Chris Washburne is trombonist and tubist who has performed on over 150 recordings, two Grammy winners and seven Grammy nominated. He has been hailed as "One of the best trombonists in salsa..." by Peter Watrous of The New York Times and "one of the most important trombonists performing today" by Brad Walseth of www.jazzchicago.net. He was voted as "Rising Star of the Trombone" numerous times in the annual Downbeat Critics Poll. He is the leader of the highly acclaimed SYOTOS band and Rags and Roots. He has performed with Tito Puente, Celia Cruz, Eddie Palmieri, Muhal Richard Abrams, Ruben Blades, Celine Dion, Gloria Estefan, Justin Timberlake, Marc Anthony, Björk, They Might Be Giants, Roscoe Mitchell, Grady Tate, Jaki Byard, Duke Ellington Orchestra, Danilo Caymmi, Ran Blake, Arturo Sandoval, Hilton Ruíz, Lawrence "Butch" Morris, Roswell Rudd, Walter Thompson, RMM Allstar Salsa Band, Eddie Henderson, Anthony Braxton, Ray Barretto, John Cale, Michele Rosewoman, Baba Olatunje, Freddie Cole, Maria Schneider Big Band, Chico O'Farrill, St. Luke's Chamber Orchestra, Bang on a Can All-stars, SEM Ensemble, American Microtonal Festival Chamber Orchestra, and the Dinosaur Annex under the direction of Gunther Schuller, among many others. He is Associate Professor of Music at Columbia University and the founder and director of Columbia's Louis Armstrong Jazz Performance Program. Since 2006, he has worked as an innovation and leadership consultant, tailoring jazz and improvisational programs, for the World Economic Forum, Columbia's Business School, and a number of private and public companies. Chris Washburne has published numerous articles on jazz, Latin jazz, and salsa. His books include Bad Music: the Music We Love to Hate (Routledge) and Sounding Salsa: Performing Latin Music in New York (Temple University Press). He is currently working on a book on Latin jazz which will be published by Oxford University Press.

S.Y.O.T.O.S. (an acronym coined by Chris Washburne, meaning See You On The Other Side) was founded in 1992 by trombonist Chris and features some of the best Latin jazz players in New York City. SYOTOS pushes the genre of Latin Jazz into uncharted waters with a postmodern mix that embraces dissonance, weaving contemporary uptempo beats with a driving sound. This boundary-breaking band exemplifies Latin jazz with a global reach, combining Afro-Cuban, funk, jazz, gospel, and contemporary classical music – "think Tito Puente meets James Brown meets Charles Ives!" TimeOut New York calls the group "a Latin jazz institution" as they held the longest running Latin jazz gig in New York, performing weekly for 20 years straight. The New York Times opines "SYOTOS plays with fire with erudition!" The band's members are alumni from the bands of Tito Puente, Eddie Palmieri, and Ray Barretto and they continue with the foundations inherited by those Latin music greats, pushing the genre in the 21st century. SYOTOS has performed at Carnegie Hall, The Kennedy Center in Washington DC, the Blue Note in NYC, Lincoln Center, BB Kings in NYC, Smoke Jazz club, Zinc Bar, BAM, the Brooklyn Museum of Art, MOMA (Museum of Modern Art in NYC), Aaron Davis Hall in Harlem, the World Economic Forum, and many jazz festivals across the US, including the Harare International Arts Festival, Burlington Discover Jazz Festival and Lake George Jazz Festival.

The group's name refers to a time in 1992 when Washburne was diagnosed with severe nerve cancer and told that he had only a 50-50 chance of surviving an operation but no chance whatsoever of ever playing the trombone again. He insisted that before going into the hospital he play one more gig. After the show, he turned to his bandmates and said S.Y.O.T.O.S. "see you on the other side." Washburne survived the operation but was left with severe nerve loss and damage to one side of his face. Proving the experts wrong, he managed to re-master his instrument and become an even better player.

Their six recordings have each received critical acclaim and their "Fields of Moons" was listed as one of the top ten jazz releases of 2010 on the JazzTimes critic's list.