Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Layla Angulo was born March 12, 1976 to a Greek mother and an Irish-American father and started playing the piano at age 6. However, it was her grandfather’s upright bass playing that inspired her to learn the saxophone at age 10. She began playing in jazz clubs during high school. After graduation, she played in various funk, jazz, and pop and groups and performed as the horn section leader of various salsa bands around the Northwest.
Developing the idea to write her own music. Soon after Layla released her debut album, Live at The Triple Door, was recorded at the noted Seattle theater in 2005. The album’s first single Que Te Vaya Bien was Top 10 for three months. Mientras, her sophomore album, was recorded in New York with Arturo O’Farrill, Oscar Estagnaro, Tony Escapa, and Dario Escanazi and released in 2008.
Moving to New York City in 2009, she subsequently spent a year on tour with reggaeton artist Don Omar. Her third album TriAngulo gave up a single, No Se Como Olvidarte that rose to #16 on the Billboard Tropical Charts. Another song from TriAngulo, La Pelicula, reached #1 in the National Latin Record Pool.
On March 24, 2015, the International Songwriting Competition announced its 2014 Finalists, including Layla’s song Dame Todo.
Alto saxophonist, composer, singer, band director, and recording artist known professionally by the mononym Layla, continues to specialize in Latin music.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Ofer Assaf was born on March 10, 1976 in Israel and went to the Thelma Yellin High School of the Arts dividing his time between his two passions: music and dance, and started training as a professional ballet dancer at the age of eight before switching to a full-time jazz career. He won the Israeli National Competition in Jazz and Contemporary Music for young musicians in 1991. He went on to become a member of the Air Force and IDF Orchestras of the Israeli Army, played with the Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra, and a diverse array of national TV and radio shows. He has performed with leading Israeli musicians and was a member of the Tel Aviv Big Band in the mid-1990’s.
Moving to New York City in 1997 he entered The New School University’s jazz program and also studied with tenor saxophonist Billy Harper, bassist Reggie Workman, pianist Richie Beirach, trumpeter Jimmy Owens and percussionists Bobby Sanabria. Upon graduation in 2002, Ofer performed with Wayne Shorter and Herbie Hancock at Carnegie Hall as part of the JVC Jazz Festival.
A recipient of scholarships and awards from the Eubie Blake National Jazz Institute and the America-Israel Cultural Foundation, he was pre-nominated for the Grammy Awards in the “Best Jazz Instrumental Album” category in 2009 for his debut album Tangible Reality for Summit Records. With the Bernie Worrell Orchestra he was awarded “Best Funk/Fusion/Jam Song of the Year” at the 12th annual Independent Music Awards in 2013.
Tenor saxophonist, composer and educator Ofer Assaf continues to perform and conduct workshops around the world.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Mayuto Correa was born March 9, 1943 in São Gonçalo, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil and began playing in local bands from the age of twelve when he became a member of the big band Rapazes da Alvorada. At age 16 he formed the ensemble Samba Show with musicians from Niterói and made several recordings for the CBS label with them.
In the 1960s Correa was the artistic director of Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro where he wrote and directed several plays. During this time, he also made several recordings in Brazil and worked as the musical director for the shows of Maria Bethânia, Elza Soares, and Eliana Pittman as well as playing in Roberto Carlos’s ensemble RC-7 and performing in Chacrinha’s television shows.
Leaving Brazil for Mexico in 1969 he worked with the Brazilian bossa nova group Tamba 4 before moving to the United States. Establishing himself as a musician in Los Angeles, California in the early 1970s, Mayuto became a vital session player in hundreds of major and minor albums taped in the city by 1977.
Some of the artists he recorded with are Howard Roberts, Charles Lloyd, Nat Adderley, Cannonball Adderley, Cal Tjader, Miriam Makeba, Gábor Szabó, Gato Barbieri, Kenny Burrell, Moacir Santos, Donald Byrd, Henry Mancini, Jon Lucien, Freddie Hubbard, and Richard “Groove” Holmes, among numerous others.
During that period he toured with many of the artists and became the record producer for the Argentine group Arco Iris. He returned to Brazil in 1972 when he toured with Carlos Santana and again in 1979 when he appeared on the Rede Globo television show Sexta Super.
Among his compositions is the soundtrack for the 1979 documentary Homeboys depicting Chicano youth gang culture in East Los Angeles, California. In the later years of his career, Correa performed with his bands Mayuto & Genuises 2000, Mayuto & The Dream Team Big Band, and Mayuto & Samba Pack.
Mayuto Correa continues to perform, record and tour.
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VANISHA GOULD
Vanisha Gould is a transfixing storyteller, singer, and songwriter who moved to New York in 2015 from her homeland of Simi Valley, CA. Inspired by Billie Holiday, Sarah Vaughan, Joni Mitchell, Carmen McRae and Ella Fitzgerald. She successfully developed her own sound as a singer, composer, and band leader. Vanisha adds a distinctive voice to the jazz genre with her sensual and soulful singing. She has received recognition for her talent for bringing emotion to her performances and enthralling audiences with her sincere renditions.
Jazz classics and contemporary elements are combined in Vanisha’s music. Her Smooth Jazz approach mixes R&B and soul components, giving her music a modern feel while still adhering to the jazz tradition. Her voice serves as the focal point of her song, and she uses it to express a variety of feelings, including joy, passion, heartbreak, and longing.
The sister of talented pianist Victor Gould, Vanisha is a rising jazz artist who engages audiences all over the world with her distinctive voice and performance style. For everyone who enjoys jazz, her performances are a must-see. Her music is a monument to the genre’s continuing force. Vanisha performs her own original songs as well as music from the Great American Songbook at jazz clubs in New York City, such as Dizzy’s Club, as a Lincoln Center Emerging Artist, and overseas.
Some of her collaborations include “In Her Words” with Lucy Yeghiazaryan (2021), “Day Dream” with Eden Bareket (2021), “New York Moment” with the JC Hopkins Biggish Band (2020), and “No Fear. Full of Love” with Giedrius Nakas (2018) among others.
Lineup: Vanisha Gould, vocals | Chris McCarthy, piano | Matt Dwonszyk, bass
Tickets: $25.00 +fee
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Dom Minasi was born on March 6, 1943 in New York City, New York and was primarily self-taught, a natural musician. In his youth he backed singers and played his share of rock and roll, church dances and small jazz combo gigs beginning when he was fifteen.
While launching his professional career at a young age with Blue Note Records he took on numerous private students. In the mid-1970s, however, Blue Note was being sold and Minasi dropped out of the recording scene and over the next fifteen years he began freelancing, going back to school and occasionally performing with Dennis Moorman.
1993 saw Dom doing off-Broadway shows, writing hundreds of compositions and working with youth in the New York public school system. While doing all this he wrote several books on music disciplines, improvisation, theory and chord substitutions.
By the turn of the century he returned to producing compact discs for his independent label. He would go on to collaborate with a host of musicians and his improvisational excursions opened up a new audience.
Guitarist, composer, and music producer Dom Minasi, who recorded thirteen albums as a leader, died on August 1, 2023, at the age of 80.
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