Tomoko Iwamoto, violin, started playing the violin at age 6. Having a mother who was one of the early Suzuki Method pupils, Tomoko soon became one of the most advanced students in the studio. Along with solo repertoire study, she also enjoyed playing with orchestras and chamber ensembles. After graduating from Osaka Kyoiku-dai Tennoji High School, Tomoko moved to Tokyo. She majored in electrical engineering at Keio University, but spent a lot of time playing jazz saxophone and singing in the R&B band. She graduated from college in 1988, and worked as an engineer in Tokyo for a year before moved to the U.S. to pursue her career as a musician.

Tomoko was a scholarship student at Berklee College of Music (1990-1993), where she studied with Sharon Leventhal (classical violin), Matt Glaser (jazz violin), Herb Pomeroy, Greg Hopkin and Ken Pullig (jazz arranging and composition). Being a “jazzy” violinist, Tomoko has performed with groups representing styles from classical, rock, pop to jazz to world music, demonstrating a great sense of improvisation. Tomoko leads a gypsy jazz quartet “440” and is also a member and composer/arranger of J-Way (jazz string quartet) and Axis Electric Strings (Top 40 songs). She provided arrangements and performed as a soloist with Mood Swings Orchestra (jazz big band), and wrote many grade school level arrangements for Newton All-City Orchestra. Besides being a jazz musician, Tomoko continues to perform classical music with Plymouth Philharmonic, Lexington Symphony, New England Philharmonic, Woodvale String Quartet, just to name a few.

Mark Chenevert, clarinet, has been playing clarinet and tenor sax in the Boston area for some forty years now,working with various projects including Limbo Race (1982 WBCN Rumble winners), Willie Alexander, and Hypnotic Clambake. Currently, besides 440, he works with the Hot Tamale Brass Band, David Champagne, Bertrand Laurence and others. You can find out more by visiting his website: www.markchenevert.com.

Jack Soref, guitar, graduate of Berklee College of Music, became captivated by the music of Django Reinhardt after attending the International Django Reinhardt festival in Samois-sur-Seine France in 2002. Jack spent half a year living in Paris France in 2011, where he jammed with the legendary guitarist Boulou Ferré and violinist Florin Niculescu. Jack can be seen regularly in the greater Boston area playing Django's music, with a myriad of local musicians. Out in the wider world, he has performed as an accompanist for Jazz Manouche luminaries like Joscho Stephan, Tim Kliphius, Gonzalo Bergara, Jason Anick, Olli Soikkeli, Adrien Moignard, Ben Powell, Aurélien Bouly, and Titi Bamberger.

Jim Guttmann, upright bass, has been actively performing for 40 years in many musical idioms. As a founding member of the Klezmer Conservatory Band, he has toured the world and has performed & recorded with Itzhak Perlman and Joel Grey, worked with Richard Stolzman and Dan Stepner he was part of the Grammy Award winning ensemble on Yehudi Wyner's “The Mirror.” In 2010 he released his first album as a leader, “Bessarabian Breakdown” a culmination of his experience to date, playing traditional klezmer music with small and large ensembles, and creating fusions of klezmer with traditional Afro-Cuban guajira and guaguanco, a nod to Tower of Power and calypso, a swinging jazz trio and a brief hip hop interlude. Find out more at www.jimguttmann.com.