Stephen Harold "Steve" McCall (born 15 October 1960) is a retired English footballer who now works as a scout for Ipswich Town.

A defensive midfielder during his playing days, McCall built a reputation as a cultured midfield player, with immaculate passing ability. He began his career with Ipswich Town and quickly progressed to the first team under the management of Bobby Robson. McCall helped the club win the UEFA Cup in 1981, and he went on to win six England U21 caps during the next year. He left Portman Road in 1987, having made more than 300 appearances for the club, to join Sheffield Wednesday. His time with them was blighted by injury, and he spent time on loan with his home town club, Carlisle United in 1990. Two years later, he joined Plymouth Argyle and became a key player for Peter Shilton's side. He won the clubs Player of the Year award in his first two full seasons at Home Park, reflecting his impact on the team.

He briefly managed the club in 1995 following the departure of Shilton and stayed on as a member of the playing squad when Neil Warnock was appointed. He then moved to Torquay United in 1996 as a player-coach for Kevin Hodges and returned to Home Park two years later with Hodges. He went into non-league football in 2000 with Workington, where he finished his playing career. Following retirement, he returned to Ipswich Town, initially as a scout and then as a coach. Under the management of Paul Jewell, he is now their chief scout.

Amiri Baraka (born October 7, 1934), formerly known as LeRoi Jones, is an American writer of poetry, drama, fiction, essays, and music criticism. He is the author of numerous books of poetry and has taught at a number of universities, including the State University of New York at Buffalo and the State University of New York at Stony Brook.

Baraka was born Everett LeRoi Jones in Newark, New Jersey, where he attended Barringer High School. His father, Coyt Leverette Jones, worked as a postal supervisor and lift operator. His mother, Anna Lois (née Russ), was a social worker. In 1967, he adopted the Muslim name Imamu Amear Baraka, which he later changed to Amiri Baraka.

He won a scholarship to Rutgers University in 1951, but a continuing sense of cultural dislocation prompted him to transfer in 1952 to Howard University, which he left without obtaining a degree. His major fields of study were philosophy and religion. Baraka subsequently studied at Columbia University and the New School for Social Research without obtaining a degree.

Fred Hopkins (October 10, 1947 - January 7, 1999) was a Chicago double bassist who played a major role in the development of the avant-garde jazz movement. He was a member of the avant garde jazz trio Air (with Henry Threadgill and Steve McCall) and David Murray's Low Class Conspiracy; he frequently worked with the cellist Diedre Murray. Hopkins played with a wide variety of musicians including Muhal Richard Abrams, Don Pullen, Hamiet Bluiett, Andrew Cyrille, Kalaparusha Maurice McIntyre, Sunny Murray, Kahil El'Zabar, Malachi Thompson, McCoy Tyner, Elvin Jones, David Murray, Anthony Braxton and Marion Brown.

With Muhal Richard Abrams

With Hamiet Bluiett

With Peter Brötzmann

With Craig Harris

With Oliver Lake

With Michael Marcus

With Jemeel Moondoc

With David Murray

With Bern Nix

With Don Pullen

With Malachi Thompson

With Henry Threadgill

With Tom Varner

With the World Saxophone Quartet

Henry Threadgill (born February 15, 1944, in Chicago, Illinois) is an American composer, saxophonist and flautist. Threadgill came to prominence in the 1970s leading ensembles with unusual instrumentation and often incorporating a range of non-jazz genres. He studied at the American Conservatory of Music in Chicago co-majoring in piano and flute, along with composition. He studied piano with Gail Quillman and composition with Stella Roberts. He has had a music career for over forty years as both a leader and as a composer.

Threadgill’s music has been performed by many of his long lasting instrumental ensembles such as the trio Air with Fred Hopkins and Steve McCall, the seven-piece Sextet, Very Very Circus, the twenty-piece Society Situation Dance Band, X-75, Make a Move, Aggregation Orb, and his current group Zooid. He has recorded many critically acclaimed albums as a leader of these ensembles with various record labels namely Arista Novus, About Time, Axiom, Black Saint, Sony/Columbia and Pi.

Charles Anthony Williams (born April 17, 1942 in Camden, New Jersey) is an American jazz bassist.

Williams has gained prestige among jazz musicians as a solid supportive player. Since the early 1960s, he has made subtle swing, a precise rhythm and superb technique the landmark of his playing. He started his professional career in Philadelphia with Jimmy Heath, then played and recorded with the Gene Ammons/Sonny Stitt quintet (1960–61). After that, he played in Los Angeles for the vocalists Betty Carter, Sarah Vaughan and Nancy Wilson (until late '60's), recording with Vaughn and Wilson, and also with The Jazz Crusaders and the Bobby Hutcherson/Harold Land quintet while working with Miles Davis.

In 1969, Williams moved to New York City and joined the Herbie Hancock Mwandishi Sextet for the next three years, doubling in acoustic and electric basses, and also worked with Mary Lou Williams (1973–75) and Ron Carter's quartet (1977–78). Since the 1980s, Williams has appeared as a sideman in a significative number of session records with notable jazz instrumentalists and vocalists, although opportunities to lead his own sessions are rare.