Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Antonio Underwood was born on July 7, 1960 in Charlottesville, Virginia. He matriculated through the Yale School of Music as a Classical Tuba Major, where he was awarded several honors. Graduating in 1987 he has since been a member of the two-time Grammy Award winning McCoy Tyner Big Band.
He began his career playing in NYC clubs at the age of nineteen and has performed alongside Max Roach, Jerry Gonzalez, Julius Preister, Delfeayo Marsalis, Bob Belden, Christian McBride, Cecil Taylor, Cecil Bridgewater, Vincent Herring, Joshua Redman, Javon Jackson, Lester Bowie, John Faddis, Charlie Haden, Eddie Henderson, Billy Harper, and the list goes on.
He has been a cast member of Broadway musicals Juan Darien, Jelly’s Last Jam, One Mo’ Time and Further Mo. Tony’s composition and orchestration credits include recordings by Be Be Winans, Terry Dexter, John Purcell, The World Saxophone Quartet, Anthony Montgomery, among others. Owner of his own published material (380), brass quartets published by TAP Music (Iowa), and Jazz compositions published by ENJA Music, Germany.
Underwood has scored films Rumbling of the Earth and Shadows of the Dead. He has produced tracks for Lisa Fischer, Katreese Barnes, Steve Jordan, and Anthony Jackson. He is the first Black person to be a George Lucas scholar to the Scoring for Motion Pictures and Television program at USC and is a Fulbright Scholar Lecturer in Serbia.
Tubist, composer and lecturer Tony Underwood continues to perform, compose and lecture.
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SACHAL VASANDANI
Sachal Vasandani is recognized for his singular voice, with a tone and unique phrasing that mark him as one of the most compelling artists on the scene today. Thoroughly rooted in jazz, Sachal has the swagger to front the most swinging big bands and the vulnerability to present definitive takes of classic ballads. His deeply creative approach to improvisation across lyrics, melodic changes and time signatures is always soulful, and he has come to be regarded as one of the eminent vocal improvisers of his generation.
His latest album, Best Life Now, produced by renowned drummer Nate Smith, was released in early 2025, following the success of his 2022 project Still Life with pianist Romain Collin. With a career spanning critically acclaimed albums such as Shadow Train and Slow Motion Miracles, he has worked with a stellar lineup of musicians including Milton Nascimento, Wynton Marsalis, Bobby McFerrin, and Jon Hendricks.
Cover: $30.00 ~ $35.00 + fee | Streaming: $15.00 +fee
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LAVAHI
Carrie’s Corner Presents: Jazz Under The Stars
Lavahi is a scholar-artist on a mission to better society from the inside out. Through her music, scholarship, and performance, she is building a platform to nourish the heart and mind, empathize our human experiences, and vibe together.
As a daughter of jazz, the culture heavily informs her ideology and influences her sound. Acrobatic scatting, compelling chords, and the art of improvisation evoke that classic traditional aesthetic and set her contemporary sound apart from the norm of mainstream neo-soul, hip hop, and R&B. And with her satisfying blend of analog and digital sounds, Lavahi shows that the lineage of Black sound is not linear but ever folding and stretching.
Suggested Donation: $30.00
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Charles William Jenkins was born July 5, 1956 in Bromley, Kent, England and was known to the jazz and blues worlds as Billy. He began learning the violin from the age of nine and two years later added piano and choir. By twelve he taught himself to play the guitar.
As a young teenager, Billy started regular jam sessions in the basement of the bohemian twenty-three room former hotel where he grew up. This jam session attracted many local contemporaries, his best friend at the time, Bill Broad, who the world came to know as Billy Idol and Steven Bailey, later to become Steven Severin.
During those teen years he performed in local church halls, USAF Bases in East Anglia, riverside pubs, local colleges and clubs under various names 1970-72. Jenkins toured and recorded for Arista Record’s Clive Davis with art rock band Burlesque from 1972-77, performed as a young adult with ‘alternative musical comedy’ duo The Fantastic Trimmer & Jenkins from 1979-82 and drummer Ginger Baker before founding the VOGC, the Voice of God Collective.
From 1983 – 93 he lived and worked at Wood Wharf Rehearsal Studios in Greenwich, England. Since then Billy has produced a large body of over 40 recorded albums including Scratches of Spain, Motorway At Night, Entertainment USA and Music For Two Cassette Machines. Some of his recordings are about his SE London environs and include Sounds Like Bromley, Greenwich, Still Sounds Like Bromley and Suburbia.
Guitarist, composer and bandleader Billy Jenkins, who is immersed in improvisation as ell as standards, continues to pursue his love of jazz and blues.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Maria Speight was born in Savannah, Georgia on July 4, 1958 and got a head start in the world of jazz, as her birthplace is the home of kindred brother, lyricist Johnny Mercer. The oldest of five siblings, her mother thrust her onstage at her local church when she was six. From that moment on she was hooked.
Her dad was exposed to everything from opera to jazz and her mother taught Maria about Gospel music, and was exposed to so many influences of music, and have found they are part of her style. In college she studied operatic voice for four years, however, after her last recital she realized opera wasn’t for her. It was at this point six years later that she found jazz.
Touring professionally fourteen years with a gospel band and paid her dues for her life in jazz. Her style is in the vein of Ella Fitzgerald, Sarah Vaughan and Peggy Lee and the standards she performs endure.
Now based in Perth, Scotland she is new on the jazz scene. She weaves rich colours and textures into every swinging note with the Maria Speight Quintet.
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