After spending 16 years in New York City as a professional musician, trombonist/composer JC Sanford returned to his hometown of Northfield, MN in 2016. He is the leader of two small groups: the JC Sanford Quartet and the chamber jazz trio Triocracy, both of which released new CD recordings in 2019 on Shifting Paradigm Records (“Keratoconus” and “Pyramid Scheme” respectively). He has regularly been recognized as a “Rising Star” as a trombonist in DownBeat Magazine’s Critic’s Polls over the past several years. He has performed as a trombonist with the likes of Danilo Pérez, Matt Wilson, and Anthony Cox, and been an ensemble member in wide-ranging groups such as Nathan Parker Smith’s prog-rock big band, Andrew Green’s film noir tribute Narrow Margin, singer-songwriter Joy Askew’s New York Brass, and Joseph C. Phillips, Jr.’s jazz/new music hybrid Numinous. He recently received a 2018 McKnight Composer Fellowship and a 2019 MN State Arts Board Artist Initiative Grant to record his quartet. He is also the artistic/musical director of the JazzMN Orchestra. His new recording “Imminent Standards Trio, Vol. I” will be released on SPR in July.