Results for "San Francisco Bay Area"

Joan Minor

From San Francisco and Paris, Jazz vocalist Joan Minor interprets Jazz standards with soul-stirring veracity. As a solo performer, she has performed worldwide in the U.S.A, Europe and Africa, particularly San Francisco, New York, Berlin, Zermatt, Athens and Paris, where she is now based. Her first CD ‘Integrity Matters’, which was recorded in Paris, warranted praise by the iconic Blues legend, Mr. B.B. King. Joan is formally trained in voice, violin and piano and has deeply studied the Jazz masters. She broadened her Jazz expression under the tutelage of Patti Cathcart, New York Broadway artist June Smith, Phil Matson and the legendary Barry Harris

Joan Torres

Bassist and composer Joan Torres has lead the Jazz Fusion ensemble All Is Fused since 2011. With 3 albums released to date, multiple award nominations, and the Vox Pop award for the Fusion Album category of the 14th Annual IMAs, the ensemble has been described as going "far beyond complex musical ideas managing to weave in a true sonic narrative" in their music (Music News 2016). Throughout several releases they have appealed to genre and non-genre fans alike. Since childhood, Torres grew as a musician, developing a deep interest for Jazz music that has guided his compositions for over a decade

Dee Bell

Born: July 16, 1950

A dusky vocalist whose warm sound evokes the breezy sophistication of ‚50s West Coast jazz, Dee Bell first came to the public‘s attention with her 1982 debut, Let There Be Love, featuring legendary saxophonist Stan Getz. A regular presence in the Bay Area, Bell spent several years away from performing before returning to consistent work in the 2010s. In 2014, she debuted her ongoing collaboration with Brazilian pianist Marcos Silva on Silva Bell Elation.

Born in 1950 in Fort Wayne, Indiana, Bell was encouraged to play music from a young age, and started out on clarinet. She also sang, and from age ten onward performed in an a cappella trio. After high school she attended Indiana University, where she earned her bachelor of science in arts education. While there, she further honed her vocal skills studying with noted opera singer Eileen Farrell. Interested in nutrition, she initially pivoted away from the arts, instead founding the Earth Kitchen vegetarian restaurant in 1972. During this period, she lived in a two-room cabin on the edge of the Hoosier National Forest, where she often spent her off hours singing outdoors. In 1978, she moved to Northern California with hopes of pursuing her singing career. It was there, while waitressing at the Sausalito restaurant Trident on the San Francisco Bay, that she befriended jazz guitarist Eddie Duran and began sitting in with his trio. Around the same time, a chance encounter with Stan Getz at the famed Keystone Korner nightclub led to Bell recording her debut album, Let There Be Love. Released on Concord in 1982, the album showcased Bell alongside Getz and Duran. A second album, One by One, followed in 1984 and featured a guest appearance by trumpeter Tom Harrell.

Anne Sajdera

Born: November 5, 1965

As a pianist, composer bandleader and accompanist, Anne Sajdera is a creative force whose music encompasses an unusually far-flung array of traditions. With musical roots spanning the globe, she melds American and Brazilian jazz to her training in European classical music, creating an utterly personal sound that’s melodically verdant, harmonically sophisticated and rhythmically compelling. Her first release, Azul (Bijuri Records, 2012), was co-produced by Ray Obiedo and featured a performance from percussion legend Airto Moreira, earning a spot on JAZZIZ Magazines Top Ten Critic’s Poll for 2012, and inclusion in Latin Jazz Corner’s Great Latin Jazz Albums for the same year

The Bach's Beach Vision Of Jazz Heaven

by Arthur R George
June 17, 2018

Heaven for some is a baseball diamond in an Iowa cornfield. For Pete Douglas, it was a house on a beach with a jazz club in his living room, a would-be heaven also for anyone who dropped in. Douglas passed on, in 2014 at age 85, sitting at his desk overlooking the Pacific Ocean. But his ...