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Laurent De Wilde, the Mid-Atlantic piano player of the year, is a graduate of the Ecole Normale Supérieure. This school and a few others like it are called Les Grandes Ecoles and they are comparable to the Ivy League. They produce the elite in this country. And so it seemed appropriate to ask De Wilde: "What's a nice guy like you doing in a métier like this?" He replied with a very American have-a-nice-day croon: "It seemed like a good idea at the time."

Read more about Laurent de Wilde on Last.fm.

Hutton is an established pianist on the London Jazz scene. Over the last 10 years he has worked with most of the leading figures, (Jim Mullen, Bobby Wellins, Art Themen, Pete King, Don Weller, Dave O Higgins, Dave Green. Pete Wareham.) After completing a BA Hons degree in American Studies (culminating in a semester in New York studying the sociology and development of Bebop), that Hutton decided to turn his focus fully to Jazz piano.

Jean Carne (b. March 15, 1947) is an American jazz and soul singer known for her unique vocalising and her impressive interpretative and improvisational skills. Early in her career, her name was spelled as Jean Carn.
Carne was born Sarah Jean Perkins in Columbus, Georgia and was raised in Atlanta. Her talent as a singer became evident from an early age and was encouraged by her parents. Carne's singing ability was so striking that at the age of four she became a member of her church choir. Carne went on to learn to play the piano, the clarinet and the bassoon, mastering all three.

Born in Hanau in 1895, Paul Hindemith was taught the violin as a child. He entered the Hoch'sche Konservatorium in Frankfurt am Main where he studied conducting, composition and violin under Arnold Mendelssohn and Bernhard Sekles, supporting himself by playing in dance bands and musical-comedy outfits. He led the Frankfurt Opera orchestra from 1915 to 1923 and played in the Rebner string quartet in 1921 in which he played second violin, and later the viola. In 1929 he founded the Amar Quartet, playing viola, and extensively toured Europe.