This CD was recorded in Catania, Sicily, after Joan toured with pianist and composer Giovanni Mazzarino in Switzerland and Italy.
(http://www.fyicomminc.com/giovannimazzarino.htm)
The CD is dedicated to one of Joan's mentors, Joe Lee Wilson, who recorded "Feelin' Good" by Santiago Gonzalez III, in the seventies. The musicians joining Joan and Giovanni are first class. (http://www.nommejazz.ee/est/esinejad_wilson.htm)
Bassist Nello Toscano is the son of a classical guitarist and is, himself, a guitarist. He is seasoned and immersed in the jazz medium.
Drummer Mimmo Cafiero is accomplished as a musician, educator and promoter. His rhythmic sense is superb.
Oracio Maugeri is a stellar player. His interpretation of Joan's original compositions is uncanny, in that he only met her the day of the recording.
The CD was first released in 1995, on Tireno Records in Milan, then released in the U.S. on Joan's label, I AM Records, in 1998.
Joan Cartwright is an explosive jazz and blues singer, composer and lecturer. She's performed in the U.S. for 25 years and in Europe since 1990. She toured 8 European countries, Africa and Mexico. Joan sings her own songs and those of Ellington, Miles Davis, Thelonious Monk, Cole Porter, Gershwin, Jobim and the standard composers. She is an extraordinary performer who can enchant any audience anywhere! She is the recipient of a SEAS Grant for her presentation of WOMEN IN JAZZ at schools in Broward County, Florida. Her research paper, The Sign of The Blues, was published in the 1993 IAJE Research Papers Journal. She offers lectures around the country on:
Women in Jazz
Jazzmen
The Sign of The Blues
Jazz: The Unmasked Rhetoric
The Cultural Politics of Commercial Jazz
The Business of Music: So, You Want To Be A Singer?
Her interviews for Entertainment News & Views, include Dr. Billy Taylor, Wynton Marsalis, Bobby McFerrin, Lonnie Liston Smith and Sun Ra. She interviewed Quincy Jones and Abby Lincoln for her Master's thesis, The Cultural Politics of Commercial Jazz.
Joan's original music is published by Fuzz Goodbuddy Publications (BMI). Visit www.fyicomminc.com/records.htm
Joan produced the First Annual Gaiafest, "A celebration of Mother Earth with Women in Jazz", in March 1998, featuring legendary vocalists Dakota Staton and Ruth "Silky" Waters, and the Gaia All-Stars with Kim Clark (b), Bertha Hope (p), Bernice Brooks (d) and Pamela Williams (sax). In September 1998 and 1999, it was produced in the Bronx, New York. Gaiafest also will be held in New York, in 2000.
Ultimately, Gaiafest will travel around the world. Visit http://www.fyicomminc.com/gaia.htm
Joan is the owner of MOTHERLAND BRIDGE GALLERY for private collectors, only, in Atlanta, GA. Visit www.motherlandbridgegallery.com/mb/welcome.htm for updates.
Her newest project involves partnering with her daughter, Mimi Johnson of THE CAUSTIC DAMES to bring the world JAZZ MEETS HIP HOP. Visit http://www.causticdames.com/estrogen323.htm
You can purchase ESTROGEN 323 at www.cdbaby.com/cd/causticdames3
You can purchase Joan's second CD, IN PURSUIT OF A MELODY at www.cdbaby.com/cd/jcartwright2
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