JACKIEM JOYNER

Contemporary saxophonist, author, and music producer Jackiem Joyner has set the bar high in his close 20 years as a performer.  With a number one jazz album, several Billboard chart-topping hits, and a series of critically acclaimed booksto his name, he has shown himself to be the rare artist capable of transcending his instrument and reaching a mainstream audience.

Now, as he begins the 18th year of his career during a time of unprecedented change in the entertainment industry, he remains as focused on his art as ever.

Jackiem was born in Norfolk, VA.  At an early age, he began to show signs of the restless creativity that would later define his career.  Despite his humble upbringing, he was able to get his hands on a saxophone as a child.  The instrument quickly became his constant companion.  After years of practice, he emerged in style with 2007’s ‘Babysoul.’ A masterclass in seductive smooth jazz, the album marked the arrival of a brilliant instrumentalist, and set the stage for a prolific recording career that would include Grammy runner ups, hit singles, and no shortage of critical adoration, right up through 2019’s ‘Touch’, and on to 2020’s EP “Journey of Passion”

As a performer, he has toured over 30 countries and performed with the likes of the late George Duke, Marcus Miller, Keiko Matsui, Donnie McClurkin, Angela Bofill, Najee, Kirk Whalum, Peter White, and many others.

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VERONICA SWIFT

Veronica Swift’s new eponymously titled album, her third for Mack Avenue Records, is a masterful coming-out story. On her previous albums, Confessions (2019) and This Bitter Earth (2021), she ascended to the upper echelon of early 21st century jazz singers because of her virtuosic brilliance, interpretive ingenuity, bracing songwriting, and keen arrangements. Simply put, Swift is not only one of the most dazzling singers to emerge in her generation, she’s one of the most versatile.

While her first two albums solidified her position in modern jazz, Veronica Swift shows that she’s more than a jazz singer, exploring French and Italian opera, European classical music, bossa nova, blues, industrial rock, funk, and vaudeville. She pulls the feat off without the results sounding callow or pastiche. Swift’s expansive artistic voice remains firmly intact regardless of genre.

Swift describes this personal artistic statement on her new album as “transgenre.” “I grew up immersed in the culture of jazz music, blessed to have had some of the greats as mentors, and I felt a deep familial duty to uphold that tradition,” she says, reflecting on her parents – jazz singer and educator, Stephanie Nakasian, and bebop pianist, Hod O’Brien.

“But as rooted in jazz as I’ve been, there’s a uniquely visceral power in rock and soul music that’s always fueled my creative passion, and rather than mask or confine that part of my identity, the people I admire most show themselves unabashedly and that’s the kind of tradition I want to be a part of.”

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DELFEAYO MARSALIS & MARTHA REEVES

Motown Meets The Big Easy – Delfeayo Marsalis & Martha Reeves will bring a magical evening, filled with music from two of America’s iconic cities and their complex musical cultures, to Keystone Korner Baltimore!

Grammy-winner Delfeayo Marsalis is one of the top trombonists, composers and producers in jazz today. Known for his technical excellence, inventive mind and frequent touches of humor, he is “one of the best, most imaginative and musical of the trombonists of his generation,” (Philip Elwood, San Francisco Examiner). In 2011, Delfeayo and the Marsalis family (father Ellis and brothers Branford, Wynton and Jason) earned the nation’s highest jazz honor – a National Endowment for the Arts Jazz Masters Award. Marsalis has toured internationally with jazz legends such as Ray Charles, Art Blakey, Max Roach, Elvin Jones and Slide Hampton, as well as leading his own groups. As a cultural activist, he has founded three non-profits – Uptown Music Theatre, Uptown Jazz Orchestra and Keep New Orleans Music Alive – all of which are designed to strengthen the community in his hometown of New Orleans.

Martha Reeves has made her imprint in the history books and in pop culture for her string of hit Motown songs in the 1960’s and early 1970’s including such hits as “Dancing in the Street”, “My Baby Loves Me”, “Come and Get These Memories”, “Nowhere to Run”, “Quick Sand”, “(Love is Like a ) Heatwave”, “Jimmy Mack” and “Bless You”. Martha was front and center as the lead singer of the legendary Motown girl group, Martha Reeves and the Vandellas, who are listed among Rolling Stone magazine’s 100 Immortal Artists of all time. Martha Reeves and the Vandellas were also nominated for a Grammy Award for Best R&B Performance for “Heat Wave”. She was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1995 and is also the recipient of the Dinah Washington Award, a Rhythm n’ Blues Foundation Pioneer Award, and a Black Woman in Publishing Legends Award. 2023 marks Martha’s 60th anniversary of her first two albums with Motown both from 1963, Come and Get These Memories and Heat Wave.

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NICOLE HENRY WINTER CONCERT

This is her 10th Anual Winter Concert to benefit SAVE Foundation and Miami Music Project.

About The Benefiting Non-Profits

SAVE Foundation: SAVE Foundation is recognized as South Florida’s longest-serving organization dedicated to protecting people who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) against discrimination.  Since 1993, SAVE has advocated for equal rights for persons of all sexual orientations and gender identities.

Miami Music Project: Since 2009, Miami Music Project has emerged as a model for music education programs nationally, offering after-school programming free of charge using music as an instrument of social change. Through the study and performance of music, they empower children to acquire values and achieve their full potential, positively affecting their society.

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THE BAYLOR PROJECT

Join us for The Gathering 2023 kick off with a concert to benefit Hammonds House Museum featuring 6X Grammy Award nominated husband and wife duo, The Baylor Project, at the Ray Charles Performing Arts Center on the campus of Morehouse College at 8:00 PM. In addition to an evening of amazing and masterful performance, there will be a silent auction, an opportunity to win a fine art print by one of Atlanta’s critically acclaimed visual artists and VIP meet and greet with The Baylors at a pre-reception at 7:00pm.

A husband.  A wife.  An astonishing duo built on love, family, faith, culture and community.

These are the things that power The Baylor Project featuring Jean Baylor and Marcus Baylor.  This enticing collaboration is steeped in the heart and soul of jazz.  As the children of Pastors, Marcus’ and Jean’s musical roots were planted deep within the church, and it was there that the road was paved for the influence of jazz, gospel, blues and soul to make it’s mark. Their debut CD “The Journey“, released on their own label, Be A Light, topped the Billboard Jazz Chart at Number 8 in 2017 and a year later garnered 2 GRAMMY® Nominations for Best Jazz Vocal Album and Best Traditional R&B Performance. Two years later during one of the most challenging years in recent history, The Baylors released their single, “Sit On Down” in 2020 which earned a 3rd GRAMMY® Nomination for Best Traditional R&B Performance, solidifying The Baylor Project as an undeniable force. Their second album, “Generations,” released in 2021 earned the duo its first NAACP Image Award win for Outstanding Jazz Album-Vocal and it’s 4th GRAMMY® Nomination for Best Jazz Vocal Album.  And their first live album, “The Evening : Live At APPARATUS” earned The Baylors their 5th and 6th GRAMMY® Nominations for Best Jazz Vocal Album and Best Improvised Jazz Solo.

Marcus and Jean Baylor signed an exclusive distribution agreement, in partnership with their artist-owned label, Be A Light with Motown Gospel (a division of Capitol CMG/Capitol and Universal Music Group) making The Baylor Project’s catalogue available for the first time across all streaming platforms.

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