A ubiquitous figure in New York's downtown jazz scene, Steven Bernstein has been the musical director/leader for John Lurie's Lounge Lizards, the Kansas City Band (from Robert Altman's film Kansas City), Jim Thirwell's Steriod Maximus, and Hal Wilner's Leonard Cohen and Doc Pomus Projects. Bernstein also leads several other active bands, including Sex Mob, Diaspora Blues (with the Sam Rivers trio) and Diaspora Soul. He has performed with jazz giants including Roswell Rudd, Don Byron, and Medeski Martin & Wood, as well as artists as diverse as Aretha Franklin, Lou Reed, Linda Ronstadt, Sting and Courtney Love.

Bernstein has a particular inclination toward film music, as evidenced by the Get Shorty and Kansas City projects and Sex Mob's 2001 album Sex Mob Does Bond, a collection of interpretations of music from various James Bond films. "I love arranging and I love combinations of sounds," he explains. "Movie music is the logical place to go if you want to combine a lot of different instruments. It's one of the only remaining places to find an opportunity for large band arrangements." Still, he says, "I don't really actively pursue any particular projects. I have a wide range of musical interests, and things come to me." With the Millennial Territory Orchestra, Bernstein has once again displayed his ability to take music apart and reconfigure it, with all the strong elements of the original idea and a heavy dose of his own fascinating personality. What comes next, only the music knows.