English expatriate Rod Poole is known for his improvisation work on acoustic guitar. A founding member of the Oxford Improvisor’s Cooperative, Poole has also performed with Derek Bailey and in private collaborations with Keith Rowe of AMM.

Josie Roth and Michael Intriere are founding members of Fat and Fucked Up, who gained a reputation for performing experimental classical music at punk shows starting in the 1980s.

Rick Potts wrests strange and amazing sounds from surreal uses and abuses of an assortment of instruments, objects and toys including musical saw, electric toothbrush, old turntables, analog synthesizer and electric guitar. A founder of the LA Free Music Society, he has performed with Airway, Human Hands, Steaming Coils, Debt of Nature, Gothic Hut, and The Monique Experience.

Heather Lockie is a violist, composer and teaching artist based in Los Angeles. She teaches improvisation on violin/viola, classical viola and piano. In her own work, she plays viola, banjo, paints, sings songs and writes folk music.

Nels Cline began playing guitar around the age of 12, when his twin brother, Alex, began learning the drums. By the time Nels reached his 20s, he was heavily involved in LA’s improvisational community and, in 1978, appeared on his first recording, Openhearted by multi-instrumentalist Vinny Golia. He has gone on to appear on over 100 releases, lead several of his own groups — including the Nels Cline Trio, and the sextet that followed, Destroy All Nels Cline — and tour internationally with a variety of bands.