Individual Careers

Each member of EZRA brings a rich, fully realized musical life outside the ensemble, and together, they make up “what I can only call an acoustic supergroup,” says Kevin Johnson of No Treble.

Jesse Jones is a composer and multi-instrumentalist whose work inhabits the intersection of folk, bluegrass, roots music, and the classical tradition. Described as “striking,...elegant and poised,” in the New York Times, “engaging,...eerie, and well- written”in the Los Angeles Times, “fascinating,” and possessed of “the melodic earthiness of Britten” (New York Classical Review), Jones’s numerous compositions are wide-ranging in style, instrumentation, and affect. His most recent pieces include solo and chamber works, and several full-length concertos. Equally at home performing on mandolin, guitar, banjo-family instruments, or keyboards, Jones has appeared on over 17 commercially released albums, performed with orchestras, and played at folk and bluegrass festivals nationwide, including a nationally broadcast performance on A Prairie Home Companion. Beyond performing and composing, Jones crafts instruments including hybrid acoustic guitars, with plans for replicas of historical instruments, prototypes for microtonal mandolins, schema for multi-manual keyboard instruments with node-inducing stops and whammy bars, as well as drawings for simple microtonal flutes in 5- and 7- note equal temperament. Many of these instruments are featured on the EZRA albums.

Jacob Jolliff is one of the hardest working touring musicians in the bluegrass genre. It is no surprise that Béla Fleck calls him “a serious player. Considering his strong musical concept, formidable technical abilities, and a powerful work ethic, he is a mandolinist to watch.” Jolliff is the 2012 National Mandolin Champion, and was the first mandolinist to receive a full scholarship to the Berklee College of Music. He toured extensively with Joy Kills Sorrow and the Yonder Mountain String Band, releasing multiple albums with each and performing across the United States, Canada, and Europe.  His current main focus is the The Jacob Jolliff Band, a group of virtuosic pickers focused on Jolliff’s original work. They have released multiple albums and toured extensively in the US, the UK, and Australia. Jolliff is an agreeable collaborator and has toured and recorded with numerous combinations, including a duo with Michael Daves, a duo with guitarist Grant Gordy, and a jazz trio with Alec Spiegelman (bass clarinet) and Jason Burger (snare). In 2022, Jacob was called on by world famous banjo player, Béla Fleck, to tour as part of My Bluegrass Heart. He performed around the country alongside Béla and some of the very best musicians in the genre: Bryan Sutton, Cody Kilby, Justin Moses, Mark Schatz, Michael Cleveland, Stuart Duncan, and Billy Contreras.

Craig Butterfield is a virtuoso double bassist and professor of jazz studies at the University of South Carolina, directing one of the Southeast’s largest double bass programs. Praised as “nothing short of magnificent” (American Record Guide), with the ability to “make his instrument dance and sing with an effortlessness which is hard to credit” (Soundboard Magazine), Butterfield has performed across genres, from classical concertos to jazz stages worldwide. He toured with legendary trumpeter Maynard Ferguson, performing at some of the most famous venues in the world, including the Blue Note in New York, Ronnie Scott's in London, and the Bangkok Cultural Arts center as a special guest of the King of Thailand. A week at Ronnie Scott's in London was recorded and released as Maynard Ferguson’s final live CD release (MF Horn 6). Butterfield has appeared on many jazz CDs as both a performer and producer. His many recordings include multiple albums with his duo Dez Cordas with guitarist Matthew Slotkin, and two albums with The Boomtown Trio, with champion fiddler Kristen Harris and multi-instrumentalist and vocalist Cat Galan. Butterfield has toured and released multiple duo recordings with Jesse Jones. 

Max Allard is a composer, multi-instrumentalist, and banjo innovator whose work spans bluegrass, jazz, new acoustic, classical, and experimental music. Allard received a Bachelor of Music in Composition from Oberlin Conservatory in May 2025, where he studied composition with Jesse Jones, Stephen Hartke, and Michael Frazier; and performance and improvisation with Jamey Haddad. While at Oberlin, he premiered his banjo concerto with the Oberlin Contemporary Music Ensemble, under the direction of Tim Weiss. Winner of the 2018 RockyGrass Banjo Competition, the 2019 FreshGrass Banjo Award, and the inaugural J.D. Crowe Scholarship from the IBMA Foundation, Allard has toured with progressive bluegrass bands including Full Cord, Westbound Situation, Hackensaw Boys, and Barbaro, and he currently leads solo projects as well as a duo with his brother Otto Allard. Allard has released multiple solo albums, including Odes / Codes (2022) and March Maxness (2023), blending virtuosic banjo technique with exploratory compositional sensibilities.

Xak Bjerken joins the core quartet for Whippersnap as pianist, adding his extensive experience as a soloist, chamber musician, and educator. He has performed with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra, Spoleto Festival Orchestra, Thailand Philharmonic, and Los Angeles Philharmonic, and at venues including Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw, Berlin’s Konzerthaus, St. Petersburg’s Glinka Hall, and Disney Hall in Los Angeles. A champion of contemporary music, Bjerken has worked closely with composers György Kurtág, Sofia Gubaidulina, Steven Stucky, and George Benjamin, and premiered piano concertos by Stephen Hartke, Elizabeth Ogonek, and Jesse Jones (Naxos, 2021).

Together, these five musicians merge their wide-ranging expertise — from progressive bluegrass to classical, jazz, and contemporary composition — into a singular ensemble voice, making Whippersnap a culmination of years of individual artistry and shared exploration.