Forward Energy was founded in 1998 and had it's first gig at Radio Valencia in San Francisco that year. The group has gone through several incarnations with top Bay Area musicians including: Eddie Gale of Cecil Taylor's Unit Structures fame, Alicia Mangan an extraordinarily advanced tenor player, Donald Robinson a seasoned drummer who alternates between Oakland and Europe, and Scott R. Looney. Forward Energy has played up and down the West Coast as well as in the Midwest and New York City. The current formation includes founder Jim Ryan (who played on Steve Lacy's weekly jam sessions in Paris during the early 70's) on flute, saxes, and trumpet, and original member Scott R. Looney on piano. Scott received his BA in music from Coe College, Iowa and an MFA from Cal Arts. He has been a pillar of the experimental music community since the late 90's. The group presently includes Rent Romus (who studied with Stan Getz and is a power both on his horn and as an organizer and promoter of the Bay Area experimental music community) on Saxophones; Eric Marshall is a regular bassist with Eddie Gale's groups and he works in all genres of the jazz idiom. Percussionist Timothy Orr studied with Ed Blackwell and plays all styles from zydeco to free jazz. After a year together, the group has become very strong, and we have added C. J. Borosque on trumpet whose grounding in music extends back through several generations. C. J. is also a poet and painter: a new breath of creativity for Forward Energy in 2012.