Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Monica Lewis was born May Lewis in Chicago, Illinois on May 5, 1922, the youngest of three children. Her father was a pianist, composer and musical director for CBS, while her mother was a singer with the Chicago Opera Company. She studied voice with her mother and when she was eleven the family moved to New York City due to The Great Depression.
She began singing on radio after a successful audition with WMCA in New York City, which led to her own program. At age seventeen she started working as a singer for a radio show titled Gloom Dodgers in order to support her family while studying at Hunter College. Shortly afterwards Lewis had a radio show titled Monica Makes Music and went on to co-star on The Chesterfield Supper Club radio show.
Winning a part as a singing cigarette girl in the Broadway show Johnny 2X4, her work on Broadway led to performing at the Stork Club. She dropped out of school, changed her name from May to Monica because she thought it was sexier. In 1943 at an audition in Times Square with hundreds of women participating, she earned the part as a singer.
She started singing on Hotel Astor’s roof with Goodman’s orchestra and established her career through nationally broadcast shows. Lewis went on to record for Signature Records, MGM Records, Decca Records, Capitol Records, and Verve Records.
She went on to sing in commercials, became the voice of Miss Chiquita Banana, and appeared on the Toast of the Town which would become the Ed Sullivan Show. It was created and produced by her brother Marlo Lewis.
By 1950 she was signed to a contract with MGM and movies were added to her trades. Over the next three decades she appeared in romantic comedies and disaster films along with television action, crime and western series. Resuming her singing career in the 1980’s and 1990s, she performed at popular clubs in Los Angeles and New York City.
Vocalist Monica Lewis died ten days after an interview with The New Yorker, on June 12, 2015. The article was posthumously published in the September 7, 2015 edition.
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ATLANTA JAZZ FESTIVAL
The 48th annual Atlanta Jazz Festival will take place in Piedmont Park, Midtown Atlanta, on Memorial Day Weekend from May 24th ~ 26th. The festival is free and open to the public, offering a celebration of jazz music, culture, and art.
1:00pm ~ Brandon Woody | Trumpet
3:00pm ~ Tyreek McDole | Vocal
5:00pm ~ Charles McPherson | Saxophone
7:00pm ~ Dianne Reeves | Vocal
9:00pm ~ Joe Gransden Big Band | Trumpet
More Posts: adventure,bandleader,festival,genius,jazz,music,preserving,saxophone,travel,trumpet,vocal
ATLANTA JAZZ FESTIVAL
The 48th annual Atlanta Jazz Festival will take place in Piedmont Park, Midtown Atlanta, on Memorial Day Weekend from May 24th ~ 26th. The festival is free and open to the public, offering a celebration of jazz music, culture, and art.
1:00pm ~ Kenny Banks Jr. | Piano
3:00pm ~ Jarrod Lawson | Vocal, Piano
5:00pm ~ Ravi Coltrane | Tenor & Soprano Saxophone, Clarinet
7:00pm ~ Andromeda Turre | Vocal
9:00pm ~ Russell Gunn & Blackhawk | Trumpet
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ATLANTA JAZZ FESTIVAL
1:00pm ~ Khari Cabral | Bass
3:00pm ~ Aneesa Strings | Bass, Vocal
5:00pm ~ Takuya Kuroda | Trumpet
7:00pm ~ Marsha Ambrosius | Vocal
9:00pm ~ Derrick Hodge | Bass
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ANEESA STRINGS
Aneesa Strings is a bassist, vocalist and composer from Oakland, California. She began playing professionally and recorded her first jazz album at just 13 years old. Aneesa received her Bachelors of Music in Jazz Studies at the University of Southern California in 2014, where she released her first solo album A Shift In Paradigm featuring her single “Simpin”, produced by Patrice Rushen in collaboration with SFJAZZ.
In 2016, Ms. Strings earned her Master’s of Music in Jazz Studies at Michigan State University where she toured as the lead singer of the Bebop Spartans Big Band under the direction of Rodney Whitaker. She is fresh off the release of her 2019 critically acclaimed sophomore album Ways, and has continued to tour world-wide with the likes of Duckworth, Jose James, Kandace Springs and many others.
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