New Orleans Artist Mykia Jovan Shines at Essencefest

                                                                       Mykia Jovan

By Shelah Moody

Photo by Douglass Washington

Mykia Jovan performs at 8 p.m., Friday, July 6, Good Vibes Superlounge, 2018, Essence Festival, Mercedes Benz Superdome, New Orleans, LA. essence.com.

She’s a bit Erykah Badu, a bit Ledisi, a bit Teena Marie and a bit Nina Simone. She’s a bit R&B and a bit jazz, she says, but most importantly, Mykia Jovan is a storyteller.

Jovan, one of the hottest young stars to emerge from New Orleans, performs for the first time at the 2018 Essence Festival at the Mercedes Benz Superdome on July 6.

For Jovan, who maintains a regular Sunday night gig at the Blue Nile on Frenchman Street in New Orleans, performing at Essencefest  on the bill with the likes of Janet Jackson, Mary J. Blige, Fantasia and Ledisi is a dream come true.

“I have so much in my back pocket that I’m going to take some chances on for this performance,” Jovan said. “It’s only 45 minutes, so I’m gonna go big!”

Born and raised in New Orleans, Jovan studied theater at the New Orleans Center for Creative Arts. She ventured into music because she was trying to avoid auditioning through the theater process, she said.

“Music has definitely helped me build my confidence,” said Jovan. “I’ve been privileged to work at the Blue Nile and cut my teeth on the stage and take my time and figure out my craft.”

In April of this year, Jovan performed at the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival, affectionately known to locals as Jazzfest, for the for the first time as a solo act with her own band.

“I’ve done Jazziest a few times with Kermit Ruffins and the Barbecue Swingers, but this was my first time being able to present myself and my original music,” said Jovan. “It was very exciting and I had a great time.”

Sunday nights at the Blue Nile, Jovan and her band perform songs from her debut album, “Elliyahu,” independently produced and recorded in New Orleans. Once you hear tracks from “Elliyahu,” such as “Creep,” “Feast on the Flower,” “Idle Mind”  and “16 Shots,” which addresses the long running obsession with race, class and skin color in the south, you will be hooked. Here’s a clip of her Blue Nile performance:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=cwQtR1W1fNI

“Blend in, and stay out the sun, because the darker you are, the shorter the run,” Jovan sings in soaring soprano.

“The title means ‘highest, most exhausted one,’  but I added an ‘L’ to the name to kind of take away the idea of me speaking about God and more about idolatry—how we find God in people and how interpersonal relationships affect personal growth and development as individuals,” said Jovan.

“The whole album is centered around times in my life where I felt that I was looking outside of myself for something that was already the inside. That’s what you heard tonight—a bunch of love songs reaching for someone, and then eventually, I figure out how to reach within myself.”

Follow her @ mykiajovan.com.

RENOWNED MUSICIAN DELFEAYO MARSALIS BRINGS THE SOUNDS OF NEW ORLEANS TO BRAZIL

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NEW ORLEANS, LA— Grammy winning trombonist and New Orleans native Delfeayo Marsalis will bring the sounds of New Orleans jazz to Sao Paulo’s Bourbon Street Music Club, Mangaratiba Jazz and Blues Festival, as well as venues in Natal, Brazil from October 21-25. Marsalis will travel with his sextet, vocalist Sharon Martin, saxophonist David Caceres, pianist Kyle Roussell, bassist David Pulphus, and drummer Peter Varnado. These performances will promote exchange experiences between Brazilian music and New Orleans jazz. 
“It’s inspiring to bring the beauty of one city to another on such a grand scale,” says Marsalis. “It’s an honor to continue showcasing New Orleans jazz internationally through various initiatives.” 
Modeled after New Orleans restaurants and jazz venues, Sao Paulo’s famous Bourbon Street Music Club brings Louisiana heritage to Sao Paulo through food and music. The Marsalis’ sextet will perform on October 21, at 10 p.m. BRT (Brazilian Time). 
The inaugural Mangaratiba Jazz & Blues Festival will take place on the Green Coast from October 23-October 25 with Marsalis’ group performing on October 23 at 8 p.m. 
The Brazilian tour will close in Natal, Brazil with the band performing at the 5º MPB Jazz Fest. This festival begins on October 21 and Marsalis’ sextet will perform on the festival’s final day, October 25 at 5 p.m. 
For more information, visit delfeayomarsalis.com, like him on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DelfeayoMarsalis, follow him on Twitter: @delfeayo
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About Delfeayo Marsalis 
Delfeayo Marsalis is one of the top trombonists, composers, and producers in jazz today. He is also a member of the famed “first family of jazz,” which includes Marsalis’ father and pianist Ellis Marsalis, and brothers, saxophonist Branford Marsalis, trumpeter Wynton Marsalis, and percussionist Jason Marsalis. Marsalis also showcases his talent through literature and drama. He is author of the award-winning children’s book No Cell Phone Day and founder of Uptown Music Theatre (UMT). Since 2000, UMT has provided professional dramatic arts training to New Orleans youth, encouraging them to explore the world from different perspectives. 

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Terence Blanchard

Born Terencee Oliver Blanchard on March 13, 1962, in New Orleans, Louisiana, is a jazz trumpeter, bandleader, composer, arranger, and film score composer. At an early age Terance was destine to be a musician. When he was five he began playing the piano. At the age of eight he started playing the trumpet after hearing Alvin Alcom play. Terance played alongside his childhood friend Wynton Marsalis in summer music camps. When he was in high school, he started studying at the New Orleans Center for Creative Arts (NOCCA) under Roger Dickerson and Ellis Marsalis, Jr... Terance studied under jazz saxophonist Paul Jeffrey and trumpeter Bill Fielder, at Rutgers University from 1980 to 1982 while touring with Lionel Hampton. Wynton Marsalis recommended Terance to replace him in Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers in 1982. Terance was the band’s trumpeter and musical director. The quintet consisted of Blakey as co-leader, saxophonist Donald Harrison and pianist Mulgrew Miller. In the 1980’s Terance became a provident figure in the Jazz Resurgence movement. Terance went solo in 1990 and he recorded his self-titled debut for Columbia Records. This album reached number three on the Billboard Jazz Charts. Terance also composes film scores. He has worked a lot with Spike Lee. His music has been on some of Spike Lee’s classic movies, Do the Right Thing, Mo' Better Blues, Jungle Fever, Malcolm X, Clockers, Summer of Sam, 25th Hour and Inside Man. Spike Lee is not the only director Terance has composed for. He has composed for Leon Ichaso, Ron Shelton and Kasi Lemmons. Entertainment Weekly proclaimed Blanchard "central to a general resurgence of jazz composition for film." Blanchard was quoted as saying in a 1994 interview, "Writing for film is fun, but nothing can beat being a jazz musician, playing a club, playing a concert". I really started listening to Terance Blanchard in 1994. When he came out with the album “In My Solitude: The Billie Holiday Songbook”. Since then I have been a fan. Some of the songs I really like are, Harvesting Dance, Child's Play, Dos Sperm, Avgo, Bounce/Let's Go Off, Sleeping Is Naturelle and Footprints, Levees. Terance Blanchard is going to be playing the San Jose Jazz Festival in August 12, 2012 at 2pm on the main stage. The San Jose Jazz Festival is going on August 10^th to 12^th. If you have no plans the second of August come week out to the San Jose Jazz Festival. You can listen to songs from Terance Blanchard on Streetwise Radio. You can also listen to Streetwise Radio on ITunes, live365.com, Athena365.com and MyGen365.com.

LM

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terence_Blanchard

http://jazzfest.sanjosejazz.org/