The sarrusophone is a family of transposing musical instruments patented and placed into production by Pierre-Louis Gautrot in 1856. It was named after the French bandmaster Pierre-Auguste Sarrus (1813–1876) who is credited with the concept of the instrument (it is not clear if Sarrus benefited financially from this association). The instrument was intended to serve as a replacement in wind bands for the oboe and bassoon which, at that time, lacked the carrying power required for outdoor band music.

The sarrusophone was manufactured in the following sizes and had the following theoretical ranges:

The non-transposed range of the sarrusophone is nearly identical to that of the saxophone. The traditional conventional range of the saxophone is written B♭-F. Initially, Gautrot advertised the range of the sarrusophone to high F as well, but later fingering charts indicated a range to high G. Sometime after 1868, Gautrot also released a fingering chart indicating fingerings higher still up to a top B-flat, giving a range of three full octaves.

Paul Samuel Whiteman (March 28, 1890 – December 29, 1967) was an American bandleader and orchestral director.

Leader of the most popular dance bands in the United States during the 1920s, Whiteman produced recordings that were immensely successful, and press notices often referred to him as the "King of Jazz". Using a large ensemble and exploring many styles of music, Whiteman is perhaps best known for his blending of symphonic music and jazz, as typified by his 1924 commissioning and debut of George Gershwin's jazz-influenced "Rhapsody In Blue". Whiteman recorded many jazz and pop standards during his career, including "Wang Wang Blues", "Mississippi Mud", "Rhapsody in Blue", "Wonderful One", "Hot Lips", "Mississippi Suite", and "Grand Canyon Suite". His popularity faded in the swing music era of the 1930s, and by the 1940s Whiteman was semi-retired from music.

Whiteman's place in the history of early jazz is somewhat controversial. Detractors suggest that Whiteman's ornately-orchestrated music was jazz in name only (lacking the genre's improvisational and emotional depth), and co-opted the innovations of black musicians. Defenders note that Whiteman's fondness for jazz was genuine (he worked with black musicians as much as was feasible during an era of racial segregation), that his bands included many of the era's most esteemed white jazz musicians, and argue that Whiteman's groups handled jazz admirably as part of a larger repertoire. In his autobiography, Duke Ellington declared, "Paul Whiteman was known as the King of Jazz, and no one as yet has come near carrying that title with more certainty and dignity."

James Arthur Beard (born August 26, 1960 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) is an American jazz pianist and keyboardist, contemporary instrumental composer, arranger and record producer.

Jim Beard is best known as a performer, writer and producer who has had long-standing working relationships with artists like Wayne Shorter, John McLaughlin, John Scofield, Mike Stern, Dennis Chambers and Bob Berg.

Jim was born in Philadelphia and developed a keen interest in music from a very early age. He first wanted to play tuba (at age 5), then drums and saxophone shortly after. His parents decided that he should start with piano and move to the other instruments later. He began with piano at age seven and his classical teacher for almost twelve years was Mary Anne Rietz. As a teenager, he studied arranging with Don Sebesky and jazz piano with Roland Hanna and also studied privately with George Shearing for several years. He credits as strong influences during his teen years were Oscar Peterson, George Shearing, Erroll Garner and the Thad Jones / Mel Lewis Jazz Orchestra as well as Elton John, The Beatles, Stevie Wonder, Steely Dan and Earth Wind and Fire. He also studied clarinet, saxophone and double bass all before the age of 15. He took his first overseas tour at the age of sixteen with The American Youth Jazz Orchestra under the direction of Hal Schiff. Jim attended Indiana University studying jazz under David Baker and classical piano under John Ogdon^{[disambiguation needed ]} earning a BMD and the highly coveted ‘Performers Certificate’. While in university, Jim performed professionally with jazz artists such as Slide Hampton and Red Rodney and was in a bar band who's members included Jon Herington, Kenny Aronoff, Bob Hurst and Chris Botti. Jim's musical influences in his college years were Herbie Hancock, Wynton Kelly and Prince.

The Honourable Usain St. Leo Bolt, OJ, C.D. ( /ˈjuːseɪn/; born 21 August 1986), is a Jamaican sprinter and a five-time World and three-time Olympic gold medalist. He is the world record and Olympic record holder in the 100 metres, the 200 metres and (along with his teammates) the 4×100 metres relay. He is the reigning Olympic champion in these three events, and is one of only seven athletes (along with Valerie Adams, Veronica Campbell-Brown, Jacques Freitag, Yelena Isinbayeva, Jana Pittman, Dani Samuels) to win world championships at the youth, junior, and senior level of an athletic event.

Bolt won a 200 m gold medal at the 2002 World Junior Championships, making him the competition's youngest-ever gold medalist at the time (since surpassed by Jacko Gill). In 2004, at the CARIFTA Games, he became the first junior sprinter to run the 200 m in less than 20 seconds with a time of 19.93 s, breaking the previous world junior record held by Roy Martin by two-tenths of a second. He turned professional in 2004, and although he competed at the 2004 Summer Olympics, he missed most of the next two seasons due to injuries. In 2007, he broke Don Quarrie's 200 m Jamaican record with a run of 19.75 s.

Howard Lindsay Goodall CBE (born 26 May 1958) is a British composer of musicals, choral music and music for television. He also presents music-based programming for television and radio, for which he has won many awards. In May 2008 he was named as a presenter and Composer-in-Residence with the UK radio channel Classic FM, and in May 2009 he was named "Composer of the Year" at the Classical BRIT Awards.

Born in Bromley, Kent and educated at New College School, Oxford, Stowe School and Lord Williams's School Thame, he read music at Christ Church, Oxford. He is married to Val Fancourt, who is a classical music agent.

His output of musical theatre works includes The Hired Man (1984), an adaptation of the novel by Melvyn Bragg, which won an Ivor Novello award (1985) and TMA Award(2006) award for Best Musical, Girlfriends (1986), Days of Hope (1991), Silas Marner (1993), The Kissing-Dance (1998),The Dreaming (2001) (both with Charles Hart), A Winter's Tale (2005) and Two Cities (2006). Goodall worked on original music for a new production called 'King Cotton', a co-commissioned stage show by The Lowry and the Liverpool Culture Company. However, he amicably withdrew from the production weeks before the opening for reasons unknown, and "any offers for Goodall's unused music will be gratefully received", according to the 16 September 2007 Sunday Times (page 14). A Winter’s Tale was presented during 2009–10 by Youth Music Theatre: UK, while 2010 saw the premiere at the Minerva Theatre, Chichester of Love Story, based on the novella by Erich Segal. The production opens in London's West End (Duchess Theatre) in November 2010. In 2010 there was also a new professional production of The Hired Man produced by The Octagon Theatre, Bolton which played from 3 June to 4 July 2010.