Results for "Original Music"

Melissa Stylianou

Born: September 30, 1976

Jazz vocalist, lyricist, and educator Melissa Stylianou, hailed by piano master Fred Hersch for her “gorgeous instrument, superb musicianship, and great taste,” has garnered acclaim as both a gifted songwriter and a bold, imaginative interpreter of wide-ranging material spanning diverse many genres, from the Great American Songbook to Johnny Cash to Joanna Newsom. Stylianou is also one-third of the infectious, Boswell Sisters-inspired close-harmony vocal trio Duchess, which has amassed many mentions in year-end critics’ polls and received the 2021 & 2022 Vocal Group of the Year Award from the Jazz Journalists Association.

In addition to her five albums as a leader and four with Duchess to date, Stylianou has documented her close musical bond with guitar legend Gene Bertoncini and sought-after bassist Ike Sturm on the 2022 album Dream Dancing

Roberto Zechini

Born: July 23, 1968

Julie Slim

Born: July 12, 1960

Julie is a multilingual, multicultural vocalist who sings in Arabic, French, English, Portugese, and Spanish. With a focus on jazz and world music, Julie brings forth her cultural influences in her music, reviving American and international jazz and pop standards between the 1920's and 1960's with her unique arrangements and rich, warm vocals, while also mixing in her own compositions. She currently lives in Austin, TX.

Julie Slim & RendezVous is the project closest to her heart, a collaborative quintet with Austin musicians, specializing in French, American and international standards from the 1920s to the 1960s. Julie is honored to feature special arrangements by jazz legend, Dr. James Polk. The band premiered in 2013 to a sold out house at Esquina Tango in Austin, TX with Dr. James Polk on keyboards, Roberto Paolo Riggio on violin, Michael Stevens on bass, Michael Maddux on accordion and Ethan Vlah on percussion. Since then, RendezVous has performed widely and become a meeting place for many talented local musicians and budding friendships. Julie has self-produced a 3-song EP, a five-song live EP recorded in Austin, TX, and a full length album, Promenade Sentimentale, an 11-track journey through the many faces of love from loss to discovery. Over the years, Julie has revisited her Lebanese roots, expanding her musical repertoire to include Arabic music. Julie began her musical life in Musical Theatre in Allentown, PA. In 2009, she cofounded Layalina with oud player, Sari Andoni. Julie has also collaborated with Austin's 1001 Nights Orchestra, Ojàla, Indimaj, and Atlas Maior and has appeared on stage with Ann Hampton Callaway. She is a member of Swan Songs, an organization that fulfills musical wishes for senior citizens. She is also a member of the Threshold Choir, an international volunteer organization of women who sing for patients on their final journeys, locally at Hospice Austin's Christopher House where she and her Threshold Choir sing every Tuesday morning.

Joan Hutton

Born: May 18, 1969

Joan Hutton is a woodwind performer, composer and music educator residing in Minneapolis and hailing from Toronto, Canada. Her varied musical interests have led her over the years to classical, jazz, funk, free improvisation, pit orchestras and more. Joan has released two albums of original music on Shifting Paradigm Records with co-leader Sue Orfield: Take That Back (2022) and Splash (2024). She is also a long time member of the Ancia Saxophone Quartet, with recordings on the Naxos and Albany labels.

William Wood

William Wood is a freelance multi-instrumentalist and composer born in the UK, now living in Southeast Michigan.

Zac Carson

Born: June 5, 1990

Bassist, composer, bandleader, and educator, Zac Carson has developed a modern playing style that draws from the jazz tradition, incorporating many influences from rock, classical, and folk. Currently based in Brooklyn, NY, Zac is known for his lyrical playing, innovative compositions, and intricate grooves.

Zac's recent album Something from Before includes original compositions that were written and recorded a month before the Covid-19 pandemic. The album features talented New York jazz musicians who each showcase their own voice and style through the music.

Performance highlights include performing alongside Chris Brubeck, Randy Brecker, the band Evanescence, and the premier of Harry Connick Jr.’s musical, Happy Elf

Irene Scardia

Born: October 6, 1966

Irene Scardia, pianist, composer indefinable in her originality, lyricism of her sound arrives directly in its technical quality, without getting lost, the essence. Her first album for solo piano, produced by Workin’ label, entitled "I Giorni del vento", was presented in February 2010 on the italian Radio 3 program, Battiti. With an artistic background that sees her going, in addition to regular studies music, in significant experiences in the field of dance and theater, Irene Scardia, realizes some multimedial productions, Il tempo d’Irene (2002), Quattro pagine di me (2003) , Meredith à rebours (2004), I giorni del vento (2008), Quello che so del cielo (2009)

Waxwing

Formed in 2007, Waxwing is a co-led group created by three veterans of the Vancouver music scene: Tony Wilson on guitar, Peggy Lee on cello and Jon Bentley on saxophones. The trio has released three studio recordings featuring their original compositions: "Flicker Down" (2021 Songlines Recordings) , "A Bowl Of Sixty Taxidermists" (2015 - Songlines Recordings), and "Escondido Dreams" (2007 - Drip Audio). The recipient of numerous Canada Council Grants, Waxwing has performed their unique works in concerts across Canada and has been a regular favourite in the Vancouver International Jazz Festival

Uli Geissendoerfer

Born: May 13, 1964

German-American pianist, composer and educator, Uli Geissendoerfer, originally from Munich, is a versatile and remarkable musician exploring rhythms and melodies across many styles of music, with a special emphasis on World, Jazz and improvisation. He worked with among others Tito, Puente, William Cepeda (awarded a Grammy nomination), Groove Collective, Giovanni Hidalgo, Blood Sweat & Tears, Leslie Uggams, Cirque du Soleil, Kofo the Wonderman, Ute Lemper, David Cassidy, several Symphonies, the Connecticut Opera and more. His current projects include, Colors a World Jazz Quintet featuring Belgium vocalist extraordinaire Pascale Elia with their first album charting on #2 in the JMC charts, the Beregovsky Project, a duo with fabulous award winning violin virtuoso Alicia Svigals and Bangalore Breakdown (first release “Diary”), an Indian World Jazz project featuring Premik Russell Tubbs

Elliot Bild

Born: April 18, 1993

Originally from Chicago, trumpeter, educator, and composer Elliot Bild got his undergraduate degree from Western Michigan University where he studied with Scott Cowan, Andrew Rathbun and Edward Simon. Shortly after, he completed his Masters Degree from Temple University where he studied with Terell Stafford, John Swana and Dick Oatts. In August 2017, Elliot was selected along with 14 other fellows to participate in the Ravinia Steins Music Institute, a week-long workshop focusing on composition where he worked with Rufus Reid, Nathan Davis and Billy Childs. Later that summer, Elliot attended the Banff Workshop for Jazz and Creative Music, where he had the chance to work with Gary Bartz, Jeremy Pelt, Vijay Iyer, Tyshawn Sorey, Robin Eubanks and Tia Fuller, among others