the singer-songwriter trio ‘Toh Kay’ which has toured the U.S., Europe and Australia. Solo projects include a solo amplified cymbal improvisation, a house concert where the house is the instrument, a web series of ‘other drum solos,’ and the solo drum record ‘Rectangle Music.’ In 2011 he was an Arteles fellow in Haukijärvi, Finland. Instructors include Joe LaBarbera, John Riley, Jeff Hamilton, Peter Erskine, Bernie Dresel, Jerry Steinholtz, Raynor Carroll, and his father, Peter Woodford. He has a BFA from CalArts and an MM from UNLV, where he won a Downbeat Magazine Outstanding Performance Award in 2016. He is an active educator including published articles in Modern Drummer magazine, and both records and mixes acoustic music. Projects as a bandleader include ‘Practical Compassion’ for mixed ensembles, ‘Field Notes’ for piano trio, and ‘Human-Sized Music’ for horn octet.