iRock Jazz LIVE! with Pianist Helen Sung

An award-winning classical pianist before jazz intervened “in the form of a Tommy Flanagan solo,” Houston, TX, native Helen Sung went on to graduate from the prestigious Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz Performance and win the Kennedy Center’s Mary Lou Williams Jazz Piano Competition. Since establishing herself in New York …

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iRock Jazz LIVE! with Bassist Christian McBride

Bassist extraodinaire, composer, arranger, educator, curator and administrator, Christian McBride, has been one of the most important and most omnipresent figures in the jazz world for 20 years. Sometimes hard to believe considering this man is not yet 40. Beginning in 1989, this Philadelphia-born bassist moved to New York City …

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iRock Jazz LIVE! with Pianist Cava Menzies

Bay area native Cava Menzies hails from a long line of musical talents; her grandmother, a pioneer in the New York Jazz scene as a dancer at the Cotton Club, her father, Eddie Henderson, an accomplished jazz trumpeter and early member of the Herbie Hancock sextet, and her mother a …

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iRock Jazz LIVE! with Ethiopian Singer WAYNA

It has been said that Ethiopian-born, singer/songwriter Wayna possesses a voice that is as sweet and pure as it is honest and passionate. This young talent’s love for music started as a child, when she starred in theater productions like “Annie,” and “Damn Yankees” and toured with a children’s musical …

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iRock Jazz Live! with Pianist Mark de Clive Lowe

(the) avant-garde soulful Pianist/DJ/Producer delivers his lifetime of journeys to different musical ports in a concise package, seamlessly… transporting not just in genre but in emotion and spirit.” – Huffington Post I’m a half-Japanese, half-New Zealander musician, based in Los Angeles since 2008 after spending a decade in London. That’s …

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Gary Bartz: Talks About Drug Use Among Jazz Greats

Grammy Award winning  jazz saxophonist Gary Bartz first came to New York In 1958 to attend the Julliard Conservatory of Music. Just 17 years old, Gary couldn’t wait to come to the city to play and learn. “It was a very good time for the music in New York, at …

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iRock Jazz LIVE! with Guitarist Paul Jackson Jr.

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 …

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iRock Jazz Live! with Pianist Orrin Evans

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 …

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iRock Jazz LIVE! with Actress Cynda Williams

Anyone from the ages of 35 – 45 who love jazz, either loves the movie Mo’ Better Blues and or loves Clarke Bentancourt one of the leading ladies in the film. After the movie came out women were getting their hair cut like hers (myself included). Clarke was the quintessential …

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Marc Cary: Abbey Lincoln Without Lyrics

Marc Cary’s name can be synonymous with the D.C. sound of music known as go-go. His music embodies a style that will capture the listener, connecting them to the sound. At the age of fourteen he became a member of the High Integrity Band, which played go-go music. He graduated …

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Raydar Ellis: No Longer Defined By My Origin

Jazz, born in the narrow streets of New Orleans evolved into America’s original art form eventually finding its way into nearly every boulevard and avenue round the world. Hip-hop, born in the concrete jungles of the South Bronx by youth desiring a creative outlet to combat social ills is now …

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Alexandra Jackson: A Voice All Her Own

Atlanta native Alexandra Jackson is a singer, songwriter, musician, and arranger. At the tender age of four, she began what would become twelve years of classical piano lessons. As the youngest daughter of Atlanta’s first African-American mayor and civil rights activist, Maynard Jackson, and Valerie Jackson, and one of the …

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