Results for "World Music"

Alan Chan

Born: May 5, 1978

Working musicians in some large ensembles can be forgiven for zoning out from time to time between their assigned parts, as long as they come through on cue. But when you’re performing the challenging big band music of Alan Chan, there's a good chance you’ll mess up if you’re not constantly on alert. “I like there to be surprises in my pieces, places where the music doesn’t go where or how you’d expect,” says the leader. Shrimp Tale, the captivating debut album by the Alan Chan Jazz Orchestra—one of the brightest of recent additions to the Los Angeles jazz scene—is full of unexpected turns and instrumental combinations

Nymphya

Born: June 25

California-based NYMPHYA is an Ethereal Baroque Pop / Folktronica Art-Pop recording artist / producer whose music is lightly suffused with Worldbeat, Classical and Avant-garde. Her Art-Pop style is best described as a stirring collage of eclectic beats, soaring vocals, haunting soundscapes, and captivating samples mixed with acoustic and electric instruments. Nymphya's lyrics, inspired by Nature and the Mystical, are most often philosophical or transpersonal, and transport the listener to a mystical land or a place of deep reflection ... “more of an immersion than a listening session” wrote one of her fans. Prior to launching NYMPHYA, Valentina O has appeared throughout the United States as an opera singer (NYCO and SF Opera), actor (Magic Theater), performer and musician, guesting on numerous soundtracks for television, film and commercials (Time/Life Warner, IMAX, and Garfield), on multiple CD projects for recording artists,(Sky Cafe and Royal Fingerbowl) backing up John Cale (The Velvet Underground) on the Tonight Show, appearing on MTV with her group Screaming Divas, and opening for Todd Rundgren at the Fillmore in San Francisco, for George Benson at Villa Montalvo, and Dana Carvey at the Shoreline Ampitheatre. NYMPHYA has released three albums: Her all original debut, DREAM DANCE, in December 2017, her all-acoustic anthology of Kate Bush cover songs, NAKED KATE, in December 2019, and her sampler 6 song EP CURIOS in October 2021

Dave Schoepke

Born: July 15, 1969

Dave Schoepke is an accomplished drummer from the Greater Milwaukee area. He has been the drummer for The Willy Porter Band since 2002 with three acclaimed albums with Willy. In addition to recording and touring he has numerous television and radio appearances. Dave has had the pleasure of working with the Legendary Jethro Tull guitarist Martin Barre. Dave toured with Martin’s band in 2017 and briefly in 2018. He appears on his Live At The Factory Underground album released in 2019. His project, Drums On Low, has received acclaimed reviews from Modern Drummer, Recording Magazine, and numerous global on-line music critics

Max ZT

“I think we’re in the midst of a mass awakening,” says Max ZT, “a kind of collective reprioritization. It feels like we’ve been forging our way through the darkness, and now the light is finally about to break through.” 

With Daybreak, Max’s mesmerizing new album of hammered dulcimer music, the light has arrived. Recorded at home in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, the fully-improvised instrumental collection channels all of the hope and fear and pain and discovery of these past few years into a captivating sonic journey that’s equal parts medicine and meditation. The songs here are spare and deliberate, calling on Indian, African, and Celtic traditions as they move with grace and wonder, and the performances are nothing short of entrancing, managing to showcase both Max’s virtuosic command of his instrument and the innovative approach that’s earned him widespread acclaim. A national champion performer, Max has been praised as the Jimi Hendrix of the hammered dulcimer by NPR, but Daybreak isn’t about fireworks or flash. Instead, the album is an offering, an ego-sublimating invitation to step outside of yourself and find peace and comfort in reflection. 

Journeys

«Journeys» is the project of six experienced top musicians from Zürich, who have been on the scene for the last twenty-five years. Based on the remarkable compositions of Dennis Roshard and Angelo Signore the band has developed an exciting, timeless mix of grooving funk tunes, beautiful ballads and kicking Latin jazz, leaving their audiences overwhelmingly enthusiastic. Their new CD «New Destinations» is filled with beautiful melodies, colorful harmonies, driving grooves and excellent solos. Take a trip with the music of «Journeys» to «New Destinations»" you’ll always want to come back.

Mark Wingfield

Mark is one of the most original and distinctive electric guitarists today. His improvising is always compelling, continually inventive and melodically uplifting. His guitar playing is steeped in the language of jazz, with influences such as John Coltrane, Miles Davis, Keith Jarrett and Jan Garbarek as well as rock players such as Jimi Hendrix. Other often eclectic influences such as Indian, Japanese and African music also feature strongly in Mark’s playing. These influences are fused with jazz and western classical music, and seamlessly integrated into a unique and highly distinctive musical voice

Marius Billgobenson

Born: April 4, 1966

A true musical citizen of the world committed to bridging longstanding cultural divides, Stockholm, Sweden based singer, songwriter and guitarist Marius Billgobenson has created a soulful and empowering fusion of jazz, blues, pop, R&B and the dynamic rhythms and vocal sounds indigenous to his homeland of the Congo. His invigorating blend of jazz instrumentation and African music seeks to bring awareness of disenfranchised communities. Starting with the release of his 2017 debut album The Sum of My Pardon, the multi-talented artist – also an award-winning anthropologist with intense interests in ethnomusicology and curating cultures - has used jazz as umbrella to bring about intellectual dialogues

Kristen Mather de Andrade

Born: December 29

New York-based artist Kristen Mather de Andrade has immersed herself in a broad array of musical worlds and cultures, from the classical canon to world music, and beyond. Devoting time to both the worlds of clarinet and voice, Mather de Andrade has enjoyed a career of prime accolades and acclaim within her chosen musical paths, but these days music feels as vital as ever as she explores being a solo artist. This fresh outlet of releasing her own recorded music has been transformative, as Kristen is already releasing her sophomore album As Bright As The Skies Are Blue on the heels of her debut album Clarão (2021). 

Michael Robinson

Born: March 11, 1956

Michael Robinson is a Los Angeles-based composer, programmer, pianist and musicologist. He voices and colors his compositions with instrumental timbres and scale tunings from diverse world music cultures including India, Africa, the Near East, Japan, China, Korea, Bali, Java, Cuba, Brazil, Australia, Europe, North America and Southeast Asia. He composes using traditional Western notation and programs a computer and electronic sound module to perform his music in real time without overdubbing.

"I'm interested in discovering and liberating the expressive quality - the essence - of computer- performed music. I want this music to emanate from the computer in the same way other sounds emanate in nature, like wind and water." (Michael Robinson quoted in Keyboard)

Don Soledad

Inspired by the guitar of flamenco legend; Paco de Lucia, Don Soledad cultivated his sophisticated, soulful sounds in Northern, California, beginning with his early guitar studies with the great Spanish flamenco maestros; Mariano de Cordobá and Agustin Ríos - the nephew of legendary guitarist Diego del Gastor. His studies continued in the Southern region of Spain; Andalucía in the city of Jerez de la Frontera - with guitarist Juan Diego Mateos. Soon thereafter, he was performing shows in San Francisco and the Sonoma and Napa Valley wineries. As a performer and recording artist, he has worked with talents in a variety of genres including rock singer Eric Martin (Mr