TATIANA EVA~MARIE & THE AVALON JAZZ BAND

Tatiana Eva-Marie – Vocals | Gabe Terracciano – Violin | Dion Berardo – Guitar | Max O’Rourke – Guitar | Wallace Stelzer – Bass

Nicknamed the Gypsy-jazz Warbler by the New York Times, Tatiana Eva-Marie is a transatlantic bandleader, singer, author, and actress based in Brooklyn. She plays French pop derived from the Django tradition with Balkan Gypsy and folk influences.

Accruing over 70 million views on YouTube, Tatiana Eva-Marie was acclaimed as a millennial shaking up the jazz scene by magazine Vanity Fair. She performs regularly in New York at various clubs (Blue Note, Dizzy’s, Lincoln Center, Symphony Space, Birdland, Joe’s Pub…), across the USA (New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, Freight and Salvage, Jazz Aspen Snowmass, Tucson Jazz Festival…) and around the world.

Though her interests have led her to explore a wide range of musical styles, Tatiana Eva-Marie’s craft is always inspired by her own French and Balkan heritage; a love for the Parisian art scene era spanning the 1920s to the 60s; a passion for traditional Gypsy songs; a fascination for New Orleans music; and a deep connection to the Great American Songbook.

Born into a family of musicians, painters, and poets, Tatiana began her career at age four, immersed in the world of show business. Before her twenties, she had already recorded many albums, established herself as an actress on the Paris stage, written and directed two musicals, while pursuing a Master’s Degree in medieval studies at the Sorbonne University. Completely dedicated to an interdisciplinary approach to artistic creation, she developed a fascination for the Renaissance Man archetype and began to travel the world collaborating with artists of various spheres. She soon chose New York as her home base, where she quickly built up a reputation as a singer, and started the Avalon Jazz Band, which became overnight the number one reference for French swing around the world. With her musicians, she performed on some of the most important American stages and became the international ambassador of “1930s Paris”.

In the past few years, incapable of abandoning herself to a pandemic-induced lethargy, Tatiana released four albums, starred as guest singer in various projects, wrote the libretto of an opera by Swiss composer Gérard Massini, and started an online arts and culture publication – Shrine Magazine. She was recently onscreen in the cinemas of France in Gérome Barry’s first feature film Swing Rendez-Vous, loosely based on her New York lifestyle – her first role as a leading lady!

Tatiana’s latest project Djangology is a reinvention of the music composed by Parisian guitarist Django Reinhardt – the father of Gypsy jazz – through the addition of her own original lyrics and arrangements.

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LORI WILLIAMS

Acclaimed international Jazz vocalist Lori Williams has a most impressive resume as a performing artist, music educator, songwriter, producer, musical theater actress, radio host, business owner of PositiveMusicPM.org, and artist-in-residence with over 30 years of experience. Her annual vocal jazz tour and performance at music festivals have taken her to Europe  to perform in Austria, Germany, Slovakia, Slovenia, Russia, Switzerland, Czech Republic, and Ukraine, Japan, The Caribbean in Barbados, British Virgin Islands, Curaçao, St. Lucia, Turks and Caicos, Mexico, and across the USA. Her vocal jazz artist residencies have allowed her to work with and mentor students on college campuses in the United States and abroad.

As a veteran vocal music educator and private vocal coach, Lori’s received many honors for her contributions to the arts, including recognition from President Biden. With a B.A. in Mass Media Arts from Hampton University, she hosts a weekly radio program and produces/host events at St. James Live! Jazz club in Atlanta, Georgia. Over the years, Lori has collaborated with a multitude of notable artists and has released multiple CDs, along with singles like “Too Late (It’s My Time)” and “Take My Wings.”

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GREGORY PORTER & NAJEE

Gregory Porter is a singer, songwriter and musician. He moved to the Bedford-Stuyvesant section of Brooklyn, New York in 2004, along with his brother Lloyd and worked as a chef at Lloyd’s restaurant Bread-Stuy (now defunct), where he also performed. Porter performed at other neighborhood venues including Sista’s Place and Solomon’s Porch, and moved on to Harlem club St. Nick’s Pub, where he maintained a weekly residency. Out of this residency evolved what would become Porter’s touring band.He has twice won the Grammy Award for Best Jazz Vocal Album: first in 2014 for Liquid Spirit and then again in 2017 for Take Me to the Alley. 

Najee, is a smooth jazz saxophonist and flautist. After his studies at the New England Conservatory, Najee returned to New York City in the early 1980s. In 1983, he and his brother Fareed toured with Chaka Khan for the Ain’t Nobody Tour. His albums okyo Blue and Day by Day led to Najee winning two Soul Train Awards for Best Jazz Artist in 1991 and 1993.

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Requisites

The very first time I heard Shirley Horn sings and play piano was in the 1970s at the Bohemian Caverns in Washington, D.C. and I fell in love with her voice and style. By then she had recorded five albums and when I was on the radio she became a part of my regular playlist. Here’s To Life is a studio album recorded in September 1991 by the vocalist, and released in 1992. The album was arranged by Johnny Mandel who composed three of the songs on the album. He  also received a Grammy Award for Best Instrumental Arrangement Accompanying Vocals on this album. It’s a quiet album of ballads that once again showcases Shirley’s talent. Johnny Mandel arranged and conducted the recording session for the Verve label.

The album opens with the title track with Here’s To Life which became her signature song. The music was written by Artie Butler and the poignant lyrics were written by Phyllis Molinary. The lyric, known world-wide as one of her finest works and the song is considered a modern day jazz standard. She followed with a medley of Come A Little Closer/Wild Is the Wind. The former song is about New Yorkers, the city and the cell phone that disputes a couple’s marriage. The song is paired with Wild Is The Wind which was written as the theme song for the 1959 film of the same name and recorded by Johnny Mathis. It was nominated for an Oscar for Best Song.

How Am I to Know? by Jack King and Dorothy Parker takes the third slot on the album. A Time for Love was written for the 1966 film An American Dream. The Begman/ Mandel tune, Where Do You Start tells the story of a couple breaking up and undecided about what belongs to whom. The next song You’re Nearer is a Lorenz Hart/Richard Rodgers composition for the Broadway musical Too Many Girls. Our next entry in Return to Paradise was written for the 1953 film of the same name by Dimitri Tiomkin and Ned Washington. Isn’t It A Pity was composed by the Gershwins for the unsuccessful 1933 musical Pardon My English, however, the song became a part of the Great American Songbook.

Quietly There is taken from the noir film Harper that starred Paul Newman as a detective. If You Love Me is an English adaptation of the popular French song “Hymne à l’amour of Hymn To Love. The album closes with Summer is the first English version of the Italian standard Estate. She ordered English lyrics after hearing Joao Gilberto’s version, which spread the song to worldwide fame.

Shirley Horn sings and plays piano and is joined by bassist Charles Ables and dummer Steve Williams as her core trio. She invited trumpeter Wynton Marsalis – to play on A Time For Love and Quietly There. Richard Todd plays the French horn on the title track. Reminding me of how precious life is and how much we should live and love, this has become my favorite album by this vocalist. I hope you enjoy it just as much as I.

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The Jazz Voyager

The Jazz Voyager is on his way to the Midwest to Chicago, Illinois for a stroll around Lakeshore Drive or taking the El across town. This is my town in the summertime and I’ll be arriving a day early to renew memories of Lakeshore Drive, the Field Museum, Millennium Park or take an afternoon cruise down the Chicago River.

However, this trip will be another first time visit to a new venue for this traveler but not for those patrons who have appreciated jazz since 1935 when they first opened their doors. Whether considered famous or infamous the Green Mill Jazz Club was a favorite haunt for mobster Al Capone who turned it into a speakeasy, had his own booth and had some of the most noted musicians of the era to perform. Today it still swings with notable local, national and international acts.

Not only is this a new venue for me but a new musician I’ve never heard before. Pianist and harmonic player Harold Levy will be on stage from 8:00pm to midnight with his trio of players Chris Siebold on guitar, Joshua Ramos on bass, and drummer Luis Ewerling.

The venue is located at 4802 N. Broadway Avenue, 60640. For tickets and more info go to https://notoriousjazz.com/event/howard-levy-4.

CALIFORNIA JAZZ FOUNDATION

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