The biggest news this month is that we reached our goal of 200 members before the end of 2012.  It’s all gravy from here on, folks! Invite a friend to join.

Please keep Yvette Norwood Tiger in your prayers as she is recovering from serious surgery and send some light and love to her husband Steve Tiger, too!  This was a sudden circumstance and she is working very hard to recover.  Yvette was scheduled to perform with us on February 2 and March 10, 2013.  With your prayers, she may recover in time, however, it’s a long road for her to travel.  Yvette is a talented young vocalist with a heart of gold.  We miss her smiling face and beautiful voice, very much.  If you care to email her, just let me know, and I’ll send you her email address.

Victorya Cole performs at “The Friday Night Jazz” from 5:30 to 7:30 on Friday, November 2, 2012, at the Palm Beach Public Library, 411 Clematis Street, West Palm Beach, Fl  33401, with  Mark Marineau (piano), Don Coffman (bass), and  Karl Ott (drums).

On Monday, November 12, 2012, 7:30 pm,  Victorya will do “Jazz In The Sanctuary”  A Dozen Divas Divine with Jim van Voorheis (piano), Chris Hulka (bass), and Claudio Berardi (drums); at The Church of the Nativity, 1151 SW Del Rio Boulevard, Port St. Lucie, Fl  34953.  Call 772-343-0401 for tickets.

This concert is funded by a grant from Broward Schools through the Student Enrichment in the Arts Program (SEAS).

Nicki Mathis Afrikan Amerikan Jazz Duo with legendary Jazz Giant Emery Austin Smith will perform on Sunday,  November 18, 2012 @ 11:30 a.m. and 1:15 p.m.  Japanalia presents them at the Mark Twain House and Museum Murasaki Jazz Brunch Series, at 351 Farmington Avenue, Hartford, CT 06105. Call 860-280-3152 for tickets.  Website.  [Photo: Ron Thompson]

Performance fee support for Nicki Mathis may be available to nonprofit organizations through the New England States Touring (NEST) program of the New England Foundation for the Arts.

THURSDAY @ 4 P.M. EST

MEMBER SPOTLIGHT!

An accomplished violinist, Renee Baker has shifted from purely classical to jazz music and she is passionate about the switch.  Her Chicago Modern Orchestra Project and FAQtet perform, nationally, and globally!  Renee said, ““There is an urgent, compelling element to being able to let go, allowing yourself to shout and having it manifest itself on paper and then sent out into the world as performance.   I don’t do a lot of second guessing…I don’t take back prayers – the original shout-out is the most genuine.”

I create music. I compose it. I play it. I paint it.

Watch this video with Renee Baker’s orchestra members. . .

These ladies are rehearsing their songs to be performed on November 14 for  students at Dillard Center for the Arts in Fort Lauderdale.  The concert will include the music of Robin Avery and Joan Cartwright with accompaniment by Paul Banman (p), Jimmy Daniel (d), Anthony Turner (b), Malcolm Black (sax), and Wayne Rediker (guitar).

The challenge of being a composer and musician for a woman can lead to strange and wonderful twists in our economic paths.  Sometimes, we experience dread and other times our lives, much like a roller coaster, swings up and over all the cares we think we have in the world.  As creatives, we find other means of expression than making music.  For Teri Wilson, developing her own line of bath and beauty products is filling the need for both creativity and income.