George Duke

Though Paul Jackson Jr. never got to meet or work with Wes Montgomery, one of his chief guitar influences, he has forged professional relationships with all the others who touched his formative years, including Earl Klugh, George Benson, Ray Parker Jr., Al McKay and Lee Ritenour. Since breaking into the Los Angeles …

The Jazz & Democracy Project® manifests a hypothesis that Wesley J. Watkins, IV, Ph.D. has been investigating since he was an undergraduate: a music-centered curriculum with genuine links to the other subject areas can increase student identification with school, impact academic engagement, and have a subsequent positive effect on overall academic …

Winner of the Kennedy Center’s Mary Lou Williams Jazz Piano Competition and named by Wynton Marsalis as one of his 2011 “Who’s Got Next: Jazz Musicians to Watch,” pianist-composer Helen Sung is blazing her own path – as an Asian-American artist, she bridges diverse worlds with a singular vision and …

When trumpeter Christian Scott was growing up in New Orleans in the late ‘80s and early ‘90s, his grandfather gave him and his brother Kiel extra reading assignments each week as a supplement to their assigned schoolwork. If the young students failed to finish their books within the week, their …

Two time Grammy nominee and Pew Fellow, Orrin Evans has been recognized as one of the most distinctive and inventive pianists of his generation. In a short span of time Orrin has earned the titles of pianist, composer, bandleader, teacher, producer and arranger. The New York Times described the pianist …

Warren Wolf is a multi-instrumentalist from Baltimore,MD. From the young age of three years old, Warren has been trained on the Vibraphone/Marimba, Drums, and Piano. Under the guidance of his father Warren Wolf Sr., Warren has a deep background in all genres of music. Beginning with classical music, Warren had …

Jazz musicians are blessed with the desire and ability to play a genre that has a history as rich as its sound. All the greats, past and present know that it’s not enough to simply play the notes, one has to live the music and feel it with every breath. …

Aruán Ortiz is a critically acclaimed Cuban pianist, an award-winning composer, and a solid producer and educator, not only on the New York City scene, but internationally as well.  Named “the latest Cuban wunderkind to arrive in the United States” by BET Jazz, this classically trained violist and pianist from …

Delfeayo Marsalis is one of the top trombonists, composers and producers in jazz today. Known for his “technical excellence, inventive mind and frequent touches of humor…” (Leonard Feather, Los Angeles Times), he is “…one of the best, most imaginative and musical of the trombonists of his generation.” (Philip Elwood, San Francisco Examiner.) In …

The great Miles Davis once said, “The thing to judge in any jazz artist is, does the man project and does he have ideas?” If these are indeed the canonical essentials of a jazz artist at his best, then saxophonist Marcus Strickland is one of today’s truest exemplars. Triumph of …

When truly considering the task of the artist, it is then that we realize that they are the closest we will ever get to meeting gods on Earth. Out of nothing they create that which leaves us speechless. And yet, here we are, once again, attempting to articulate their conception …

It’s no surprise that most singing artists have a foundation of singing in the church. Chanté Moore is no exception. Born in San Francisco, California, and raised in San Diego, Moore – the daughter of a minister, decided she would sing fulltime after playing Dorothy in her high-school’s rendition of …