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LISA FISCH JANUARY 20 POMPANO BEACH JAZZ FEST POMPANO BEACH
Originally from Brooklyn, New York, vocalist Lisa Fischer attended The High School of Music & Art
in Manhattan. Influenced early on by the
likes of Freda Payne, Marvin Gaye and Melba Moore, Fischer also notes significant influence from the black LGBT community, particularly in developing her stage presence. In the early 1980s, Fischer released the b-boy classic “On the Upside” (under the name Xena), and “Only Love (Shadows)” which was briefly featured in the film Beat Street and later released as part of 1995’s The Best of Criminal Records compilation. Fischer’s initial solo career peaked with the 1991 release of “How Can I Ease the Pain” from her album So Intense, reaching No. 1 on the R&B charts, winning a Best Female R&B Vocal Performance Grammy, and spawning three Top 20 R&B hits. Fischer’s early music career found
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her providing backing vocals for Melba Moore and Billy Ocean, then working as a session vocalist and accompanist for the likes of Chaka Khan, Teddy Pendergrass and Roberta Flack.
She accompanied Luther Vandross on his albums and as a touring backup singer for 22 years until his death in 2005, and accompanied The Rolling Stones on tour for 26 years, beginning in 1989. Fischer has recorded on a wide variety
of projects including lead vocals on “Colors of Love,” as featured on the soundtrack for the 1993 film Made in America. In 1996, Fischer made her theater debut in the off-Broadway play Born to Sing! chronicling the life and career of the fictional gospel superstar, Doris Winter. Fischer backed Sting on his 2009 album If On a Winter’s Night, and a behind-the-scenes documentary surrounding the release was produced jointly by the BBC.
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Fischer also toured with Tina Turner on her Twenty Four Seven Tour – the worldwide top-grossing tour of 2000 – through 2009’s Tina!: 50th Anniversary Tour. She appeared at the 2010
CareFusion Newport (RI) Jazz Festival with jazz trumpeter Chris Botti, then toured and guested with Botti’s band for the next couple of years. Then Fischer spent two years touring with the Stones before joining rock band Nine Inch Nails as a backing vocalist for their Tension 2013 tour.
The 2013 Best Documentary Oscar-winning film Twenty Feet from Stardom altered the course of Fischer’s musical journey. The movie
highlights backup singers by archiving the oral histories of artists like Fischer, Merry Clayton and Darlene Love. The film’s Grammy was presented to the featured artists as well as the production crew, and in 2014 Fischer reunited with many of the film’s subjects to sing the national anthem at the 100th Rose Bowl in 2014.
Fischer then set about reinventing classic songs with co-conspirators JC Maillard and Grand Baton. Their organic fusion of Caribbean psychedelic soul and jazzy progressive rock ignited Fischer’s flexibility and freedom of expression, awakening her lifelong
desire to make music that heals but still rocks the house. The group performed across the U.S., Canada, Europe, Asia, Australia and New Zealand. In a truly solo return, Fischer sold out six consecutive shows at The Jazz Standard in New York City in 2015. That year, she and Maillard collaborated with choreographer Alonzo King to create a music/dance ensemble piece entitled The Propelled Heart for the Alonzo King LINES Ballet. It premiered at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco, and Fischer reprised her role two years later at the Kwai Tsing Theatre in Hong Kong.
In 2016 alone, Fischer provided vocal performances on three Grammy nominated projects: Louie Vega Starring...XXVIII
with Louie Vega and The Elements of Life; Sing Me Home with Yo-Yo Ma, The Silkroad Ensemble, and Gregory Porter; and New York Rhapsody with Lang Lang and Jeffrey Wright. In 2018, Fischer’s vocal performances were featured in the HBO film Notes From The Field, written and produced by playwright Anna Deavere Smith. Fischer and Grand Baton partnered with The Seattle Symphony for their program Just A Kiss Away in February 2018 in which rock music anthems such as The Rolling Stones’ “Gimme Shelter” were re-created orchestrally. What’s next? We can’t wait to find out! More at lisafischer music.com.
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S P O T L I G H T JANUARY 23 ENGLEWOOD’S ON DEARBORN ENGLEWOOD
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Chris O’Leary
Among the blues and roots world’s most talented unsung heroes, Marine veteran, ex-Federal police officer and former lead singer of The Barn Burners (with Levon Helm), Chris O’Leary has walked a hard line from his upstate New York home to stages all over the world. Between his large, athletic frame and his military-style JANUARY 25 “high and tight” haircut, O’Leary commands attention, singing his indelible EISENHOWER original songs with pure, unadulterated soul and playing harmonica with urgent CENTER locomotive power. His keenly written songs come directly from his colorful and THE VILLAGES sometimes harrowing life experiences. A disciple and friend of both The Band’s JANUARY 26 legendary drummer/vocalist/songwriter Levon Helm and iconic blues harmonica BLUES & BREWS giant James Cotton, O’Leary has been playing professionally since the 1990s, with BISTRO five previous solo albums to his credit. Recently inking a new record deal, O’Leary ORMOND BEACH will release his latest CD The Hard Line on January 12, calling it “the best JANUARY 27 work I’ve ever done. It’s the most focused, most to-the-point album LITTLE BAR I’ve ever made.” Self-produced and featuring 12 striking originals, this GOODLAND CD has many stories to tell. With more than 30 newly-written, neverrecorded songs to choose from (mostly written during the downtime JANUARY 28 of the pandemic), O’Leary selected the wildly energetic original BREWHOUSE “Lost My Mind” as the lead single. In addition to his harp work, GALLERY LAKE PARK O’Leary also plays the blistering guitar solos on “No Rest” and pulsating bass on “You Break It, You Bought It.” At long last, O’Leary is set to take his place among the blues world’s most passionate and exciting blues and roots artists. More at thechrisolearyband.net. JANUARY 24 THE ALLEY SANFORD
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S P O T L I G H T J A Z Z JANUARY 26 PINECREST GARDENS MIAMI
Gafieira Rio Miami
Gafieira (Gah-fee-ay-rah) is a word from Brazilian Portuguese that means different things to different people. It’s “a type of samba, danced in pairs,” but gafieira is also a low-rent hall or honky tonk where, starting in the early 20th century, the predominantly black underclass of Rio de Janeiro would go to enjoy live music, mainly samba, and practice couples’ dancing. In those days, musicians would perform waltzes, tangos, and polkas at the white upper-class events and then would head to the gafieiras and let loose. Soon after the sound of U.S. big band reached Brazil, the musicians in Rio began to make it Brazilian, combining standard brass and horns with a samba rhythm section. That became the sound of gafieira. “For me, it’s a cultural rescue of something we had in the ‘40s and ‘50s,“ says Brazilian Latin Grammy winner, bassist and composer Diogo Brown, founder and music director of Gafieira Rio Miami. Brown knew he needed a special band to play this kind of music, so in 2021 he called on top Miami-based musicians to put it together. The 11-piece band Gafieira Rio Miami features vocalist Isa Duarte along with some of the best session musicians and soloists in South Florida. Half of the band is Brazilian and the other half includes musicians from Venezuela, Cuba and the United States, giving the music a unique blend of flavors, cultures, and ideas. Their first video, for the song “Nó Na Madeira,” earned more than 10,000 YouTube views within just days of its release. More at gafieirariomiami.com.
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Nico Wayne Toussaint Applauded both in Europe and in North America, harp player and vocalist Nico Wayne Toussaint’s shows are renowned for JANUARY 24 their energy and infectious LITTLE BAR joy. Born in Toulon, France, GOODLAND Toussaint picked up the JANUARY 25 & 27 harmonica at age 17, influEARL’S HIDEAWAY enced by his mentor James SEBASTIAN Cotton, and soon began fronting his own band. In 1996, the 23-year-old Toussaint landed a job as a French teacher at Carleton College, near Minneapolis. While there, he recorded his debut album C’est Si Bon with area musicians. Over the following decade, he reoriented his focus on Chicago, home of his favorite blues, and began visiting every year to play with locals like Billy Branch, Killer Ray Allison or Jimmy Burns in addition to several solo dates. His second release, 1998’s My Kind Of Blues was followed by 2000’s Blasting The Blues and 2002’s Transgender (2002). Then came 2004’s critically-acclaimed double live album cut in France and in Boston. That was followed by 2007’s tribute to his father and to American music Southern Wind Blowin’, and 2009’s Blues Entre Les Dents (2009) recorded mostly in French, his native language. Four albums in four years 2009-2014 were followed by Toussaint’s most recent studio release, 2017’s Plays James Cotton. Over his 25-year professional career, Toussaint’s tours have brought him new fans in the U.S., France, Belgium, Holland, Canada, Spain, Italy, Germany, Macedonia, Ecuador, Nigeria, Syria, Tunisia and Morocco. During his American sojourns, Toussaint has shared the stage with Cotton, Billy Branch and Luther Allison, among many others. More at nicowayne toussaint.com. w/RACHELLE COBA JANUARY 23 THE FISH HOUSE MIAMI
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S P O T L I G H T J A Z Z JANUARY 7 WITH LA LUCHA HCC YBOR TAMPA
Scotty Wright
“Let me tell you what I can’t do – I can’t sing a song the same way twice,” Scotty Wright says. Hailing from South Carolina, Wright was eight years old and living with his military family in Germany when he started studying piano, then drums. By age 13, with his family stationed in Taiwan during the Vietnam war, he and his sister were writing music and had started a band – with music deemed worthy of airplay on Armed Forces Radio. Back in the States, Wright sang in his California high school choir, then joined the international high school touring band Up With People. In a few years he’d become a music director for a local church. Soon he was writing jingles, singing a variety of musical styles, and playing in clubs. By the early ’80s Wright had landed in San Francisco, continuing to stake his claim, when he was stricken by a near-fatal case of viral meningitis. After fully recovering his voice, Wright decided to sing only what he wanted to sing going forward – and that was jazz. Then about 10 years ago he had a stroke. While going through recovery, wondering whether he’d given his last performance, he began to write. To date Wright has amassed more than 650,000 views of his writing on Quora. After 30 years on the road bringing his swing to as many countries, Wright’s playful, scat-assong deliveries continue, with his rich stylization, buttery smooth delivery and upbeat rhythms that deserve to be experienced live. More at scottywright.com.
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S P O T L I G H T J A Z Z JANUARY 19 POMPANO BEACH JAZZ FEST POMPANO BEACH
David Sánchez
Grammy-winning saxophonist David Sánchez’s unique musical sensibility can be traced to his home, Puerto Rico, where he began playing percussion and drums at age eight before migrating to tenor saxophone a few years later. While a scholar at the prestigious La Escuela Libre de Música in San Juan, he took up the flute, clarinet and soprano saxophone. The Bomba and Plena rhythms of his homeland, along with Cuban, Caribbean and Brazilian traditions, were among the biggest influences on Sanchez’s early taste in music. But soon jazz masters such as Sonny Rollins, Dexter Gordon and John Coltrane would command his ear and his imagination. In 1988 Sánchez earned a music scholarship at Rutgers University. Quickly immersed in New York’s jazz scene, he was recruited to tour with Eddie Palmieri. Then in 1991, Dizzy Gillespie invited Sánchez to join his tour with Miriam Makeba. Sánchez has also performed and recorded with Kenny Barron, Pat Metheny, Gonzalo Rubalcaba, and many others. From his 1994 debut The Departure through his most recent release, 2019’s Carib, Sánchez has been infusing jazz into the musical dialects of Puerto Rico and other Caribbean and Latin America sources. 2010’s Ninety Miles Project found Sánchez, Stefon Harris and Christian Scott coming together for a successful album and documentary film recorded in Havana with some of Cuba’s finest musicians. Sánchez is also a member of the SFJazz Collective, an all-star octet representing the SFJAZZ institution. The Collective has been one of the most prolific ensembles of the last decade, recognized for its stellar musicians, groundbreaking compositions and innovative takes on the music of some of the world’s most influential artists. More at missingpiecegroup.com/david-sanchez.
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S P O T L I G H T J A Z Z JANUARY 10 GOLD COAST JAZZ SOCIETY BROWARD CENTER FT LAUDERDALE
Tierney Sutton & The Shelly Berg Trio
Nine-time Grammy-nominated jazz vocalist Tierney Sutton has received a Best Jazz Vocal Album nomination for every project she has released in the last decade. Known for her impeccable voice and imaginative treatments of The Great American Songbook, Sutton’s 14 recordings as leader have addressed themes such as materialism and the pursuit of happiness. She has paid tribute to the music of Bill Evans, Frank Sinatra, and pop icon Sting. Her 2013 Joni Mitchell tribute After Blue featured keyboardist Larry Goldings, drummer Peter Erskine, jazz vocal legend Al Jarreau, and Hubert Laws. When she is not performing, Sutton is in demand as both a studio vocal producer and vocal educator. She taught for over a decade at USC’s Thornton School of Music and mentored some of the finest new generation of singers including Gretchen Parlato and Sara Gazarek. More at tierneysutton.com. Shelly Berg is a Steinway piano artist and five-time Grammy-nominated arranger, orchestrator and producer. His album projects are critically acclaimed, and he has earned three Grammy nominations in the Best Arrangement Accompanying Vocal(s) category. His fifth Grammy nomination came as co-arranger of “I Loves You Porgy/ There’s a Boat That’s Leavin’ Soon for New York” from the 2018 album Rendezvous. Berg hosts the monthly radio show Generation Next on Sirius XM, is music director of The Jazz Cruise, artistic advisor for the Jazz Roots series at the Miami’s Arsht Center, and Dean of the UM Frost School of Music. More at shellyberg.com.
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South Florida Folk and Acoustic Music Festival Folk music has been defined as “a type of traditional and generally rural music that originally was passed down through families and other small social groups.” The blues and – rural factor aside – jazz both fit this term as uniquely American art forms. The Broward Folk Club is a non-profit organization dedicated to promoting folk and acoustic music, and providing a community for people who share a love for it. To that end, they will be presenting the South Florida Folk and Acoustic Music Festival in Davie at the beginning of February. Featuring an impressive lineup of performers from new blood to seasoned veterans, the event will present folk music in all of its many iterations, including strong blues and jazz influences. Colorado Music Hall of Fame member Bob Lind closes out Saturday night, and two-time Queen City (NC) Americana/Folk Artist of the Year Mitch Hayes is in the Singer-Songwriter finals. A performance from the Jazz Education Community Coalition, headed by south Florida jazz mainstay Nicole Yarling, kicks off Sunday morning. Demonstrating the varied influences in American folk, this group will be followed by the blues-influenced stylings of Tucker Ronzetti. And Clare Cunningham has earned accolades from such varied admirers as Vince Gill, Steve Earle, and Motorhead. With workshops, a jam tent, song circles and more than 30 performers, every musical style influencing American Folk will have its chance to shine. More at browardfolkclub.com/festival.
FEBRUARY 2-4 BERGERON RODEO DAVIE
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