Bob Sparkman
Bob Sparkman heard his first jazz record as a teenager in 1942. It featured Muggsy Spanier with Rod Cless on clarinet. Inspired by these jazz luminaries, as well as the artistry of Louis Armstrong, Sidney Bechet, and the Condon Mob — Pee Wee Russell, Edmond Hall, etc., he jammed around Westchester County NY along with contemporaries Dick Wellstood and Ed Hubble. Sparkman gigged professionally around New York City, working as player and assistant manager of the last Eddie Condon’s club, where a New York Times reviewer dubbed his sound "wry and rough-toned . . .hover(ing) midway between Pee Wee Russell’s tortured notes and the straight positive phrases of Rod Cless," yet crediting him with a "style and manner. . . distinctly his own." Sparkman played with The Jazzmen, The Bourbon Street Six, the Gotham Jazz Band, and others, including a gig with Fats Waller’s trumpeter Herman Autry at Joe’s Pier 52, before retiring to the Pioneer Valley in 1994, where he has busied himself performing with the Espresso Jazz Trio, the King Phillip Dixieland Band, and with pianist Jerry Noble.

Jerry Noble
Clifton "Jerry" Noble, Jr. was born in 1961, and began to play the piano and guitar under his father’s guidance at age 5. Original compositions soon followed, and the urge to write music has never left him. He earned a B.A. from Amherst College in 1983, and an M.A.from Smith College in 1988. His instrumental works have been performed by the Boston Chamber Music Society, the Longmeadow Chamber Music Society, the Holyoke Civic Symphony Orchestra, The Western MA Young People’s Symphony, the Springfield Symphony Orchestra, the Florentine Trio, saxophonist Lynn Klock, violinist Joel Pitchon, and flutist Carol Wincenc. His choral works have are performed by ensembles throughout the Five Colleges, by the Assabet Valley Mastersingers, and by elementary, high school, and collegiate choral forces throughout the United States. His music is published by Treble Clef Music Press, Warner Chapel Music and his own ArtistTec, Inc. He enjoys playing traditional jazz with clarinetist Bob Sparkman, and the duo has recorded five compact discs of their favorite tunes: Good Talks, Still Talkin’, Talkin’ It Over, Sweet Talk, and Something Mellow, Something Blue. They have also collaborated with bassist Genevieve Rose and drummer Richard Mayer on Mayer’s CD Vermont Songbook. He and violinist Joel Pitchon have also recently released a CD of his violin sonatas on Gasparo Records. Noble serves as the Staff Accompanist for the Smith College Music Department and pianist for the Glee Club and Chamber Singers. Both choral ensembles have performed his compositions and arrangements throughout the United States and Europe. He also writes classical music reviews and features for the Springfield Republican Newspapers. He resides in Western Massachusetts with wife Kara and daughter Samantha.