Akalibrio

Akalibrio is an ongoing musical project that got it's start several years ago in Jim Warner's home studio in Chicago, IL. With the help of some of Chicago's most accomplished artists, those songwriting sessions turned into a full-fledged professional recording project. With an undying passion for composition, Jim began collaborating with engineer/pianist, Dave Dever, and vocalist/pianist/songwriter, John Jones for what would become the first batch of songs to be completed. This brought to attention the need for other musicians to help expand the sound. Enter Neal Alger. Neal is the busiest guitarist in the city, and for no small reason. His diverse musical abilities helped the group get the sound they were looking for, no matter what the style. Later, Neal and Jim would begin writing an entire new collection of songs. Regardless of the collaborator, these songs required more musicians to help their jazz, intelli-pop based sound flourish. The sessions moved to akalibrio studios in Lincoln Park for about a year and were engineered by Josh Richter. Josh brought a new level of professionalism to the project. He also helped expand the musician base by inviting Ernie Adams (drums and percussion), Marcin Fahmy (piano and keyboards) and Jeff Hanley (bass) to the sessions. This resulted in the fundamental rhythm section of the band today. These musicians hear chord voicings and rhythmic grooves beyond what was included in the demo versions. This added a level of sophistication to the compositions themselves, and to, of course, the records. It was also clear that the akalibrio studio would be used for compositional purposes only. These artists needed to be captured by the best engineer at the best facility. Enter Chris Steinmetz, and as of late, Ron Lowe & Steve Weeder of Chicago Recording Company. Other vital artists on these and soon to be released records include bassist/vocalist/co-writer Dave Hiltebrand, drummers Rick Vitek, Kobie Watkins and Kevin Marks, percussionist Geraldo De Oliveira, cellist Tomeka Summers Reid, guitarist Dale Prasco, guitarist/vocalist Paulinho Garcia, saxophonists Steve Eisen and Dan Nicholson, Trumpeters Mark Ohlsen and Kirk Garrison (flugel as well), French Horn player Julia Zeltzer and harmonica legend Howard Levy. Our vocal line up features the mastery of Cheryl Wilson, and the talent, diversity and style of Malcolm Palmer and Ryan Behling. Christina Tamayo, Neal Alger, Satya Gummuluri, and Mari-Anne Jayme add both lead vocals and back ups to many of the songs.