Welcome to the Artistic Director's Guide

A quick look at Benny Green's bio sheds some light on why he is one of the most respected pianists on the scene: he's either played with or lists as influences musicians who cover a huge range of styles within jazz. No wonder his playing is so interesting - his earliest exposure was to Charlie Parker and Thelonius Monk; he also lists pianists like Erroll Garner, Ahmad Jamal Bud Powell and Oscar Peterson as influences.

There are so many layers to Nellie McKay I'm not sure where to start. Perhaps I should give the opening lines to the New York Times which, in a review of a film-noir musical biography Nellie created, refers to "McKay’s virtually unlimited gifts as a singer, songwriter, actress, pianist, ukulele player, mimic, satirist and comedian..." Not a bad place to start, I would suggest.

I joined the Tower of Power party late. I had heard about them for years, but for whatever reason hadn't checked them out. Once I did, I was hooked. Their high-energy funk, soul and R&B recordings were impossible to resist. When I finally saw them live in Detroit in 2010, I was floored - they sounded even better in person.

Natalie Cole is probably best known in the jazz world for her 1991 release Unforgettable...With Love on which she created a powerful duet by singing along and interacting with a track of her father's performance of "Unforgettable". The album provided Natalie with a dramatic break from what had been a career based primarily in the R&B world (a world in which she had immense success), earned six Grammy Awards, and sold more than 14 million copies worldwide. In case you need a refresher, here's the video: