Fine Art Singers of New York "O Come All Ye Faithful"

Under the baton of conductor and director, Dr Verna Green, 

the Fine Art Singers of New York 

(FASONY) sings a rendition of "O 

Come All Ye Faithful" arranged by 

Lee Holdridge at the 2016 

Handel's Messiah Sing-All 

performed at St Pauls United 

Methodist Church in Brooklyn, NY.

Earl Alexander . . . Tenor

Laurel Bailey . . . Alto

Aubrey Baker . . . Bass-Baritone

Kalita Black-Morel . . . Alto

Janet Bruce . . . Soprano

Monica Goodridge . . . Sooprano

Maridah Green . . .  Soprano

Marolyn Green . . . Alto

Olivia Hall . . Alto

Cliff Hicklin . . . Tenor

Clinton Ingram . . . Tenor

Veronica Jackson . . . Alto

Hugh Johnson . . . Tenor

Beverly Joseph . . . Soprano

Oliver Keith . . . Tenor

Dorcia McDuffie . . . Alto

Jackie McKenzie . . . Soprano

Emmanuel Obi . . . Tenor

Roger Patten . . . Bass

Karmesha Peake . . . Contralto

Balfour Peart . . . Bass

Mary Prime-Nelson . . . Soprano

Napoleon Revels-Bey . . . Timpani

Opal Salmon . . . Soprano

Austin Sarjeant . . . Bass

Waldo Waterman . . . Bass

Amy White . . . Alto

Jeanine Williams . . . Soprano

Linda T Williams . . . Alto

Sophie Williams Johnson . . . Estey-Burke Pipe Organ

If you have a character like mine, then you love the songs of 

the holidays and enjoy listening to them and singing along. 

With your own soulful embellishments, why don’t you join in 

the joyous caroling of FASONY, as we celebrate this 2016 

season of Christmas. Here is the link: 

https://youtu.be/oYK4d9Eb5JU

Chestnuts Roasting on a Professor Roman G Mitchell Trumpet Call

Most people refer to the song as CHESTNUTS. Perhaps it is  because the iconic Christmas carol that everyone has grown to love begins with the word chestnuts.

The song, more commonly known as THE CHRISTMAS SONG was written in 1945 by Bob Wells and Mel Torme. It touched hearts mainly because of its feel good nature. One could just sink into the sound and melt without even joining into the chorus; though, once you hear the song, you are tempted to sing-along. Do you feel the same way?

A host of individuals have covered this tune, adding their own flair of soulfulness from their little corner of creativity, to the joyous tune.

I invite you all to check out the beautiful, instrumental rendition of this tune performed by the Medgar Evers Jazz Ensemble featuring

Nathaniel Manning . . .  Drums
Professor Roman Mitchell . . . Trumpet
Steven Lawrence . . . Piano

We are well on our way within the 25 days of Christmas. Tomorrow marks the second week of Advent and today just seems like the perfect day to enjoy 
some holiday cheer. 

Check out the very cheerful and wonderful rendition of 
THE CHRISTMAS SONG aka "Chestnuts" here: https://youtu.be/NhlFl_dX148

Teach Me Tonight covered by the Medgar Evers Jazz Ensemble featuring Jovann Alexis Augustin

Have you heard this cool rendition of the Gene De Paul's and Sammy Cahn's 1953 jazz standard by the Medgar Evers College Jazz Ensemble featuring vocalist Jovann Alexis Augustin?

This song was performed by this lively and very  engaging group live at Megar Evers College in Brooklyn, NY.

Check it out here: https://youtu.be/lrSVRX2PrOU

Medgar Evers Jazz Ensemble "Spring Affair" Recap, Now available on Soundcloud

In April, during Jazz Appreciation Month, the Medgar Evers Jazz Ensemble did a live performance; "A Spring Affair," where they serenaded Medgar Evers College students and faculty with a series of songs from the Great American Song Book and also from popular culture.

The performance was about an hour long and featured singers and musicians of the group who contributed to the event that took place in the welcome center located in the Bedford Avenue building of Medgar Evers college in Brooklyn, NY.

An excerpt from the show was aired on April 10, 2016 on WNYE 91.5FM on Jazz on the JNote show which is hosted and produced by Stephanie Jeannot. If you dd not get a chance to hear this program, you can now listen to it on soundcloud at https://soundcloud.com/stephanay-jnote/01-jazz-on-the-jnote-41016
 

Living Life Like It's "Golden"

Life has its ups and downs but if you can say you had more ups than downs in your life, then you are like me.

Jill Scott was right; we ought to take our freedoms and live life like its "Golden" because any other way would make life a drag. And to have been able to use my freedom to sing about it in this cover was meaningful. Music is said to be like your communication with God or your prayer and it really is a spiritual experience to let your soul ring; especially when live music is involved. 

"I'm living my life like its Golden" and I'm thankful for the blessings of each moment. God is awesome. Please check out my cover on YouTube of Jill Scott's amazing and very inspiring tune here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=THNFaccltsk&feature=share

Thank you for checking out my blogpost. 

Cover of Louis Armstrong's "What A Wonderful World"

Ken Burns said, “Louis Armstrong is quite simply the most important person in American music. He is to 20th century music (I did not say jazz) what Einstein is to physics.” His music has that ability to influence a person’s playing and their mind.

 

He was a native New Yorker who lived in the Corona section of Queens, NY and one of the most significant things about this jazz great to me was that of all the thing is life (the music, the traveling all over the world, his family), what made his world wonderful were the children in the neighborhood running to him and greeting him as Uncle Louis when he came home from touring. After hearing that story at one of the many tours offered at his home, now a museum in Corona, NY, “What A Wonderful World” became one of my favorite tunes.

 

My story is a little different though. I was invited to perform at a Leukemia Foundation Fundraiser hosted by Roxanne Productions and it made me consider a few things.  To have everything and complain is selfish. When I say everything, I mean good health. Once you lose your health, you lose everything. But then to not be in the greatest of help, having to deal with hospital visits and radiation therapy everyday and to make it a cause to benefit others, is going beyond yourself and instead not just drowning in the effects of something but becoming a cause for change. 

 

To see an event like this and to know that people are so beautiful to do things like this, in my opinion, makes the world wonderful. For that reason, I performed and dedicated to this song for the fight and for the cause. What a wonderful world it truly is to still be able to raise up the name of Jesus and bless him the only way a person knows how, in good times and in bad. Thankful, for the opportunity of being part of this awesome event.

 

Please check out the video here:

 

Cover of "Take the A Train"

A cover song is a song that was created by and performed by another artist that is reinterpreted by someone else.

Jazz artists created blueprints of what jazz music is and decades later,  singers and musicians remain entrenched in history when sharing tunes, many of which are known as jazz standards,  with an interpretation of one's own.

There are so many jazz standards that can be added to a repertoire, some of which I am just discovering as I read the book "Jazz Standards" by Ted Gioia which is sort of like an A to Z guide of
standards. Gioia shares the best versions that were ever released and performed of each.

The last few months have been very interesting. I have always loved to sing and always sang with a passion within, but had very little vocal or music training. I guess there is a stubbornness that goes along with a genuine love to sing and liking how the sound is released but without any structure or true knowledge of the theoretical values of music. Then I came across Jazz Mobile and found that musicology is fun.  It is eye opening and really has enriched my life.  So thankful for the opportunity. 

A few things I learned:

- I do not know everything about music
- There is more to singing then singing
- Knowledge is power
- Theory in music is important
- I need to listen more than sing
- Listen a lot to other artists
- Jazz has so much history and I am a part of its culture

In listening more, I have found that there are no limits to versions and interpretations of a song. Not one person sings it the same. And with every version, there is something to love so much that you may even add a bit of it to your way of interpretation.

Such was the case for my performance of "Take the A Train" at the Jazz Mobile Student Recital/Award Ceremony at the end of the three moth jazz workshop I was blessed to participate in. I admit; I find myself listening to on singer more than any other. And in that listening, I lack knowledge on how other singers did it.  Then I nominated myself to sing a song at the recital and the student rehearsal, I took it upon myself to listen to five different versions back-to-back and on repeat mode.  I listened to both instrumental and vocal jazz versions.

Still not a perfect version, but glad I as able to try it and do some improv. Please watch my performance with the students of Jazz Mobile, performed at Wadleigh at our end-of-program recital. How cool that even our recital performance was still somewhat in rehearsal or preparation mode with guidance and direction from our teachers.

 

Thank you for checking out my blog post!