Justin Gray has built a reputation of being an accomplished dance accompanist, working as a rehearsal and class pianist for major dance institutions throughout the Midwest. Justin holds degrees in both ballet performance and piano performance from Indiana University. Justin has been a resident of Grand Rapids, Michigan since April of 2020 where he has built a thriving studio of piano students. Apart from teaching, Justin also works as a pianist for the Grand Rapids Ballet and serves as the Vice-President of the Piano Teachers’ Forum of Grand Rapids.

Ralston Bowles’ musical history begins with his father, who played the fiddle, guitar and banjo in the Appalachia hills before he moved to Gary, Indiana, to work the steel mills. Ralston’s first professional job was at the age of 16 when he was asked to make up one of his story songs for a neighborhood party.

After graduation he found himself playing in clubs and coffeehouses throughout the Midwest, making up songs about the people and places he visited. His songs have been performed and recorded by Caroline Aiken, Peter Mulvey and Rachael Davis. He has received awards and recognition from American Songwriter Magazine, NSAI/CMT, Unisong, the International Song Competition and Mountain Stage New Song, among many others. As a Kerrville New Folk finalist, he opened for such artists as Shawn Colvin, T-Bone Burnett and Arlo Guthrie.

His first recording, “Carwreck Conversations,” was produced with Marvin Etzioni and earned him triple Jammy Awards locally and recognition as best musician in West Michigan by Grand Rapids magazine. It also led him to his first commercial release through Judy Collins’ Wildflower Records.

His second album Rally at the Texas Hotel also won best album of the year and features a duet with Bob Dylan band leader, Charlie Sexton. He has become a bi-annual favorite at Boston’s Club Passim. Ralston’s newest album “Little Miracles” features 35 top-drawer musicians and was produced by Phil Madeira, the band leader for Emmy Lou Harris. Ralston recorded his parts while in the midst of chemotherapy treating colon cancer. Tracks were recorded in numerous states and assembled in Nashville. He is currently in remission and glad to be back out playing again after a long two year break.

Pianist, composer and arranger Steve Talaga has been performing professionally for more than 40 years. He was chosen as the West Michigan Jazz Society’s 2008 Jazz Musician of the Year, and has released eight compact discs under his own name: “Mirage;” “Yin-Yang;” “Basement Alchemy” (which was chosen as best release of 2000 by Lazaro Vega at WBLV-FM); “Two Worlds;”  “Contemplating the Heavens” (a companion to the poetry chapbook of the same title by Linda Nemec Foster); “Heartside Sketches” (featuring a suite commissioned by MAJIC of Grand Rapids) which won the WYCE-FM “Jammie” Award for Best Jazz Album of 2010; “The Shapeshifter,” which includes “Deadman’s Hill,” for which Talaga won third place in the 2011 International Songwriting Competition (jazz category); and, most recently, “June Balloon.”  Most of his CDs are available on iTunes, Spotify, and other streaming services.  To purchase hard copies, send him an email at:  talagamail@comcast.net.

Talaga’s most recent project is the band, Lifeline, featuring him (keys), his son, Stephen Talaga (guitar), Caleb Elzinga (sax), and Larry Ochiltree (drums).  Their debut CD, “No Worries,” dropped in October, 2019.
Talaga is also co-leader of “Mind’s Eye,” a jazz quartet with four compact discs to its credit (“Angst for the Spoiler,” “Seasons,” “Lucky Nine,” and “Children of the Glacier”). Talaga has performed with “Mind’s Eye” at many venues and jazz festivals, including the Montreux Jazz Festival in Switzerland and the Montreux-Detroit Jazz Festival in Michigan. Music from “Seasons” has been featured on the nationally syndicated public radio program, “Jazz After Hours.”
Talaga is also pianist for many other small and large jazz ensembles and is featured on recordings with several of them. He has performed with many jazz greats, including Kenny Wheeler, Terry Lynne Carrington, Wes Anderson, Marcus Printup, Michael Brecker, Randy Brecker, Bob Berg, Adam Nussbaum, Wycliffe Gordon, Ric Margitza, Bobby Shew, Maria Schneider, Marvin Stamm, Denis DiBlazio, Jon Faddis, Claudio Roditi, Mark Elf, Johnny Bassett, Greg Abate, Walt Weiskopf, Phil Woods, the Tommy Dorsey Orchestra, the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, and the Grand Rapids Symphony Orchestra.

Among the many composition commissions he has received are several from MAJIC (Musical Arts for Justice in the Community), Grand Valley State University, Grand Rapids Poet Laureate Linda Nemec Foster, and the West Michigan Lakeshore Jazz Connection.
Talaga has recently retired from his position as an adjunct professor of music at Hope College in Holland, Michigan. He has also been a member of the music faculties at Aquinas College, Grand Valley State University, Cornerstone University, and Grace Bible College, teaching courses in jazz studies and music theory/composition. Talaga is frequently a faculty member at the Aquinas College Summer Jazz Camp and Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp.
Talaga received a Bachelor of Music Degree in Jazz Studies, Magna Cum Laude, and a Master of Music Degree in Composition from Western Michigan University. He received a Bachelor of Arts in Broadcast and Cinematic Arts from Central Michigan University.
As a student in 1993, Talaga won a Downbeat Magazine award in the jazz composition category. He has won outstanding soloist awards from the Elmhurst, Aquinas, Ohio State University, and Notre Dame Jazz Festivals; and awards for jazz composition from the Notre Dame and Montreux-Detroit Jazz Festivals. He received honorable mention in the 1995 Billboard Magazine Song Writing Contest, Jazz Category. From 1982 – 1989, Talaga was a producer and on-air personality at CMU Public Radio in Mt. Pleasant, Michigan.