Roy Ayers

Growing up in the 1960s and 1970s I was exposed to all types of music. My parents had a reel to reel tape player. I remember my father sitting in the living at night and transfer his albums to the reel to reel tape player. One of his favorite artist was Roy Ayers, I remember my dad playing the “Everybody Loves the Sunshine” album. My favorite song was and still is “Everybody Loves the Sunshine”, that song is a song that is still inspiring today.

Roy Ayers grew up in Los Angeles, California in "South Central", back then it was called "South Park". This was where the black music scene for musicians’ in Los Angeles back then. When Roy was five years old Lionel Hampton gave him his first pair of vibraphone mallets for the xylophone. Roy Ayers over the decades have put out some amazing albums. Another one I remember is the “Mystic Voyage” album it had an R&B vibe not like “Everybody Loves the Sunshine” jazz sound. Another one of my favorite songs was "Evolution" from the “Mystic Voyage”. I can always tell when I hear a Roy Ayers song; his signature xylophone sound takes me back to my childhood days. The Roy Ayers Project featuring Ayers and many Hip Hop producers is a documentary that is supposed to be released sometime in 2012.

Tune into the Jazz Café 12-1pm Monday through Friday on Streetwise Radio and catch one of Roy Ayers songs. You can also listen to Streetwise Radio on iTunes, MyGen365, Athena365 and live.365.

LM

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

Ahmad Jamal Blue Moon

The first time I heard Ahmad Jamal I was ten years old sitting on the floor in my Aunt Pat’s living room playing jacks that was 1970. My Aunt was playing “The Awakening” album I remember sitting there thinking I’ve never heard anything like this, this man can play. I asked my Aunt who is this she said “one of my favorite jazz pianists Ahmad Jamal”. Ahmad Jamal has been around for five decades he is 81 year young and is still putting out some amazing music. Ahmad Jamal new CD “Blue Moon” swings it and the improvising is Ahmad Jamal at his best. He is truly a piano genius. The songs I really like are “Invitation”, “This is the Life”, “03 Gypsy” and “Blue Moon”. In 2011 he was an inductee to the Downbeat Jazz Hall of Fame. Ahmad Jamal innovator, composer and jazz pianist is still doing his thing on the ivory keys and “Blue Moon” proves it. I give it 4 out of 5 stars. You csan listen to some ongs off of “Blue Moon” on Streetwise Radio. You can also listen to Streetwise Radio on MyGen365, Athena365, live365 or I-Tunes.

LM

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

Jazz Saxophonist Grace Kelly

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Grace Kelly was born Grace Chung on May 15, 1992 in Wellesley, Massachusetts. Grace is of Korean descent. In 1997 her mother remarried Robert Kelly. He legally adopted grace a couple of years later that is how she got the name Grace Kelly. Grace was fortunate to grow up in a family that appreciated music and the arts. Grace’s parents would play Stan Getz while having brunch. Grace fell in love with the saxophone and wanted to play, but was too young. At the age of six Grace started taking classical piano, but she preferred jazz because she could make up her own melodies. When Grace was seven she wrote a song titled “On My Way Home”. While in the 4^th grade Grace tried the clarinet, but switch to the saxophone in the 5^th grade. The saxophone was the instrument she always wanted to play. Grace left High School at 16, got her G.E.D and went to Berklee College of Music where she got her degree in Professional Music in December 2011. Grace was the youngest musician ever to be voted by Down Beat Magazine’s Critics Poll in 2009, 2010 and 2011 as Alto Saxophone Rising Stars. Grace Kelly’s talents don’t stop at jazz saxophonist. Her other talents are vocalist, songwriter, arranger, and bandleader. This young lady does it all. Grace Kelly is truly an jazz saxophone prodigy she has been around the world and played with the likes of some of the greats Wynton Marsalis, Dave Brubeck, Phil Woods, Lee Konitz, Esperanza Spalding, Dianne Reeves, Phil Collins, Harry Connick Jr., Dee Dee Bridgewater, Geri Allen, Ann Hampton Callaway, Cedar Walton Hank Jones, Keith Lockhart, Frank Morgan, Kenny Barron, Cedar Walton, Terri Lynne Carrington Chris Potter and the list goes on.  Her debut CD “Dreaming” was released in 2004. She was only 12 years old. Seven CD’s later Grace Kelly released the self-titled CD “Grace” in 2011.She is 19 years old and still blowing the saxophone like she has been doing it for 30 years or more. I like Grace Kelly she is a talented musician that we’re going to hear from for a long time to come. You can listen to Grace Kelly on Streetwise Radio Jazz Café 12-1pm or on live365, Athena365, MyGen365 and iTunes.

LM

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grace_Kelly_%28musician%29

Saxophonist Jafar Idris

Jafar Idris is from Gary Indiana the birthplace of the late great Michael Jackson. Jafar Idris and his twin brother are the youngest of nine siblings. When Jafar Idris was ten years old he picked up the Saxophone. I know I’m glad he did and a lot of people are too, this young brother can blow! Jafar Idris his not only a talent on the Saxophone he is also a smart educated brother. While he was in high school he earned all A’s and became the first African American Valedictorian at Merrilville Senior High School in 90 years. Jafar Idris takes the covers of a variety of music artists like Chris Brown, Mariah Carey, Alicia Keyes, India Arie, Pleasure P, Keyisha Cole, Luther Vandross, Miguel, Usher, and Michael Jackson. Jafar Idris plays the saxophone to his interpretation of the song and it is truly wonderful. Jafar Idris plays the sax on some of the covers, I feel better than the artists singing them. I have listened to a lot of great saxophone players and I must say Jafar Idris is up there with them, he may be young but I know we will be well know real soon. Jafar is an unsigned independent artist, who needs to be signed. I can listen to Jafar Idris all day, the saxophone is one of my favorite instruments it’s so sexy! If you have never heard of Jafar Idris you need to tune into Streetwise Radio Jazz Café 12-1pm, you’re in for a treat. You can also tune into Streetwise Radio on iTunes, live365, Athena365, MyGen365.

LM

http://www.myspace.com/jafaridris

http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=jafar+idris+saxophone&oq=jafar+idri&aq=1&aqi=g4&aql=&gs_sm=1&gs_upl=1014524l1021821l0l1026322l10l10l0l3l3l0l314l1192l0.5.1.1l7l0

Etta James (January 25, 1938 – January 20, 2012)

Etta James born Jamesetta Hawkins she lost her battle with leukemia five days before her 74^th birthday. Etta James mother Dorothy Hawkins had Etta when she was fourteen years old in Los Angeles California. Etta James never knew who her father was, but she thought he was Rudolf “Minnesota Fat” Wanderone the pool player. Etta James had a turbulent childhood; her mother was not in the picture so Etta lived with caregivers, Sarge and Mama Lu. When Etta was five years old Sarge would get drunk during his poker games and beat Etta into sing for him and his poker buddies. This was very traumatic for Etta James she always had a reluctance to sing on demand. Mama Lu died in 1950, so Etta’s mother took her to San Francisco she was 12 years old. While living in San Francisco she sang with doo-woop group the Creolettes. When Etta was 14 years old she met Johnny Otis who signed the group to Modern Records and changed the name of the group to the Peaches. The Peaches released “Dance with Me, Henry” which Etta co-authored. The song reached number one on the Hot Rhythm & Blues chart. This song gave the Peaches an opening spot on Little Richards national tour. When Etta left the Peaches she released “Good Rockin’ Daddy” which was an R&B hit. It is said by Bobby Murray aka “Taters” who toured with Etta for 20 years, that at age 16 Etta went steady with B.B King and Etta believed the B.B. King’s song “Sweet Sixteen” was about her. From 1960 through 1978 Etta James had a string of hits, “If I Can’t Have You”, “Spoonful”, “All I Could Do Was Cry”, “My Dearest Darling”, “The Fool That I Am’, “Don’t Cry Baby”, Something’s Got a Hold on Me”, “Pushover”, “ Tell Mama”, “I’d Rather Go Blind”, “Losers Weepers”, “I Found a Love” and her signature song “At Last”. The song “At Last” I my opinion should have been sung at the Presidential Inauguration ball by the one and only Etta James instead of Beyoncé. That was Etta’s song she was still alive she had a hard life and paid her paid her dues. Etta James musical style throughout her career was blues, rhythm and blues, rock and roll, soul, gospel and jazz. I never had the pleasure of seeing Etta James perform in person, but my husband did, when he was playing with Maria Mulduar and John Lee Hooker back in the late 90s and early 2000s. Etta James will be missed, but her songs will live on.

LM

http://news.yahoo.com/legendary-blues-singer-etta-james-dies-calif-163709371.html

Passing of a Legend Ralph McDonald (March 15, 1944-December 18.2011)

Ralph McDonald was a percussionist, song-writer, musical arranger, record producer, steelpan (drum) virtuoso and philanthropist. Ralph McDonald grew up in Harlem New York, his father was a calypsonian and bandleader who was from Trinidad and Tobago who went by the stage name was “Macbeth the Great”. Ralph McDonald’s musical talent in the steelpan drums landed him a job playing on the Harry Belafonte outfit when he was seventeen. Ralph McDonald left the Harry Belafonte after ten years that was in 1967. Ralph McDonald, Bill Eaton and William Salter formed the Antisia Music Inc. Ralph’s McDonalds big break came when he and William Slater wrote “Where Is The Love” recorded by Roberta Flack and Donny Hathaway in 1971. This song is a classic and one of my all-time favorites. It won a Grammy Award for Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal. It also sold a million copies and was awarded gold status. Ralph McDonald played on this song. Ralph McDonald was best known for is song “Just the Two of Us” a mega hit by sung Bill Withers and Mr. Magic also done by saxophonist Grover Washington Jr. The story behind “Just the Two of Us” (came to Ralph MacDonald after a glossy brochure in the showcase of a Trinidad and Tobago Tourist Board New York office caught his eye (The Tourist Board is the precursor to the Trinidad and Tobago Tourism Development Company). On the cover of the brochure was a picture of a girl on a warm sunny Tobago beach inviting the US tourist to come to the twin-isle tropical state to "discover the both of us". It must have at once brought back a yearning for home, as Ralph immediately began humming a melody built upon lyrics centered around the catchy phrase :)

I see the crystal raindrops fall And the beauty of it all Is when the sun comes shining through To make those rainbows in my mind And I think of you sometime And I want to spend sometime with you

Just the two of us...

This is in my opinion one of the prettiest lyrical songs and another one of my favorites. Ralph McDonald recorded with hundreds of artist I’m going to list a few Burt Bacharach, George Benson, David Bowie, Aretha Franklin, Art Garfunkel, Billy Joel, Quincy Jones, Carole King, Miriam Makeba, David Sanborn, Paul Simon, Steely Dan, James Taylor, Luther Vandross, Amy Winehouse, Bob James, Ashford and Simpson, Nana Mouskouri, The Average White Band, Hall and Oates, The Brothers Johnson, and Jimmy Buffett. Ralph McDonald was featured percussionists on George Benson’s “Breezin” album in 1976, Carole King’s “Thoroughbred” album 1975 and Looking Glass’s “Subway Serenade” album in 1973. I’m writing this blog on Ralph McDonald because of my husband Bryant Mills who is a drummer. He always talked to me about his two idols Ralph McDonald and Harvey Mason ever since we met back in 1984. He would say his playing style came from Ralph McDonald and Harvey Mason. People need to know the history behind songs who wrote them and why they were written. Ralph McDonald was great musician, he will be missed.

LM

Wayman Tisdale

Wayman Lawrence Tisdale born June 9, 1964 Wayman grew up in Tulsa, Oklahoma he was a preacher’s kid, he had two older brothers. Wayman was a professional basketball player in the NBA and a smooth jazz bass guitarist. Wayman’s first love was music where he played bass at his father’s church. When he was in the eighth grade he learned how to dunk he became a great player. His freshman and sophomore year at Tulsa High School he won award for the most points scored in a game his record still stands to this day. Wayman was three times Big Eight Conference Player of the Year and the first collegiate player to be named first team All American by the Associated Press his freshman, sophomore and junior year. Wayman Tisdale was drafted to the NBA as second pick by the Indiana Pacers in 1985; he also played Sacramento Kings and the Phoenix Suns. Wayman Tisdale played in the NBA from 1985 through 1996; he retired in 1997 to focus on his music career. In 1995 Wayman Tisdale came out with his is first album called “Power Forward”. In 2001 “Face to Face” is second album went to No. 1 on Billboards contemporary jazz chart. Wayman’s album “Rebound” was released after his cancer diagnoses in 2007. Wayman Tisdale musical influences were the funk bands of the 1970’s. I had the pleasure to see Wayman Tisdale live at the Oakland Arts & Wine festival he put on a great show; he had the crowd on their feet. When he was done the crowd was shouting more, he was a great musician and showman. Wayman Tisdale has a new album that was released on November 21, 2011 called “The Wayman Tisdale Story”; this album is jazzy, funky and soulful. I really like this album, the songs “Tell It Like It Tis”, “It’s Alright”, “Ready To Hang”, “Let’s Ride”, “Gabrielle”, “Glory Glory” and “Cryin For Me” is my favorites. This album has a little something for the jazz heads and the funksters. You can listen to Wayman Tisdale on Streetwise Radio.

LM

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