Jazz & Blues Florida May 2023 Issue

SHAYNA

Dynamic vocalist Shayna Steele puts new meaning to diversity and grass-roots talent. Ever since her 2015 release Rise reached No. 2 on the U.S. iTunes jazz charts, Steele’s effortless execution of both soul and jazz has grabbed the attention of audiences globally, be it at the Vancouver Jazz Festival, the Blue Note in New York City, or as a guest vocalist with some of the biggest symphonies throughout North America. With her brand-new studio album Gold Dust, Steele’s creative abilities explode in multiple genres. Produced by David Cook, Gold Dust embodies a sound that has taken Steele more than 20 years to perfect. The album features a fresh cover of Cole Porter’s “You’d Be So Nice To Come Home To” featuring Grammy-nominated saxophonist Donny McCaslin. It also highlights new original material including the inspiring anthem “The Bloodline” and the sultry “Behind Closed Doors” with jazz crooner Sachal Vasandani. But it’s the new arrangement of Stevie Nicks’ “Gold Dust Woman” that truly showcases Steele’s explosive vocals.

Borne from the pandemic’s gridlock on the music industry, Steele’s inspiration for Gold Dust was fueled by her creative relationship – and extra time – with her family. It drove her to not only plan a new album, but to return to music school almost 30 years later to finish her music degree. Through her studies at the prestigious Berklee College of Music, Steele not only maintained a 3.95 GPA, but created many of the album’s tracks within the classroom.

Born in Sacramento, Steele lived the itinerant childhood of an American Air Force brat. Moving from California to Oklahoma and then to Ramstein, Germany for seven formative years, she had little chance to contemplate her racial identity until her family landed in Biloxi, MS in 1985. There, Steele dove headfirst into music, entering (and winning) pageants and talent shows, including an appearance on Star Search at age 15. Just three months after her fateful 1996 move to New York City, Steele landed a role as the first replacement in the history of the Broadway production of Rent This led to roles in Jesus Christ Superstar and as a member of the girl group The Dynamites in the Tony-winning musical Hairspray. She later reprised her role in NBC’s 2016 presentation Hairspray Live. No stranger to either the small or silver screen, Steele can be heard on the Legally Blonde 2, Bambi 2 and Sex and the City 2 soundtracks, and made a guest appearance on The Sopranos. More recently, Steele appears on the soundtrack to the 2021 motion picture In the Heights

“ Gold Dust is a reflection of my growth and demonstrates my full potential as a vocalist, a writer, and an arranger.”

SHAYNA STEELE

Throughout her career, Steele has lent her talent to leading artists such as Moby, whose tracks “Raining Again,” (2005) The Bourne Ultimatum theme song “Extreme Ways” (2007), and“Disco Lies” (2008) – which reached No. 1 on the U.S. Billboard Dance chart – featured Steele’s blockbuster vocals. Following her 2004 self-titled EP, Steele released her first album I’ll Be Anything in 2009, followed by the careerlaunching Rise in 2015. She has provided background vocals for Bette Midler, Rihanna and Kelly Clarkson, and tours regularly as a featured vocalist with trumpeter Chris Botti. Snarky Puppy’s Michael League handpicked Steele’s original track “Gone Under” from her 2019 CD Watch Me Fly for inclusion in their Family Dinner, Volume 1 album, a viral

MAY 9

FOGARTYVILLE

SARASOTA

MAY 10

FAENA THEATER

MIAMI BEACH

MAY 11

HEIDI’S JAZZ CLUB

COCOA BEACH

MAY 12

LEVITT

sensation with more than two million views. This year, Steele will debut her solo symphony show, American Diva, with the Rochester Philharmonic Symphony led by Grammy-winning conductor and composer Jeff Tyzik, featuring arrangements of her music and favorite covers. Steele has performed as a guest soloist with more than 40 American symphony orchestras including The Dallas Symphony Orchestra, The Buffalo Symphony, and The Philly Pops. Speaking of both current projects, Steele says, “My new work reflects my connection with my daughter, social justice, coming up from the ashes, and newfound freedom from isolation…. I’m grateful to be back.” More at shaynasteele.com

AMPHITHEATRE OCALA

Selwyn Birchwood

MAY 13

BLUE JAY LISTENING ROOM

JACKSONVILLE BEACH

MAY 19

DOUBLE ROADS TAVERN JUPITER

MAY 20

BUCKINGHAM BLUES BAR

FT MYERS

MAY 21

After first hitting the blues scene in 2011 with Florida Boy, Selwyn Birchwood won the 2013 International Blues Challenge. He then took a giant step forward with 2014’s Don’t Call No Ambulance. The album received the Blues Music Award and Living Blues Critics’ Award for Best Debut Album Of 2014, and he won the 2015 Blues Blast Rising Star Award. He followed in 2016 with Pick Your Poison, to equally stellar reviews. His most recent CD, 2021’s Living In A Burning House, features 13 new Birchwood originals on which his voice and vision are clear, his sound edgy and compelling, and his stories memorable and lasting. Birchwood describes his original music as “electric swamp funkin’ blues,” defined by raw and soulful musicianship played with fireand-brimstone fervor. His gritty, unvarnished vocals draw his audience into his tales of love, passion, pain and pleasure. Birchwood and his band have appeared at festivals across the U.S., as well as on The Legendary Rhythm & Blues Cruise and Joe Bonamassa’s Keeping The Blues Alive At Sea. Internationally, they have performed at festivals in Britain, France, Poland, the Netherlands, Canada, Switzerland; and concerts in Spain, Norway, the Czech Republic, Ireland, Belgium and Mexico. Says Birchwood, “I tell my stories in my own way, with my own voice. You won’t ever hear me on stage telling someone else’s story. Muddy Waters, B.B. King and John Lee Hooker all told their own stories. That’s what I’m doing.” His new album, Exorcist, is due out June 9. More at selwynbirchwood.com.

HEIDI’S JAZZ CLUB COCOA BEACH

LeNora Jaye

Currently based in South Florida, New York City native LeNora Jaye possesses a soul-sweetened voice that evokes the magic of the 1970s and ’80s. As a featured vocalist for the funk-rock band Rhythm Republik, she began performing at a host of venerable NYC venues including B.B. King’s, House of Blues, The Blue Note and CBGB’s. A series of session jobs followed, including singing at the St. Lucia Jazzfest with saxophonist Robert Zi Taylor, appearing as a featured artist on the 2011 KZCT 89.5 FM’s I-JAMS Jazz Cruise, and in 2012 aboard the Celebrity Eclipse cruise ship. Jaye was voted Best New Artist 2011 by SoulTracks.com after the release of her critically-acclaimed debut The Story, which she followed in 2016 with the electronica EP Force of Life. She has opened shows for the likes of Teena Marie, The Meters and Roy Ayers, while her solo career has found her sharing stages with The Roots, Floetry and India.Arie. Jaye’s career as a recording artist continues to flourish with her Astral22 collab orations, the contemporary jazz single “Living For Today,” her house offering “Always Get Away,” and the soulful “Giving It Up” which reached Top 20 status on the UK Soul Charts. She released two singles in 2018: the ’90s-inspired R&B banger “Put It Down” and the smooth-and-sexy “On The Side.” Jaye has performed as Ella Fitzgerald, Aretha Franklin, Patti LaBelle and Chaka Khan, and has presented a weekly live Motown/soul/jazz/R&B show in Wilton Manors for more than ten years(!). More at lenorajaye.com.

MAY 5

Laura Rain

& The Caesars

MAY 6

Reinventing itself as a vibrant incubator of ideas and creation after decades of neglect, Detroit has returned to the forefront on the world stage. Laura Rain is a product of that environment, a hard-driving vocalist who uses her power and finesse to inspire and electrify. Along with her creative partner George Friend, Laura Rain and the Caesars have released four albums over the last ten years, each a unique blend of contemporary funky soul, blues and R&B worthy of Detroit’s rich history of musical innovators. The two first met in person when Rain needed a last-minute guitarist for a show, and Friend filled in. “We did the show, talked for three hours after and then a week later, he came over and said, ‘I’m gonna dedicate my music career to working with you,’” Rain said. The two created the band, released an album a year later and married two years after that. After touring the U.S. Canada and Europe, the band spent their pandemic years growing their audience through social media, and have enjoyed meeting many of those fans at the shows.

“I do try very hard to connect with people… I definitely try to give them a great show. It comes straight from my guts to their ears. I leave it all out there,” says Rain. In 2022, they won two Detroit Music Awards: for Outstanding R&B Artist or Group and Out standing R&B Recording for the song “I Am” from their latest CD, Rise Again. More at laura rain.net

HOUSE OF MUSIC TALLAHASSEE

TROPICAL HEATWAVE FESTIVAL TAMPA

FROM A PHOTO BY INGO RAUTENBER

Frank Derrick

Virtuoso drummer, composer, and educator Frank Derrick’s many credits include a stint on The David Letterman Show; ten years touring internationally with Cab Calloway; theatrical work on The Wiz, Ain’t Misbehavin’, Sophisticated Ladies and others; and performances with such legends as Eubie Blake, The Platters, Eartha Kitt, The Duke Ellington Orchestra, The Woody Herman Orchestra, Ken Peplowski, The Louis Armstrong Legacy Band and Ann Hampton Callaway. Derrick has also conducted on the concert stage for John Pizzarelli and Lanie Kazan. Currently he is featured regularly with the Bob Hoose Orchestra, and is the drummer and assistant conductor for the Palm Beach Pops. Familiar to symphony audiences around the world, Derrick has appeared with the Royal Philharmonic, the New York Pops, Pittsburgh Symphony, Calgary Philharmonic, and the Buffalo Philharmonic. His precision and driving rhythmic styling have been featured on the cast album of Bubbling Brown Sugar, Veronica Martell’s Big City Swing, RejoicEnsemble!’s Strong & Graceful Oaks, The Cab Calloway Show Live in Freiburg Germany, and The Bob Hoose Orchestra’s Something Old, Something New, to name a few. His “Straight Ahead” composition garnered the ASCAP Special Award. As an educator, Derrick served as Chairman of Percussion at Henry Street Settlement in New York, presents master classes, is the respect-

MAY 10 BROWARD CENTER FT LAUDERDALE

Jean Caze

A millennial jazz and world music artist, trumpeter Jean Caze is the definition of a true global artist. Growing up in Queens, NY, the Haitian-American Caze began playing the trumpet at age nine. As his playing developed, Caze continued to receive awards and recognition, including a free trumpet from VH1’s Save the Music program, and a performance with the elite Grammy High School Jazz Band at the 2000 ceremony. In his senior year, Caze made his national television debut, performing with the legendary group Chicago live on NBC from Rockefeller Center. In 2004, Caze earned his Bachelor of Music degree in Jazz Performance from the prestigious Manhattan School of Music, and won the National Trumpet Jazz Competition. In 2006, he won the International Trumpet Guild Jazz Competition. In 2007 he earned his Master’s degree in Jazz Performance from Florida International University, and placed second the Thelonious Monk International Jazz Trumpet Competition. He then released his self-produced debut Miami Jazz Scene. In 2010, Caze joined Michael Bublé’s touring band as a featured soloist, performing to sold-out audiences around the world. 2015’s Amédé seamlessly combined Caze’s Haitian roots with his American jazz education and upbringing, and received abundant praise from critics, peers and jazz enthusiasts. He has performed with artists including Herbie Hancock, Aretha Franklin, Mariah Carey and Al Jarreau, to name just a few. An untiring supporter of music and art programs in the schools, Caze also manages to organize youth jazz bands, conduct master classes and offer one-on-one classes to students of all levels. More at jeancaze.com.

Shemekia Copeland

2021 Blues Music Award for B.B. King Entertainer Of The Year Shemekia Copeland connects with her audience on an intensely personal level. Born and raised in Harlem, NY, Copeland is used to the spotlight. She first stepped on stage with her famous father at New York’s Cotton Club at age eight. From her 1998 debut Turn The Heat Up through 2005’s The Soul Truth, Copeland earned eight Blues Music Awards (BMA) and a host of Living Blues Awards, with 2000’s Wicked receiving the first of her Grammy nominations. 2018’s America’s Child won both the BMA and the Living Blues Award for Album Of The Year. In addition to earning a Grammy nomination (her fourth), 2020’s Uncivil War was named Blues Album Of The Year by DownBeat, MOJO and Living Blues. The album, like its predecessor, looked at the hardships and happiness people encounter, seeking common ground, demanding change and still finding ways to have a good time. Released in 2020, Done Come Too Far continues that story and is nominated for four BMAs, to be announced May 11. Copeland has performed across the globe, appeared in movies and television, and even shared a bill with The Rolling Stones. She entertained U.S. troops in Iraq and Kuwait in 2008, performed at the White House for President and Mrs. Obama, and performed at the United Nations General Assembly Hall to a worldwide audience as part of International Jazz Day celebrations just last year. Copeland also continues to host her popular daily radio show on SiriusXM’s Bluesville. More at shemekiacopeland.com.