Young Lions Artistic Director Gilbert Castellanos was recently at a recording session at Lost Ark Studios.  He got to know Mike Butler, sound engineer at Lost Ark, and shared with Mike his vision for Young Lions Jazz Conservatory.  Mike was so moved he offered free studio time to the Young Lions!  We are so grateful to him for giving our students the opportunity to record in a professional setting!  It is amazing to see the community rally behind The Young Lions.  Mike gave us permission to share his email to Gil:

This is Mike from Lost Ark Studio, where you recorded on Bobby Cressey’s album. I wanted to reach out to you and first say what an amazing thing you are doing with the Young Lions program. It’s so inspiring to hear such incredible talent in those young people.

I’d like to help if I can, and would like to offer you some free studio time if you’d like to bring them in to record. It would be an opportunity for them to get some real studio experience, as well as document this time, and even have something they/you could release. For us, it would be a way to contribute something to this great musical community. If this sounds like something you would be interested in, let me know and we can talk about what might work.

We are deeply grateful to Mike and Lost Ark Recording Studios for this generous offer!  The Young Lions are excited to hit the studio!  Here’s a photo of the studio: