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The Art of Fine Vocals
Monday, February 5, 2007
Sandra Booker
Jazz Vocalist
Cedric
Berry VOCALIST
Jacques Lesure
Guitarist
Thomas White
Drummer
Edwin
Livingston
Bassist and composer
at CalTech's Ramo
Auditorium
332 South Michigan Ave.,
South of Del Mar Blvd., Pasadena
 Sandra
Booker
Jazz Vocalist
Sandra Booker is undoubtedly one of the new masters in the jazz genre.
Highly respected for her virtuosic scat ability, impeccable timing,
crystalline tone and bold musical individuality, Booker is in a league of
her own. A native of the world’s greatest jazz city New Orleans, she sings
in a style reminiscent of one who speaks in a native tongue revealing her
deep Southern roots in jazz as well as gospel (Negro spirituals), rhythm
and blues and Caribbean and Brazilian influences while demonstrating her
classical training through precise intonation and uncompromising technical
agility.
She has collaborated and performed with
some of the great veterans and emerging stars of jazz including Billy
Higgins, Wynton Marsalis and the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra, Lalo
Schifrin, WDR Big Band, Nils Landgren, Harry Connick, Jr., Mike Melvoin,
Billy Mitchell, Willie Jones, III, Phil Upchurch, Ernie Watts, Barbara
Morrison, Gerald Wiggins, Thania Sanz, Black Note, Patrice Rushen, Tamir
Hendelman, John Leftwich, Wolfgang Haffner, Dan Lutz, Dale Fielder,
Roberto Miranda, Larry Koonse, Pepesito Reyes and Ryan Cross.
A student of Ethnomusicology at the
University of California, Los Angeles, (UCLA), she received the 2005-2006
John P. Herrick and Julian “Cannonball” Adderly Memorial Scholarships and
the 2006-2007 John Densmore Music Scholarship. In 2005, as a member of
Team Vico, a non-profit organization that produces musical recordings for
children with autism; they received a Los Angeles Music Award for
Best Children’s Album.
Booker’s voice has been featured on radio and television for commercial’s
ranging from Coca Cola to Ralph Lauren. She is a member of the Garrett
Morris (Saturday Night Live) Gumbo Creole Players comedy troupe based in
Los Angeles.
Currently she is recording three new
projects scheduled for release in fall 2007 for her label Jersey Boy Music
that includes a Christmas CD. Booker has not limited herself solely to the
performance of music for performance sake but to music as a means of
promoting peace, understanding and reconciliation. In 2005, she
established the Underground Jazz
Movement with fellow musicians Jacques Lesure, Edwin
Livingston. Dale Fielder and Thomas White to explore the historical
repertoire of New Orleans’ jazz in a minimalist style (no piano) while
incorporating female slave narratives and Afro-American poetry.
She is also the president of the Booker
Group, parent company of When Love
Happens™ that specializes in media, music and apparel to
commemorate the 40th Anniversary of Loving vs. Virginia to
legal interracial marriage and celebrate the interracial community in the
United States.
The words of legendary guitarist Kenny
Burrell sum her up best when he says “…some people got it and some people
don’t and Sandra Booker’s got it all!”
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 Cedric
Berry
The stunning voice of Los Angeles Opera Resident artist, Cedric Berry, is
guaranteed to make this a concert students will always remember. Musically
trained at U.S.C. into one of the finest bass baritone opera singers in
Southern California, Berry has used his gift to enchant and inspire
audiences of all ages. His entrancing and captivating voice has been heard
all around the world along with celebrated organizations such as the
Pacific Symphony, Arizona Symphony, Fresno Philharmonic, Los Angeles
Philharmonic, and the LA Master Chorale and he has delivered memorable
performances in Porgy and Bess, Faust, Madame Butterfly and Carmen, to
name a few. His passionate voice has received several awards, including a
first place award at the 1998 Metropolitan Opera Western Region
Competition, and this is certain to be a winning and engaging performance.
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Jacques Lesure
Guitarist
Jacques Lesure, a native Detroiter and a recent Los Angeles resident was
recognized early in life as a gifted musician. His musical career began at
the age of ten years old, as a featured trumpet player in a spirited
Pentecostal church band. He quickly acquired a passion for the guitar and
used his incredible talent to become a founding member of the popular
gospel group, "Commission". Also during his youth, Mr. Lesure traveled the
world with the Clark Sisters and various other gospel groups.
After a successful period of touring the world, an intense desire to
enhance his improvisational skill coupled with an eagerness to explore the
unique qualities of the guitar led Mr. Lesure to the Berklee College of
Music in Boston, Massachusetts. Jacques was able to hone his unique style
that has been cited as being reminiscent of a musical "geometrical
progression". It can be described as a soulful blend of the syncopation of
gospel and the soulful licks of jazz. After a successful academic career,
Lesure earned a degree in guitar performance and headed to the Southeast
to pursue a professional career as a jazz artist.
"Jazz is a reflection of life; one must truly live it in order to
understand it. The ability to improvise, actively listen and be willing to
support others are all ingredients of a great life and a consummate jazz
band", states Jacques Lesure. His ability to successfully combine these
components has allowed Jacques Lesure to become one of the world's most
exciting jazz guitarist. He has created a style that is innovative and
fresh, yet his roots are firmly planted in the rich soil of tradition.
Through Jacques' touring and jazz productions, he has played with many of
jazz's greatest artists; Oscar Brown Jr., George Benson, Freddy Cole,
Russell Malone, Wynton Marsalis, George Bohannon, and many others. He has
also been involved in the creation and performance of a variety of stage
plays, movie scores and television presentations. He continues to appear
at festivals, clubs, and jazz productions around the world.
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Thomas White
Drummer
Thomas White is a drummer whose abilities and
creativity enable him to fit into many different musical situations. He
has been performing a variety of styles (including jazz, R&B and pop)
since he began playing and he often gets called to do so in the Los
Angeles area where he lives.
Thomas White is a product of the Berkeley, California public school system
that also prepared such artists as Joshua Redman, Benny Green and Charlie
Hunter. After high school he studied jazz and classical percussion at the
New England Conservatory in Boston on scholarship. In addition to studying
privately with renowned bassist Dave Holland and drummer Bob Moses, he
played professionally with composer and theorist George Russell. During
his last year in Boston, Thomas was chosen through national auditions for
the professional drum chair of The Disney World Show Orchestra at EPCOT
Center in Florida. Here he performed four shows a day with guest artists
such as Dave Brubeck and singer Rosemary Clooney.
Upon leaving the East Coast, Thomas returned to California and became
immersed in the Los Angeles music scene. He was intimately connected to
the “jazz renaissance” center of the city - Leimert Park. This area has
hosted a number of live music venues; including 5th St. Dick’s, Billy
Higgins’ World Stage, Elephant Walk and Lucy Florence which built a
well-deserved reputation in the jazz community for showcasing talent such
as Thomas. In fact its reputation extends beyond the city of Los Angeles -
people venture to the Leimert Park area having heard of “the scene” from
as far away as Japan and Europe. Thomas began playing at 5th St. Dick’s
“subbing” for drummer Willie Jones (Roy Hargrove’s drummer). The group
included pianist Greg Kurstin (who would go on to play with Bobby
Hutcherson) and altoist James Mahone. It was here that he met another
emerging musician in the LA jazz renaissance, saxophonist and Clarion Jazz
president Dale Fielder and began a musical collaboration resulting in
numerous recordings and appearances. They were named the Jazz Discovery
winners by BET (Black Entertainment Television) Cable and went to
Washington D.C. to record a 1-hour cable special that aired nationally and
internationally.
Other musicians that Thomas has worked with include: Cecilia Coleman,
Steve Huffstedter, Jerry Pinter, Charlie Hunter, Clark Terry, John Medeski,
Lew Tabakin, Bennie Wallace, George Russell, Dwight Tribble, George
Cables, Phil Ranelin, Geoff Keezer, Harold Land Jr., Larry Grenadier and
Mark Turner to name a few. He is a master drummer who combines swing, soul
and spontaneity to create magic.
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Edwin
Livingston
Bassist and composer
Hailing from Dallas, Texas Edwin was exposed early in his life to music.
He was in the choir and band in his adolescence and joined the orchestra
in high school. He studied with Roger Fratena(assistant principal double
bass) of the Dallas Symphony while in high school and continued to play
many styles of music during this time.
After receiving his BM in music performance he relocated several times in
pursuit of new musical terrain. In his various travels he has played and
recorded with many notable artists and masters. Edwin has performed and or
recorded with:
Elvin Jones, Ellis, Delfeayo, & Jason Marsalis, The Headhunters, Los
Hombres Calientes (Grammy nominated Latin Jazz album), National Assoc. of
Negro Musicians Orchestra Donald Harrison Jr., Alvin Batiste, Ronnie Laws,
Leni Stern, Lionel Loueke, D.J. Logic David “Fathead” Newman, Justo
Almario, Hot Buttered Rhythm, Henry Butler, James Clay and many others.
Edwin has also appeared in several feature films, RAY and Dreamgirls.. He
has two CD’s as a leader performing original music, The Edwin Livingston
Group and Transitions. Edwin is also featured in the August 2002 issue of
Bass player magazine.
After performing in festivals and venues throughout the world he currently
resides in Los Angeles.
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