Tag Archives: Straight Ahead

An eclectic composer who functions comfortably in both traditional and jazz customs, Watkins draws zero firm limitations around anybody style. Components of blues, gospel, region/folk, and pop slide quickly into her function, and her flexibility like a composer, arranger, pianist, and maker is shown in the items she has made …

Marion Hayden is among very few feminine jazz bassists, in her case figuring out to stay near house while becoming one of the most enduring instrumentalists in the Midwestern USA. Delivered in Detroit, MI, in 1952, she actually is the girl of Marion and Herbert Hayden, her dad a devoted …

Saxophonist, pianist, and composer using modern and modal styles in alliance with motivation from Dark poets and authors.

An all-female quartet/quintet whose most prominent graduate was violinist Regina Carter, Direct Ahead performed music that ranged from bop to poppish, contemporary jazz to R&B and fusion. The group emerged jointly in Detroit in 1987. Made up of business lead vocalist Cynthia Dewberry (who also performed flute), violinist Carter, keyboardist …

Violinist Regina Carter is an extremely initial soloist whose advanced technique and wealthy, lush firmness took the jazz world by nice surprise when she found its way to NY from her indigenous Detroit. And jazz enthusiasts weren’t the only real people who noticed that mercurial quality in her playing: performers …