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Habaka KFJ

HER VOICE IS PURE AND DEXTEROUS...PEGGY GUGGENHEIM COLLECTION (WORD PRESS)

About Me

2019' BMA (Black Music Award) Award Winner of Best Female Jazz Vocalist Performer for Las Vegas. Habaka Kfj, American 4 octave international classic BJ&G Vocalist, born in Nashville, TN and raised in Bloomfield, CT. Coined The Panther Of Cremona, Italy and famous for her profound contralto voice, strong yet smooth and crystal clear, a voice that calls to mind the sultriness and class of Cassandra and Nancy Wilson, the sassiness of Eartha Kitt, the subtleness of Shirley Horn, and even, when necessary, the big vibrato of Bessie Smith, Etta James and Mahalia Jackson, all wrapped up into one phenomenally talented woman...

International Blues, Jazz, Gospel recording artist and she also had the opportunity to be the midday radio host of BlackBerry Jazz Radio Station and now producer of her own new TV Web Series “8 Track Mind” meet, Habaka Kay Foster Jackson.

In December 2016 Habaka released her most personal and soulfully inspired album produced by Habaka entitled “Heritage Blue” under the Husky Tone Records label, featuring amazingly outstanding musicians that includes a stellar performance by James Boogaloo Bolden (former bandleader on trumpet for B.B. King), Eric Demmer on sax (formerly with Gatemouth Brown), and James Lamar Boulet on trumpet. This phenomenal recording is a tour de force collection of Blues and Jazz standards, and originals rearranged “Habaka Style” to bring these age-old classics of yesterday into the 21st century. On this brilliant new release of “Heritage Blue”, Habaka takes her listeners on a journey from Blues to Jazz, and Soul to Funk from pleasure to pain and everywhere in between.

Coming from a musically inclined family, to say the least, Habaka got her talents honestly. Her mother Mary Ann Jackson a renowned Jazz singer, and her father Melvin Jackson has played the blues with Bobby Blue Bland and today the legendary B. B. King, so Habaka know's the blues very well. Her very first recording with the group IZ Army released the LP entitled “The Bomb” under AMP Records. Gospel music, also a passion of hers, led her to record her next LP “Eternal Life” under Exodus Records, as lead singer for the group, Burning Bush.

When Habaka is not touring, you can hear her in some of the most Chic Jazz, and Blues Clubs in Las Vegas and throughout the US. Be sure to check back often to see her schedule.

Habaka takes her listeners on a journey from Jazz to Blues, from pleasure to pain and everywhere in between. This is Habaka stepping into her inheritance, coming from such a rich family legacy, and by vowing to continue to extend that legacy, she is considered to be one of the last authentic Blues, Jazz voices in her genre today...and why not? After all, it's her DNA!

My Jazz Story

I love jazz because it's passionate, it tells a story, it makes me cry, it makes me laugh, it puts a pat in my feet, and joy in my heart. It's my heritage, my birthright. I was first exposed to jazz before ever being born, my mother was a dancer and jazz vocalist and she performed her full term of pregnancy with me, so the music is in my blood. My father was a saxophonist for more than 20 years with the legendary B.B. King. I met Dee Dee Bridgewater and Tuck & Patty in Italy and they were amazing, I loved their style's and how they interacted with their audiences and above all after the show they were all equally willing to chat for a moment. The best show I ever attended was Eartha Kitts show in D.C. and she was at the ripe age of 74. I remember thinking what an inspiration! The first jazz record I bought was by Nancy Wilson and that voice I said I wanted to be like her when I grew up. :-) My advice to new listeners: embrace the music, learn to ride the vibes and allow your heart to receive that which is for you, being unafraid of what you might find inside.