MIXED MEDIA - Key Persons
Renowned jazz writer Bob Blumenthal has been writing about the jazz scene since his college days in 1969.
Carmen McRae. But Monteiro, whose earthy voice and masterful phrasing is reminiscent of McRae's, chose McRae for a few very good reasons …
"My dad Jimmy Woode," she explains, "played bass with Carmen for quite a while, and my godfather, trumpeter Clark Terry did also. I used to listen to them tell stories about their time with Carmen and it was fascinating."
The influence of Carmen's music and the direct connection to it, takes Monteiro's tribute to the next level. With a similar singing style, the same, spare three-piece band, and a love of the repertoire, Monteiro made it a mission to bring greater attention to the amazing craft and music of McRae. "I really want Carmen to be heard," she says. "She was just a great entertainer, a great singer."
On To Carmen With Love, Monteiro is helping to do just that. In preparing the album, which was produced by Monteiro and Mike Renzi, Shawnn took great care in choosing the songs she had a feeling were special to the singer. She sifted through her own three-dozen-plus recordings by McRae, and pinpointed the songs that kept popping up in their grooves: "That Old Black Magic," "Lamp Is Low," "Old Devil Moon," "Nice Work if You Can Get It," and "I Have the Feeling I've Been Here Before." A few years ago, a former band mate presented Shawnn with a DVD of McRae's last performance, recorded back in 1986. "All the tunes I loved were on it," she says, and their inclusion convinced Shawnn she was on the right track. "She had a love in her heart for them, obviously."
Job Titles:
- Corporate Wellness Coach for Two Fortune 500
Cathy is a corporate wellness coach for two Fortune 500 companies based in Boston, MA.
Cory Pesaturo, 26, is not yet a household name, even though he's been globally prominent on his instrument since he began playing at age nine. Cory's relative obscurity could be because he specializes in the accordion.
Cory started his career as an acoustic accordionist, and has since transformed the instrument. He is one of only a handful of musicians to win a world championship on both acoustic and digital accordion. In addition to all that, he's also won a world championship in jazz accordion.
He performed on four occasions at the White House and played at seven other public and private events for President Bill Clinton. In 1999 he performed at a prestigious state dinner.
More fun facts: Cory graduated as an accordionist from the New England Conservatory of Music, a rare occurrence indeed for a traditional conservatory. His prominence on has given him the opportunity to play around the world, collaborate with Wynton Marsalis, take the stage on "Late Night with David Letterman," and accompany a handful of "American Idol" performers.
Beyond his exalted status in the squeezebox world, Cory is a masterful and versatile musical talent, able to play accordion in any genre: classical, jazz, klezmer, folk, pop, and anything else he's asked to do. Just don't ask him to play a polka.
Cory has also placed his work in television programs, video games, and dance clubs, where he digs improvising on the accordion behind techno DJs.
In fact, he has revolutionized the technology behind the accordion and has managed to bring what has always been a quaint and antiquated musical sound into the mainstream and beyond. His electric accordion, with wild LED lights and flaming design, is partially responsible for that. "People are sticklers when it comes to the acoustic accordion," he said, "but if you play an electric accordion, you can more easily establish it as a cool, hip and accepted instrument. Then you can make your own rules."
Whether he's improvising through a Bach composition, dueting with partner and violinist Yasmine Azaiez, or ripping it up on the dance floor, he can play it all, as he turns the accordion into a mind-boggling spectrum of sound. In Cory's hands, it is anything but just another instrument. Once you witness his virtuosity, and versatility-not to mention his ability to simply accompany as well as lead-you know you're listening to one of the best musicians ever to lay his hands on those buttons.
"I'm always pushing to be a great musician that happens to play the accordion, rather than simply an accordionist that plays the accordion," he says. "I'm trying to change the image of the Lawrence Welk idea of an accordion player that has run like a virus through the opinions of the country for 50 years now."
That he has. And he's only just begun.
Check out Cory Pesaturo. He's got over a hundred videos on YouTube, a Wikipedia entry, and a web page with his name on it. If you're looking for a unique talent, with consummate ability, musical wherewithal, and boundless musical potential,
Pesaturo's mission is to revolutionize the squeeze box, once popular on "The Lawrence Welk Show" - and when he was twelve, he subbed in for an ill Myron Floren during a traveling appearance. He says the accordion died when rock music took over, but it's becoming more common in bands like the Dropkick Murphys, Bon Jovi and Bruce Springsteen. "My generation grew up playing the guitar, piano and drums, so the fact that the accordion died has created a new aura around it," Pesaturo says. "It's coming back as something different, and that's what I'm trying to push."
Judith Lynn Stillman, pianist, composer and filmmaker: Judith Lynn Stillman has been hailed as an "artistic visionary," is the Artist-in-Residence and a Professor of Music at Rhode Island College. She has performed throughout the world, at Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, Marlboro, Tanglewood, Grand Teton Festival and at the Grammy's celebration in honor of Rostropovich. She has appeared with Wynton Marsalis, Borromeo, Shanghai, Muir, Cassatt and Lydian string quartets, the Beach Boys, in a BOSE commercial with Herbie Hancock, as visiting guest artist at major conservatories in China, Russia and the Czech Republic, and as music director in Rome and Verona, Italy. Winner of 18 piano competitions, the first Pell Award in the Arts, and the Christiana Carteaux Bannister Award for Civil Service in the Arts, Stillman holds bachelor's, master's and doctoral degrees from The Juilliard School, where she won the Juilliard concerto competition and the Dethier Prize for Outstanding Pianist. Stillman, as filmmaker-composer-pianist, has garnered awards including Grand Jury Prize: Best Music Video, Best Multimedia Film, Best Music Score and Audience Choice in international film festivals in Los Angeles, Montréal, New York and the United Kingdom. Her iconic duo recording with Wynton Marsalis on Sony Classical was on the Top Ten of the Billboard charts: "Stillman and Marsalis make an impeccable duo. The playing consistently dazzles."
About Curt Columbus, Artistic Director, Trinity Repertory Company. In January 2006, Curt Columbus became Trinity Repertory Company's fifth artistic director. He is also the artistic director of the Brown/Trinity MFA programs in acting and directing.
Dave Zinno Unisphere River of January WCS101 Sentimental yet devoid of bathos, forward-surging yet never at the expense of thought or taste, River of January flows in two directions, simultaneously. Some laws, including those of hydrodynamics, are written to be broken. Unisphere, the cooperative (in so many ways than one) jazz band led by bassist/ composer/ arranger/pedagogue Dave Zinno, infuses the vanguard of modern jazz with what I hear as a romanticism all too uncommon in artistic expression corrupted by the materialist zeitgeist. "Evolution" and "change" are not synonymous, and these guys know it.
Job Titles:
- Member of the RI Philharmonic Orchestra
Job Titles:
- Staff Surgeon at Massachusetts General Hospital 's Center for Laryngeal Surgery
Harry Skoler will be performing with brilliant and internationally known Jazz Clarinet artists Evan Christopher, Felix Peikli, and Gregory Agid, as part of the International Clarinet Association's ClarinetFest 2014 five-day event in Baton Rouge, Louisiana! Sponsorship includes Vandoren and Buffet Crampon (Buffet Group USA).
Poulenc: Sextet for Piano and Wind Quintet Tickets are $25 for adults, $15 for students 18 and under or with a college ID,
East Providence, RI-The Rhode Island Philharmonic Orchestra & Music School hosts April in Paris with Poulenc: Judith Lynn Stillman and Friends from the Rhode Island Philharmonic Orchestra with a special appearance by Trinity Repertory Company's Curt Columbus. Pianist Stillman and Columbus perform with Orchestra members Rachel Braude, flute, Denise Plaza-Martin, oboe, Ian Greitzer, clarinet, Kevin Owen, French horn, Ronald Haroutunian, bassoon.
Job Titles:
- Music Industry Consultant and Publicist
Music industry consultant and publicist Ginny Shea has garnered international exposure for her clients through radio and video promotion, print media, and her vast industry network. Since founding MIXED MEDIA in 1989, Ms. Shea has advised her clients on ways to increase their visibility and strategically position themselves in the recording and music industry.
Job Titles:
- Professor at the Famous Berkeley College
Jazz clarinetist Harry Skoler was born in Syracuse, NY in 1956. Harry is Professor of Woodwinds at Boston's prestigious Berklee College of Music. He received his Bachelor of Music degree from Berklee in 1978, and a Master of Music degree from New England Conservatory in 1986, where he studied with legendary jazz great Jimmy Giuffre. His recordings include Conversations in the Language of Jazz, Reflections on the Art of Swing - A Tribute to Benny Goodman, A Work of Heart on Brownstone Recordings, and Two Ones on Soliloquy Records.
Job Titles:
- Member of the RI Philharmonic Orchestra
Job Titles:
- Associate Professor - Berklee College of Music
Job Titles:
- Artistic Director, and Pianist
- Members of the RI Philharmonic Orchestra
Judith Lynn Stillman,
Five members of the RI Philharmonic Orchestra, and
Trinity Rep's Curt Columbus team up for
April in Paris with Poulenc, April 27
Job Titles:
- San Antonio Symphony Members
San Antonio Symphony members Ken Freudigman and Beth Johnson are featured as string players on a new piece that uses a poem by Rudyard Kipling called "Seal Lullaby." Duggan created the lush musical arrangement, basing it on the melody from a Canadian folk song. "My goal was to create a soothing Celtic lullaby, and it was made even more lovely by these two exceptional musicians," describes Duggan.
Job Titles:
- Member of the RI Philharmonic Orchestra
Ms Gauvin has been trying to spread the word about this option in voice training, and acquaint educators/teachers with the benefits of this voice method compared to the vocal pedagogy for contemporary styles. She has also been trying to reach artists that are afraid of voice training because they feel it will alter their sound, a list of all types of people that may include jazzers, rock & rollers, gospel, R&B, and folk singers.
Mark Walker is a Yamaha, Paiste, Remo, Vic Firth and LP artist
Mary Ann Rossoni is back. This time with the benefit of experience.
It's always a treat when our beloved acoustic music icon Mary Ann Rossoni returns with a collection of songs. Edentown, her newest and eighth work shows us an artist that has come full circle, from acoustic music and back again. Only this time, Mary Ann's songwriting shows the benefit of passing time, of experience, of wisdom, of age.
The new album is Rossoni laid bare: a collection of songs shorn of any elaborate arrangement or instrumentation-just words, delicately strummed guitars, and her voice.
Best known for composing melodic ballads focused on the challenges, perils and accomplishments of working class heroes, Mary Ann follows that formula, and her strength, with Edentown. The songs here reflect a pensive depth,her songs address the darkness and difficulties that so often afflict her heavy hearted narrators, all of us. Many of the tunes on Edentown talk of loss, recovery and sacrifice. "After the deaths of my nephew and a close friend, my writing took a ‘why-are-we-here?' turn," she says. "The songs on Edentown speak of loss and recovery, young love and gratitude for the simple things that life has to offer."
Mary Ann and her band the Rossonians are featured at Stone Soup Coffeehouse on February 19 and she has invited special guests Caroline Doctorow and the Steamrollers as well as Jesse Liam to be part of the show. Mary Ann is excited to hear what they have done with her tunes and she hopes you will join her to give a listen.
… my whole family, Rebeckah, Jerra and Kelly but special thanks to my Pops, Terry Gibbs. He bought me the majority of all the Ron Carter and Kenny Barron records I owned from ages 13-18, which was well over 100 recordings combined. Love you Pops.
… my amazing wife Kyeshie. She taped over one hundred pages of music together. Helped me pack all my drums and percussion in the car and not only helped me bring it into the studio but helped set them up. She basically took care of everything, so all I had to do was play the drums. Love you. xo
Mike Laureanno is the real deal Americana: poignant themes, memorable refrains and unforgettable arrangements. Not your average singer/songwriter, his subjects cover a wide range of topics that include religion, politics, history and family. Mikes most striking effect is his ability to write melodies that remain with you long after the song is over.
… my whole family, Rebeckah, Jerra and Kelly but special thanks to my Pops, Terry Gibbs. He bought me the majority of all the Ron Carter and Kenny Barron records I owned from ages 13-18, which was well over 100 recordings combined. Love you Pops.
… my amazing wife Kyeshie. She taped over one hundred pages of music together. Helped me pack all my drums and percussion in the car and not only helped me bring it into the studio but helped set them up. She basically took care of everything, so all I had to do was play the drums. Love you. xo
Job Titles:
- Member of the RI Philharmonic Orchestra
Job Titles:
- Member of the RI Philharmonic Orchestra
Shawnn Monteiro offers tribute the wonderful and all-too-overlooked jazz singer Carmen McRae in To Carmen with Love, a soulfully beautiful album. Monteiro sings in the same style as McRae once did, accompanied by a spare three-piece band; the songs are carefully selected from among McRae's personal favorites. To Carmen with Love is a joy to experience for fans of jazz, and highly recommended. Midwest Book Review Library Bookwatch: June 2012
Shawnn Monteiro - To Carmen with Love 4/4 O's Notes: Shawnn sings with her soul, reaching down deep like the early jazz singers. Specifically this is a tribute to Carmen McRae, not a trivial task but Monteiro pulls it off. She has the perfect compliment with her swinging trio including pianist Mike Renzi, Dave Zinno on bass and drummer Steve Langone. There are twelve songs that help us revisit memories of one of the greatest jazz singers (Carmen). - D. Oscar Groomes O's Place Jazz Magazine P.O. Box 38430 Charlotte, NC 28278 http://www.OsPlaceJazz.com
Thrasher Dream Trio is an important release for WCS's new distributor, Naxos, a significant new alliance following the dissolution of its recent relationship with Allegro. "When one door closes," says Neal Weiss, president of WCS, "another door opens. We really respected our work with Allegro, but we are even more hopeful with Naxos, which also does amazing work."
GERRY GIBBS THRASHER DREAM TRIO: It's really something to be a youngish drummer playing along side Kenny Barron and Ron Carter and sound like an equal instead of a weak link. With a colorful, diverse set list that let's everyone play to their strengths throughout, this is high octane killer jazz trio work. Impeccably in the pocket throughout, this drummer who has been lurking in the background for too long is really making his move here. It's the kind of killer stuff real jazzbo listeners crave from real jazzbo players and know how to get right out of the box. Hot!
Tim Ray is a Steinway artist and endorses Steinway Pianos
Job Titles:
- JJ Sansaverino ( Maxi Priest ) !
Job Titles:
- Illustrator
- Artist / Painter
Born and raised in Rhode Island, there has never been a time when Vincent Castaldi was not an artist, following the muse; studying fine art, drawing, pottery. In junior high school he attended Rhode Island School of Design Jr. School Program and later returned to RISD to study fine art, illustration, caricature, children's illustration and editorial art. In between he worked as a teacher's assistant and youth art instructor. After graduating, as a participant in the RISD European Honors Program he traveled to Rome where he studied culture and language while continuing to study and practice drawing and painting. As his artistic vision grew and refined, he added layered elements of collage, using his notes, scribbles and sketches as the base element, allowing them to peek out from underneath his pastels like glimpses into his psyche; the heart and inspiration of his art.
From Rome to Boston, and back to Rhode Island, Vincent's work has developed and elaborated on these techniques with layered figures, and thematic layering as well; whimsy, introspection, longing, liberation, and always striving after beauty.
Artist Vincent Castaldi was born in Providence and raised in Cranston, Rhode Island. Discovering his interest and ability in drawing as early as elementary school, he began to develop his artistic skills by participating in many art, drawing, and pottery classes. In junior high school, Vincent was accepted into the Rhode Island School of Design Junior School Program figure drawing classes.