Having been referred to as “one of America’s defining voices of freedom and peace” by NPR, Mavis Staples is the kind of once-in-a-generation artist whose impact on music and culture would be difficult to overstate. Since beginning her career in 1950 with her family group The Staples Singers, she’s become both a Blues and Rock…
Samara Joy recently won the Sarah Vaughn International Jazz Vocal Competition, and released her debut recording. Growing up in the Bronx in a musical family, Samara Joy was influenced by the sounds of gospel and R&B, and artists including Stevie Wonder, Lalah Hathaway, George Duke, and many others. Her first exposure to jazz was at…
Jon Cleary’s work pays obvious homage to the classic Crescent City keyboard repertoire created by such icons as Jelly Roll Morton, Fats Domino, Professor Longhair, Art Neville, Dr. John, and James Booker – while also using it as a launching pad for a style that incorporates such other diverse influences as ’70s soul and R&B,…
Over the course of a multifaceted career spanning over four decades, Grammy and Tony Award-winning jazz giant and NEA Jazz Master Dee Dee Bridgewater has ascended to the upper echelon of vocalists, putting her unique spin on standards, as well as taking intrepid leaps of faith in re-envisioning jazz classics. She also bears the title…
