Elias Haslanger Meets Mike Sailors is the culmination of a musical friendship spanning nearly two decades.

An Austin-native who grew up without a television set in the household, Haslanger turned his obsession with Charlie Parker into a robust career spanning between New York and Texas — performing and recording with luminaries including Maynard Ferguson and jazz patriarch Ellis Marsalis.

Upon his second return to Austin, Elias and Sailors would come to know each other and develop their super-simpatico musical partnership for the first time.

Ships passing, Sailors would move to New York shortly thereafter to lead an impressively diverse career as a trumpet player and arranger, working with pop and jazz icons including Lady Gaga and Jazz at Lincoln Center.

As an international touring musician, Sailors artistry became a familiar sound across Broadway orchestras and jazz clubs around the World.

In a full circle moment, Sailors returned fully a decade later to teach at UT where he earned his Doctoral degree — joining Elias as two of the most respected elder statements on the Austin scene.

The two leaders bonded through the pandemic and their quintet quickly found a musical sympatico through a monthly residency at the famed Elephant Room in Austin — where the music for this fiery collaboration was born.