The latest smooth jazz vocalist to hit the scene is Maxine Hardcastle. Yes, she is the daughter of British smooth jazz composer Paul Hardcastle. Maxine sings and has co-writing credits on three song on Hardcastle 4. They are
Maysa is one of few Smooth Jazz Artist to remain consistently on top of the Billboard’s Sales Chart. Born and raised in Baltimore, MD, Maysa discovered that she wanted to be a musician at six when her parents took her to see the musical Purlie. She recalls, “The moment Melba Moore took the stage an opened her mouth I made my decision that music would be my fate.” A graduate of Morgan State University with a degree in classical performance, Maysa met Stevie Wonder while still a senior in college.
Instrumentalist: sax Steven Eugene Grove (born November 27, 1962) , better known as Euge Groove, is an American smooth jazz saxophonist with a strong Top-40 background. Born in Annapolis, Maryland, he graduated from the University of Miami School of Music in 1984. A rather late-bloomer in the genre, Grove did not record his first solo album until 2000. Prior to that, he had replaced Richard Elliot in the Tower of Power when Elliot decided to pursue a solo career, and he also did session work with various pop acts, most noticeably the Miami girl group Exposé.
Russell Malone (born November 8, 1963 in Albany, Georgia) is an essentially self-taught swing jazz guitarist. He also performs in the bebop and contemporary jazz genres of jazz. He began working with Jimmy Smith in 1988, and went on to work with Harry Connick, Jr. and Diana Krall throughout the 1990's. Malone played with jazz organist Jimmy Smith from 1988—1990. He then joined the Harry Connick Jr. Big Band from 1989-1994.
Ritenour was born January 11, 1952 in Los Angeles, California. He played his first session when he was 16 with the Mamas and the Papas. Nicknamed "Captain Fingers", he (along with Larry Carlton) was a sought-after session guitarist by the mid-1970s. He is noted for playing his red Gibson ES-335 and his Gibson L5 guitars. One of his most notable influences is the pioneering jazz guitarist Wes Montgomery. In 1976, he released his first solo album, First Course.
Mark Murphy (b. 1932) is an American jazz singer based in New York. He is most noted for his vocalese and vocal improvisations with both melody and lyrics. He is the recipient of the 1996, 1997, 2000, and 2001 Down Beat magazine readers jazz poll for Best Male Vocalist of the Year, and is also the recipient of six Grammy award nominations for Best Vocal Jazz Performance. He is also famous for his original lyrics to the jazz classics "Stolen Moments" and "Red Clay".
Celebrated pianist-composer Ahmad Jamal continues his performance schedule around the world, as he has for well over the last four decades. Noted for his outstanding technical command and identifiable sound as a piano stylist, Mr. Jamal was born on July 2, 1930, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. A child prodigy who began to play the piano at the age of three, he began formal studies at age seven. While in high school, he completed the equivalent of college master classes under the noted African-American concert singer and teacher Mary Cardwell Dawson and pianist James Miller.
Canadian born R&B and Soul artist Jeff Hendrick is no stranger to success. Since first hitting the stage at the age of seven, the accomplished singer/songwriter has emerged as one of his homelands brightest young music prospects. Deeply rooted in the R&B and Soul influences of artists like Stevie Wonder, Marvin Gaye, Prince, and Michael Jackson, Hendricks smooth vocal offerings often conjure up images of Philly soul rather than the Canadian prairies.
Back in the sweet hazy days of the summer of love, Bazza was launched. Ten years later, there were eighteen spinning reels of original music. Six hundred songs, sound on sound. Then the music died. Five years and a few hundred beautiful acrylic paintings later, he founded his new muse on Halloween night, Nice Lawn. They were flat-out western Michigan's most exciting garage band, with Bazza fronting the instrumental trio as the Begonia Bomb, the flower that explodes.