Results for "Songwriter"

Ruth Saphir

A native Montrealer, Ruth Saphir loves the vibe of the city and has been committed to supporting its culture through performance and through the community service of music therapy and sound healing.  

Classically trained, Ruth is a flautist, singer and composer. She is an eclectic artist who has recorded five albums to date. Her most current album release ‘Accolades of Time’, is a collection of original jazz songs on the Orchard of Pomegranates record label. She has also recorded two contemporary-folk albums - ‘The Little Things’ & ‘Fire and Roses’; a new age recording - ‘Genesis’; as well as a children’s music album - ‘Ruth Saphir For Kids’.  (examples can be heard at ruthsaphir.com).

Ruth’s experience as a music therapist and sound healer over the last 25 years has informed and broadened her scope in the uses of music and its profound effects. She has a fine-tuned capacity to support, encourage and to be a catalyst for her clients in the Montreal area community schools and hospitals. Ruth offers continuing education workshops for teachers and musicians which can be accessed at onlinevents.co.uk (Voice and Co-regulation, Breath Work, Humming and Health, Ancestral Trauma and Creativity)

Jacqui Naylor

Jacqui Naylor is not an easy artist to categorize. There are times when she performs straight-ahead vocal jazz, but at other times she favors more of a folk-rock/adult alternative approach. Depending on the mood she is in at a given moment, the northern Californian can bring to mind anyone from Cassandra Wilson or British jazz vocalist Claire Martin to Sarah McLachlan or Shawn Colvin — she is as comfortable among jazz improvisers as she is in the singer/songwriter world. During one of her live performances, Naylor has no problem singing smoky jazz one minute and folk-rock or adult alternative the next — and there are times when she blurs the line between the two.

John Allee

Born: September 11, 1963

John Allee is a multi-faceted performer whose acting and music credits include both stage and screen.  He is perhaps best known for playing the role of Pasha on the Golden Globe nominated Starz limited series "Flesh and Bone," created by acclaimed executive producer Moira Walley-Beckett, and for his stage work in Los Angeles, CA.

Recording under the nom-de-pop, Johnnye Allee, he released his debut CD Unless it Isn't in 2007, a collection of folk-pop/roots-rock originals which American Songwriter magazine called "a stunning suite of songs." His follow up to that was Expect Delays and featured John live at the piano performing another new set of tunes. John's first straight-ahead jazz release was Bardfly, an album of jazz interpretations of songs from the plays of Shakespeare. "It is Allee's slick composing, dramatic delivery, and acting chops that make this recording a standout" (All About Jazz). His latest jazz-pop-blues album is Past Imperfect, "a splendid, alternately heartfelt, charming, gently reflective and incisively pointed fictionalized chronicle of colorful characters...a powerhouse ensemble" (Jonathan Widran, JW Vibe).

Natalie Dietz

Jazz vocalist, composer and songwriter Natalie Dietz has made a strong impression on the Australian and international jazz scene in a short time, impressing both audiences and critics alike with her trademark ethereal vocal tone and original approach as a jazz composer and vocalist. Accepted into the renowned jazz vocal program at New England Conservatory, Natalie honed her composing and performing skills under the tutelage Grammy-winning artists including Donny McCaslin and Jason Moran. Since graduating with a Bachelor of Music (Jazz Voice Performance) in 2012 her original compositions have attracted wide attention among her contemporaries with their complex harmonies combined with strong melodies. She is inspired to blend and create textures with the voice within an ensemble, using wordless melodies as well as lyrics. Her compositions explore the breadth of modern styles, distinguishing her as an innovative and multi-skilled artist.
 
In 2013 she recorded her debut EP with highly esteemed New York musicians Aaron Parks, Mike Moreno, Joshua Crumbly and Justin Brown to international critical acclaim. Other achievements include being offered a merit scholarship to New England Conservatory (Boston, MA) where she studied with world-renowned artists including Donny McCaslin, Dave Holland, Jason Moran (all Grammy winners) Dominique Eade and Ken Schaphorst. Natalie is a recipient of ASCAP's Herb Alpert 2016 National Young Jazz Composer's Award presented at Lincoln Center and the New England Conservatory Spark award. She has performed her music in New York City at established venues including Club Bonafide, Shapeshifter Lab, Pianos and Rockwood Music Hall, in Boston at venues including New England Conservatory's Jordan Hall, The Beehive and Cambridge venues the Lilypad and Outpost 186. She has performed with established New York City-based jazz artists including Mike Moreno, Sam Harris, Joshua Crumbly, Ben Monder and Colin Stranahan. Since relocating to New York she has held multi-year residencies at renowned live music clubs including Fine and Rare, the Flatiron Room in Manhattan, among many other live shows. In late 2019 she was commissioned by New York-based composer Quentin Angus, jazz department chair at the Borough of Manhattan Community College as lyricist for one of his original compositions ‘New Beginning’ and directly following to write lyrics for an SATB choral piece for the university titled ‘Together Now’, a cultural diversity-themed song. The piece was was both performed and recorded by the choir and became the 2019 holiday greeting on City University of New York’s home page. The piece was also turned into a virtual choir project by the university’s music department. 

Kate Skinner

Jazz pianist and vocalist Kate Skinner maintains an active performing, composing, and teaching career in the western United States.  A native of Ogden, Utah, Skinner pulls influences from the bluegrass and classical roots of her childhood into both her songwriting and performing as a jazz musician.  In her teenage and college years, Kate delved into R&B, funk, and hip hop, genres that also continually find their way into her musical explorations helping to create her own unique voice.  Part of this unique voice is an obsession with alternative keyboard instruments and a study of the great keyboardists of jazz, rock, and funk. 

Louise Dodds

Best Vocalist nominee at the Scottish Jazz Awards 2022, Scottish jazz vocalist Louise Dodds  recently released her third studio album, a duo project with renowned Azerbaijani pianist, arranger and composer Elchin Shirinov, bringing together their love of folk, classical and jazz. The project has been supported by Creative Scotland.

Prior to this release, Louise released her first album in 9 years in March 2022. The album, ‘The Story Needs an Ending’, was also Louise’s first fully original album. She took the album on the road, performing 12 dates across Scotland, Northern Ireland and England. The album was selected by Jim Gilchrist in his Arts Review of 2022 in The Scotsman.

Natalie Hamilton

Natalie Hamilton is a singer/songwriter/producer praised as "Evocative" with a "Stunning Voice" by Ink 19 Magazine and “Marvelous, Feminine and Tough" by Rolling Stone and SPIN Magazine music journalist Thom Jurek.

Her compositions "meld the sophistication of jazz with the timeless intimacy of folk." (Ink 19 Magazine) 

Sandy Cooperman of The Daily Sun said "she is able to say more with humming than most singers can say with words... reminiscent of a young Barbra Streisand."  Derek Sivers, the founder of CD Baby, upon hearing Natalie's debut album, said: "I love Natalie's narrative, lyrical style, like Joni Mitchell's 'The Hissing Of Summer Lawns." 

Drew Schultz

Born: April 24, 1988

At the age of 19, Drew entered the music industry as the touring drummer with Motown legends, the Four Tops. He has performed on stage with artists including Aretha Franklin, Stevie Wonder, The Temptations, Martha Reeves & The Vandellas, Gladys Knight, The Miracles, Dramatics, Contours, Jerry Butler, Harold Melvin's Blue Notes, and many more. Drew's "Back To Class" project is a series of his own original recordings with 50% of profits benefiting Detroit Public School music programs featuring artists including the Four Tops, members of The Funk Brothers, Melvin Davis, Spyder Turner, Pat Lewis, Carolyn Crawford, Dennis Coffey, Lenny Pickett of Tower of Power / SNL, Joe "Pep" Harris, Chairmen of the Board, Willie Jones, James Jamerson Jr., and Reginald Torian of The Impressions

roy ben bashat

Born: April 7, 2000

Guitarist, composer, and songwriter born and raised in Tel Aviv, Israel. Roy Ben Bashat was recognized as a prodigy from a young age and was accepted into the jazz music department at the prestigious Thelma Yelin school for the arts. During high school, he played with renowned jazz artists in Israel and performed at local venues and festivals. In 2017, he was granted a full schoarship from Berklee College of Music, and relocated to Boston in 2018. 

Roy Ben Bashat graduated from Berklee College of Music and moved to Brooklyn, NY in 2022. Shortly after moving to NYC, Ben Bashat started playing with some of the Jazz leaders in the city, including Luis Perdomo, Eric McPherson, Lex Korten, Noah Preminger, among others. 

Oren Levine

Oren Levine grew up with a love of music, especially jazz, inherited from his father. He started piano lessons as an eight-year-old in Washington, DC, and continued to play and study music while focusing on earning two engineering degrees and building a career in engineering, software, and technology management. He wrote his first song at age 45 in a summer jazz workshop in Vermont and joined ASCAP soon after in 2009.

Oren devoted more time to writing and performing after moving back to Washington, DC in 2010, while still working in technology management full-time. He improved his skills as a songwriter through an online course from Berklee professor Pat Pattison, adding that knowledge to his understanding of the musical language of jazz and the American Songbook. Oren released an album of eleven original songs, “Making Up For Lost Time,” in 2018.