East of Chelsea

Félix Lemerle

Félix Lemerle is a jazz guitarist, composer, and educator. He was a 2014 Fulbright Scholar and 2nd prize winner in the 2015 Śmietana Guitar Competition and a 1st prize winner in the 2012 Eddie Lang Guitar Contest. Lemerle received his Master of Music in Jazz Studies (Jazz Performance) at CUNY Queens College in 2016 and his DEM Jazz et Musiques Improvisées — CRR de Paris in 2012.

Mark Kelley

At the core of the late night sound revolution is bassist Mark Kelley. Whether providing driving bass for the theme song, laying down slippery tones behind lyricist Black Thought during a commercial break, or morphing seamlessly into background music for the latest musical satire, Kelley holds the late night bass chair with an undeniable and completely appropriate swagger.

While the Roots have been together for over two decades, Mark joined in 2011 after former bassist Owen Biddle left to pursue other projects. While easy to see now, bringing Kelley into the Roots crew was the perfect move for bandleader Questlove to make. When the call came to Kelley, he had a musical history that already included an education at Berklee College of Music and time on stage with Mos Def, John Scofield, and many others. In addition, Kelley spent an extended tenure in Meshell Ndegeocello’s band that was, as he puts it, “the best experience in music that I’ve ever had.”

When the call came in 2011 to join the Roots, Kelley’s life changed completely. The Roots had already started their transformation of late night music as the house band for Fallon’s previous gig, Late Night with Jimmy Fallon. Kelley was thrust into the spotlight of network television and also jumped into the Roots’ demanding schedule of touring and recording. Kelley’s contributions can be heard on the Roots’ release that year, titled Undun. In 2013, Kelley laid down deep, dark grooves for the Roots’ collaboration with Elvis Costello, Wise Up Ghost.

Roberto Giaquinto

Italian drummer Roberto Giaquinto started out his musical journey with his older brother in Naples, Italy, playing with different local bands around the city while still in middle school.

Thanks to the support of his family he was able to keep developing his passion for music throughout high school. After he moved to Rome he graduated in jazz arranging at the conservatory Licino Refice. In 2009 he was awarded a scholarship for Berklee College of Music and after moving to Boston in 2010 he was selected to be part of the Global Jazz Institute, an intensive honorary program directed by Danilo Perez, and with Joe Lovano, George Garzone, Terri Lyne Carrington, John Patitucci, Dave Liebman, Adam Cruz, and Ben Street.

Since coming to the States, Giaquinto has performed in many festival and clubs such as the Blue Note NYC, Birdland, Kimmel Center, Detroit Jazz Festival, Panama Jazz Festival, Toronto Jazz Festival, Nancy Jazz Pulsation, Kennedy Center, Au Grès du Jazz, Sunside Paris, The Blue Whale, Beantown Jazz Festival, Jazz en Comminges, Red Sea Jazz Festival, Zinc Bar, The Bitter End, and Bregen Jazz Fest among many others.

Tom Hubbard

Bassist Tom Hubbard has performed with instrumentalists Kenny Barron, Jay McShann, Charlie Rouse, Dewey Redman, Beaver Harris, Dannie Richmond, and Ron Affif among others. Hubbard has accompanied a long list of singers including Joe Williams, Mose Allison, Freddy Cole, Chris Connor, Sheila Jordan, Liza Minnelli, Marilyn Maye, Michael Feinstein, Stacey Kent, and Martha Reeves and the Vandellas.

Vitor Gonçlaves

Vitor Gonçalves is a pianist, accordionist, composer, and arranger from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. After an illustrious career as an in demand musician in Brazil, playing with such icons as Hermeto Pascoal, Maria Bethânia, Itiberê Zwarg, and many others, he made the move to New York City, where he currently resides.

Since arriving here in 2012, he has garnered much acclaim and built a star lit resumé, including features in NPR’s Jazz Night in America, hosted by Christian McBride and The New York Times as a guest of the renowned Spok Frevo Orquestra. A frequent resident on the stages of Jazz at Lincoln Center, The Jazz Standard, and the Jazz Gallery, he both leads his own projects, and collaborates with figures in the New York scene such as Anat Cohen, Vinícius Cantuária, Anthony Wilson, Cyro Baptista, and Yotam Silberstein.

He also has played in Jazz Festivals and venues around the world, such as Newport Jazz, Jazz à Vienne, Umbria Jazz Festival, Queen Elizabeth Hall in London, and the Coliseum in Lisbon, Portugal.

Eric Elterman

Eric Elterman is a Brooklyn-based audio engineer, sound designer, and studio owner.

His work includes editing, mixing, sound design and composition for features, shorts, documentaries, television, commercials, podcasts, and multiple albums. He has worked with musicians from all over the world, including GRAMMY® award-winning artists, both in the studio and on stage.​

He recently worked as the supervising audio engineer for the Emmy-nominated Stephen Colbert Presents Tooning Out The News. ericelterman.com