Risto Salmi
Saxophonist Risto Salmi has played with almost all imaginable kind of ensembles. He has worked with a lot of different jazz bands, theater productions, TV shows, and studio bands. He has a wonderful sense of style and is equally at home with many different, even the most traditional idioms of jazz. While playing traditional jazz, he sounds very much like himself and is keen to spice up classic N.O. numbers with Coltrane licks. This musical chameleon has played over the years on all the major jazz festivals in Finland.

Katja Toivola
Trombonist Katja Toivola has been studying the music styles of New Orleans for over fifteen years. She made her first visit to the Crescent City in 1995, and now divides her time between her two hometowns: Helsinki and New Orleans. The possibility to absorb New Orleans' music culture and to listen to the likes of Freddie Lonzo and Lucien Barbarin have been instrumental in her development as a musician. In the last few years, she has had the opportunity to play with various bands in New Orleans, which has further advanced her inclination towards an authentic New Orleans sound. In June 2002 and August 2004, she toured Finland and Norway with the New Orleans Helsinki Connection, a band that includes Leroy Jones, Tricia Boutté, Ozaki Nobumasa, and Todd Duke from New Orleans. In July 2002, Toivola performed in Switzerland with the German Wim's Paradise Jazz Band and in February 2006 in France with Patrick Bensoussan's Big Beat Band. 2006 also saw her performing at the legendary Preservation Hall. She has also been playing with the popular Finnish band, the Riverside Rascals since 1996, and currently works as a freelance musician both in Helsinki and in New Orleans. Since 2002 she has also played the bass drum with various brass bands.

Jarkko Palokas
Guitarist Jarkko Palokas returned to Finland in the spring of 2001 after graduating from the Berklee School Of Music, where he studied for three years. For the moment, Palokas works as a freelance musician and a guitar teacher in Helsinki. His approach to New Orleans jazz is very fresh and tasteful; his musical and technical abilities and a very good sense of style and use of space are of great importance to the band's sound.

Jussi Harju
Sousaphonist Jussi Harju has been elected the jazz tubist of the year five times in a row in the critic's poll of the Finnish Jazzrytmit-magazine. His technical ability makes the tuba sound almost like an upright bass at times and he is equally at home playing straight-a-head swing and two beat grooves. Harju has played with many different bands; from traditional jazz to military music to funk to free jazz - as he himself puts it. He has been influenced by traditional New Orleans bands, new wave brass bands like the ReBirth and the Dirty Dozen, and by tuba players like Bob Steward. In the spring of 2002, Harju made his first visit to the Crescent City where he had the chance to deepen his knowledge of New Orleans' music.

Thomas Rönnholm
Thomas Rönnholm got acquainted with New Orleans' music tradition through recordings and New Orleans musicians visiting Finland. He has spent a lot of time in the Crescent City absorbing influences; nowadays he is one of the best and hardest swinging New Orleans style drummers in Finland. In his playing, Rönnholm successfully combines elements of different N.O. drummers like Shannon Powell and Gerald French. Rönnholm was also supplying the grooves for the New Orleans - Helsinki Connection's tour in June 2002. Over the years, Rönnholm has worked with a variety of Finnish jazz bands like the Riverside Rascals, the Old Time Jazz Band, and the New Orleans Ramblers.