Tag: jazz

Friday Night: Laura Mvula

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Laura Mvula (née Douglas), 27, is a British soul singer-songwriter from the U.K. Her debut album Sing to the Moon was released in March 2013. In 2005, Mvula sang with an a cappella group set up by her aunt. In 2008, she formed a jazz/neo-soul group called Judyshouse, singing lead vocals and wrote material for the band. She is also Director of a Community Gospel Choir, founded by Black Voices. While she was working as a supply teacher in a Birmingham secondary school, she started writing songs on her laptop. She was working as a receptionist when she sent out two demos to several people in the music industry. The Guardian described her music as “gospeldelia”, calling it a new musical genre.  In December 2012, Mvula was shortlisted for the Critics’ Choice award at the 2013 BRIT Awards. In December 2012, she was nominated for the BBC’s Sound of 2013 poll, and finished in fourth position.  (Source: Wiki)

 

Leron Zamir Forte

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“Leron Zamir Forte is a rising cellist who hails from Dallas, TX. He was the recipient of the Holy Cross BachFest Scholarship, Nashville Symphony Orchestra League Thor Johnson Scholarship Finalist, and was invited to the National Society of Collegiate Scholars. He has performed masterclasses with teachers such as Natalia Koma, YeonJin Kim, Julia Tanner, Eric Kutz, Peter Sheppard, and Yo-Yo Ma. He is currently pursuing a Master of Music degree under Gregory Sauer at the Florida State University.”

Find more about Leron and his music @ his Website, on Facebook, on Twitter.

Related Cello Post: Zoë Keating

Lake Street Dive

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Loved this!  (Volume up!)

If you liked this, check out these 2 videos: “Clear a Space” and a cover for Fleetwood Mac’s “Second Hand News.”

Lake Street Dive plays “I Want You Back” on a Boston sidewalk. The four-piece Boston band was formed seven years ago when they were students at The New England Conservatory where they eventually landed in jazz music, played in an edgy, loose fashion. Rachael Price, 28, is a jazz vocalist from Hendersonville, Tennessee.  In 2003, Price received an honorable mention at the Montreux Jazz Festival’s International Jazz Vocal Competition. In 2004, Price was a semi-finalist and the youngest competitor in the history of the Thelonious Monk Institute Vocal Competition. In August 2004 she made her U.S. jazz festival debut at Yale’s Jazz On The Green where she opened for Joshua Redman. She won the 2006 Independent Music Award for Best Gospel Song with her recording of My God, My Adored One with the Boston Praise Collective. She regularly appears in concert as a featured vocalist with the T. S. Monk Sextet, and is currently working with Grammy Award winning record producer K. C. Porter. (Source: Wiki)

You can find this song on iTunes on their album titled Fun Machine.  The Band can also be found on Facebook and Twitter.

Stefano Barone

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Stefano Barone was born in Naples, Italy, in 1978, and started playing when he was very young, studying piano at first but choosing guitar at last. From blues to pop to rock, in Naples he cut through different musical experiences, until he moved to Rome in 2001 and decided to dedicate himself fully to solo acoustic guitar. (Source: Lastfm.com)

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Friday Night: Mario Biondi

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It’s hard to imagine how I could not have heard of Mario Biondi prior to tripping into this video on Nia‘s blog.  BIG voice on his rendition of this classic tune (Close to Me) which was composed by Burt Bacharach and Hal David and originally recorded by The Carpenters in 1970.

Mario Biondi, 42, is a jazz-soul vocalist born in the Sicilian city of Catania in Italy.  He was born of artistic stock.  His great grandfather was a respected painter, his grandmother a singer, and his father a popular songwriter.   Biondi sang throughout his childhood, first performing in public at age 12 in church, and soon singing in public squares before hundreds of people. From there he competed in the Festival della Canzone Siciliana, taking third place. Biondi’s musical pursuits earned him the opportunity to perform alongside such Italian vocal greats as Califano, Bongusto, and Fiorello, as well as American legend Ray Charles. As word of his talent and skill got out, Biondi found himself collaborating with groups like the Change, Mario Brothers, and Funky Company on recordings and tours. Given his powerful and unique voice, it was not long before Biondi was encouraged to pursue a solo career. Featuring material inspired by American R&B artists like Lou Rawls, Luther Vandross, and Donny Hathaway, Biondi’s debut record was released in 2006.  (Link to album can be found here.)

Source: Thank you Nia for pointing me to Mario Biondi (via Sempreventophoto).  Bio –iTunes.