Conversations About Jazz & Other Distractions

Conversations About Jazz Welcomes René Marie & VINX on March 11

On Thursday, March 11 at 7:30 pm (EST) Hammonds House Digital invites you to join us for Conversations About Jazz & Other Distractions with host Carl Anthony. His special guests will be world-renowned songwriters and vocalists René Marie and VINX. They will talk about their careers and sample some of their music. This free virtual program will stream on Hammonds House Museum’s Facebook and YouTube channels. Our tip jar will be open if you’d like to make a donation to support our programming. For more information about this and upcoming virtual events visit hammondshouse.org.

In a span of two decades, 11 recordings and countless stage performances, vocalist René Marie has cemented her reputation not only as a singer but also as a composer, arranger, theatrical performer,and teacher. Guided by powerful life lessons and rooted in jazz traditions laid down by Ella Fitzgerald, Dinah Washington, and other leading ladies, she borrows elements of folk, R&B and even classical and country to create a captivating hybrid style. René’s latest CD, Sound of Red, released by Motéma Music in 2017, is her first album of all-original material. Featuring clever songcraft and sensual vocal delivery, the CD has wowed critics and followers and won over new fans. Her work continues to be an exploration of bright and dark corners of the human experience, and an affirmation of the power of the human spirit. For more info: renemarie.com.

VINX is one of the most gifted improvisational vocalists performing today. With songs that range from jazz to funk, bossa nova to blues and back again, each audience takes a world tour with VINX as their private guide. Soaring vocals, intricate layered melodies and grooves, and his primal hand drum holding it all together, mark his signature style. Although he is often joined by a range of stunning musicians, his fine-tuned composition skills, mastery of vocal looping and razor-sharp instincts infuse his solo performances with the lushness of a full symphony orchestra. VINX has recorded and toured with some of the music industry’s greatest icons: Stevie Wonder, Sting, Herbie Hancock, Sheryl Crow, Branford Marsalis, Taj Mahal, Ricki Lee Jones, Darius Rucker, Cassandra Wilson, and Cher. His songwriting credits range from Tom Jones and Will Downing to The Lion King and Sprite™.  Dreamsicle Arts & Entertainment Group is home to his production company, studios, and acclaimed workshop series. For more info: vinx.com.

Hammonds House Museum is generously supported by the Fulton County Board of Commissioners, Fulton County Arts and Culture, the City of Atlanta Mayor’s Office of Cultural Affairs, The Community Foundation for Greater Atlanta, The National Performance Network, AT&T and WarnerMedia. 

Hammonds House Museum’s mission is to celebrate and share the cultural diversity and important legacy of artists of African descent. The museum is the former residence of the late Dr. Otis Thrash Hammonds, a prominent Atlanta physician and a passionate arts patron. A 501(c)3 organization which opened in 1988, Hammonds House Museum boasts a permanent collection of more than 450 works including art by Romare Bearden, Robert S. Duncanson, Benny Andrews, Elizabeth Catlett, Jacob Lawrence, Hale Woodruff, Amalia Amaki, Radcliffe Bailey and Kojo Griffin. In addition to featuring art from their collection, the museum offers new exhibitions, artist talks, workshops, concerts, poetry readings, arts education programs, and other cultural events throughout the year.  

Located in a beautiful Victorian home in Atlanta’s historic West End, Hammonds House Museum is a cultural treasure and a unique venue. During the COVID-19 pandemic, they continue to observe CDC guidelines, but look forward to welcoming in-person visitors soon!  For more information about upcoming virtual events, and to see how you can support their mission and programming, visit their website: hammondshouse.org.

MEDIA: For more information, contact Karen Hatchett at Hatchett PR, karen@hatchettpr.com

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Conversations About Jazz & Other Distractions

Conversations About Jazz Features 

The Vocalists on October 29

Hammonds House Digital invites you to join us for Conversations about Jazz & Other Distractions hosted by former jazz radio host and founder of Notorious Jazz, Carl Anthony. Every other Thursday, Carl takes audiences on a unique journey through the world of jazz music with artist talks, workshops, and listening sessions.

On October 29 at 7:30 pm (EST), Conversations about Jazz features some of the world’s most talented jazz vocalists. Carl’s guests will be Carmen BradfordKathleen Bertrand, & Lenora Zenzalai Helm. This program is for the jazz novice and jazz head alike. It is free, and will stream live on Hammonds House Museum’s Facebook and YouTube.

2019 Grammy Nominee, Carmen Bradford, was born in Austin, Texas and raised in Altadena, California. She is jazz royalty being the daughter of legendary coronetist/composer Bobby Bradford and world-renowned jazz vocalist/composer/author Melba Joyce. Her grandfather Melvin Moore sang with Dizzy Gillespie’s Big Band in the 1940’s and with the Ink Spots, making Bradford the third generation of incredible musicians. At the age of 22, she was discovered and hired by William “Count” Basie and became the featured vocalist in the legendary Count Basie Orchestra. She has since performed and/or recorded with artists and musicians including Wynton Marsalis, Nancy Wilson, Lena Horne, Tony Bennett, James Brown, and Frank Sinatra. Most recently she was featured on the 2019 “All About Basie” album, along with Stevie Wonder, Kurt Elling and Wycliff Gordon. Currently Bradford is a Roots, Jazz, and American Music faculty member at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. More info HERE.

Multifaceted recording artist and writer Kathleen Bertrand is a native Atlantan and Spelman College graduate, whose performances have ranged from two Olympic Games to performances before two presidents, as well as appearances at jazz festivals world-wide. Bertrand toured and recorded as vocalist with jazz vibraphonist Roy Ayers. This three-octave vocal artist has performed at the Montreux Jazz Festival in Switzerland on three occasions and has made multiple appearances at the Atlanta Jazz Festival, including as headliner in 2012. She has opened for many of America’s finest artists, including Ray Charles, Will Downing, Rachelle Ferrell, Najee, Roy Ayers, and Kenny G. Her fan base includes radio and internet listeners across the globe. Bertrand’s most recent CD, 2017’s It’s Time To Love, has received international airplay. More details HERE.

Throughout her 30+-year span of musical achievements as a Jazz Vocal Musician specializing in classic, traditional standard jazz, Lenora Zenzalai Helm has toured, recorded, and performed with renowned artists around the world. A 2018 inaugural Javett International Scholar in Jazz for the University of Pretoria, she has also earned recognition as a quarter-finalist for the Grammy Music Educator of the Year Award, a Salzburg Global Citizenship Fellow, a UNC Global Educator Fellow, a Fulbright Senior Music Specialist, and is the former US Jazz Ambassador under the State Department and Kennedy Center. She is jazz clinician and vocal musicianship coach, with six solo recordings, including her latest CD, For the Love of Big Band. Helm currently serves as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Music and Jazz Studies Program for the College of Arts and Sciences at North Carolina University (NCCU). More information HERE.

Hammonds House Museum is generously supported by the Fulton County Board of Commissioners, Fulton County Arts and Culture, the City of Atlanta Mayor’s Office of Cultural Affairs, AT&T and WarnerMedia.

Hammonds House Museum‘s mission is to celebrate and share the cultural diversity and important legacy of artists of African descent. The museum is the former residence of the late Dr. Otis Thrash Hammonds, a prominent Atlanta physician and a passionate arts patron. A 501(c)3 organization which opened in 1988, Hammonds House Museum boasts a permanent collection of more than 450 works including art by Romare Bearden, Robert S. Duncanson, Benny Andrews, Elizabeth Catlett, Jacob Lawrence, Hale Woodruff, Amalia Amaki, Radcliffe Bailey and Kojo Griffin. In addition to featuring art from their collection, the museum offers new exhibitions, artist talks, workshops, concerts, poetry readings, arts education programs, and other cultural events throughout the year.

Located in a beautiful Victorian home in Atlanta’s historic West End, Hammonds House Museum is a cultural treasure and a unique venue. During the COVID-19 pandemic, they continue to observe CDC guidelines, but look forward to welcoming in-person visitors soon! For more information about upcoming virtual events, and to see how you can support their mission, visit their website: hammondshouse.org.

MEDIA: For more information, contact Karen Hatchett at Hatchett PR, karen@hatchettpr.com.

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