Harold O’Neal -][- Whirling Mantis [Smalls Records]

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Harold O’Neal, Jazz, Piano

Harold O'Neal - Whirling Mantis

Harold O’Neal -][- Whirling Mantis – [Smalls Records, 2010]

Harold O’Neal is an American Jazz Pianist, Actor, Producer, Martial Artist, Bboy, Composer, and Magician. He was born on March, 27th 1981 in Arusha, Tanzania and raised in Kansas City, Missouri. He is the nephew of Pete O’Neal and son of Brian and Mafutari O’Neal. Harold has studied at the Paseo Academy of Performing Arts, Berklee College of Music, and the Manhattan School of Music where he studied with jazz master Kenny Baron. New York City Harold’s career took off when he started touring with Jazz Saxophonist Bobby Watson in 2001.

After arriving in New York City, Harold began to establish a name for himself in the international jazz scene having performed with many jazz greats such as Elvin Jones, Kenny Garrett, Richard Davis, Nicholas Payton, Joe Chambers, Paquito D’Rivera, Roy Hargrove, Ahmad Alaadeen, Jeff tain Watts, Clark Terry, Wynton Marsalis, Marvin Smitty Smith, and many others.

Read more: http://www.myspace.com/haroldoneal#ixzz12I7ztO2i

..:: Source: MySpace.com ::..

The Black Butterflies -][- 1 de Mayo

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Jazz, The Black Butterflies

The Black Butterflies -1 de Mayo

The Black Butterflies -][- 1 de Mayo – [The Black Butterflies, 2010]

A delightful whimsy surrounds the room where 1 de Mayo descends, like a diaphanous sheet of sound amid its celestial wail. So extraordinary is the musical ensemble fronted by the hypnotic sound of Mercedes Figueras’ saxophones; doubly intriguing when entwined with the ululations and caterwauling ablutions of Tony Larokko’s horns. Mercedes Figueras is one of the most exciting saxophonists today. Enormously talented and with a voice as brilliantly eccentric as an exotic Amazonian bird, or in this instance, a very special black butterfly, she is unique among young musicians playing today. Her intonation is sharp and exacting and draws the fluidity out of every note she plays. She is capable of impossible whoops and graceful flights from a note in the lower register of, say, a soprano horn to a shrill leaping flurry of notes that take her ideas to dizzying heights. Her solos begin in linear, logical fashion, and then almost imperceptibly, she flutters into a different plane—almost into a dimension that did not seem to exist a moment ago. —Raul da Gama | LatinJazzNet.com

Go here, to finish reading this splendid review by Raul da Gama. Also check out The Black Butterflies on the web: http://www.theblackbutterflies.com …

..:: Source: LatinJazzNet.com ::..