Results for "Ruth Naomi Floyd"

Ruth Naomi Floyd

Ruth Naomi Floyd is a gifted vocalist-composer who has been at forefront of creating vocal jazz settings that express Christian theology for over 13 years. As a leader, she has released several highly acclaimed recordings. Blessed with a soaring mezzo-soprano voice, critics have praised Ms. Floyd’s music for its distinctive sound of progressive ensemble jazz that is seamlessly blended with explicit Biblical messages of unwavering faith in God. Ruth Naomi Floyd leads her own multi-faceted ensemble and her recordings consist primarily of original compositions. Her association as the co-founder of Contour Records ® affords her complete artistic freedom to record her own works and collaborate with a diverse range of musicians. Ms

Bobby Zankel: The Inside Story of 'A Change of Destiny'

by Victor L. Schermer
September 21, 2023

Saxophonist, bandleader, composer and arranger Bobby Zankel has been making jazz in many ways with diverse cohorts for over a half-century. He has found his own way to create music that is both advanced and very listenable at the same time. He is loved and revered by the many musicians who have performed with him and ...

2020: The Year in Jazz

by Ken Franckling
January 2, 2021

The COVID-19 pandemic put the jazz world in a tailspin, just like the world at large, in 2020. And there is plenty of uncertainty going into the new year about what “new normal: might emerge from the darkness. International Jazz Day, like so many other things, became an online virtual event this time around. Pianist Keith ...

When Haiku Inspires Music: Bobby Zankel Ensemble Performs Original Composition Celebrating Peace

October 14, 2014

Cecil Taylor and John Coltrane inspired saxophonist and composer Bobby Zankel is usually heard with his Warriors of the Wonderful Sound big band performing large-scale compositions such as his recent re-setting of Coltrane’s A Love Supreme. Here, on the occasion of a celebration of mural art, which has turned numerous outside walls of jny: Philadelphia buildings ...

Bobby Zankel: Philadelphia, PA, September 22, 2012

by Victor L. Schermer
October 10, 2012

John Coltrane Birthday Celebration with Bobby Zankel's Warriors Of The Wonderful Sound40th Street Field, University of PennsylvaniaPhiladelphia, PASeptember 22, 2012It's unusual to have a jazz milestone take place in a free-for-the-people neighborhood concert on an open urban space, but that is exactly what occurred as saxophonist Bobby Zankel and his avant-garde ...

Bobby Zankel: Peaceful Jazz Warrior

by Victor L. Schermer
September 6, 2010

For many decades, Philadelphia has been home to a cadre of multi-generational jazz musicians who go on year-after-year composing, arranging and performing some of the best, highest level music to be heard anywhere. This tradition is exemplified in no better way than by alto saxophonist, composer and bandleader Bobby Zankel. Zankel apprenticed with legendary ...

Root to the Fruit

By Ruth Naomi Floyd

Label: Contour
Released: 2007
Track listing: No Hiding Place; Mere Breath; Oh, Freedom; God is My Shepherd; Where?; Dagarth

Ruth Naomi Floyd: Root to the Fruit

by Chris M. Slawecki
February 9, 2007

Along with her sidework with instrumentalists Charles Fambrough, Uri Caine and other jazzmen of note, composer/vocalist Ruth Naomi Floyd gives voice to her own muse through her own label, Contour Records. Her fifth release continues her longstanding collaboration with pianist James Weidman, known for his accompaniment for vocalists Abbey Lincoln and Cassandra Wilson. It also features ...

Ruth Naomi Floyd: Root to the Fruit

by C. Michael Bailey
January 17, 2007

Over the course of her two previous recordings, Walk and not be Faint and Fan into Flame, vocalist Ruth Naomi Floyd has directly approached Christian spiritual themes in jazz, with better success than other artists in other genres. On Root to the Fruit, Floyd continues her journey in earnest, exploring jazz modes of delivery as divergent ...

Ruth Naomi Floyd: Root to the Fruit

by Jim Santella
January 10, 2007

Jazz and gospel come together on Ruth Naomi Floyd's Root to the Fruit, where she sings original material with a theatrical delivery. She works with a stellar jazz ensemble that includes flutist James Newton, tenor saxophonist Gary Thomas, bassist Reggie Washington and pianist James Weidman in feature roles, emphasizing the freedom that jazz can add to ...