Album Notes

NEWS!! Now you can SEE and HEAR Lenore "live" on video at the East Coast Jazz Festival. Simply go to her website www.lenoreraphael.com and click on Multimedia.

Jazz Pianist,ASCAP award winning composer/lyricist and jazz clinician, Lenore's recordings and "live" performances have received kudos from jazz critics, radio hosts and audiences alike. Her original takes on standards and her own compositions, plus her virtuosity, and her infectious swinging style and her warm and humorous persona are earning her top ratings. She has the ability to personalize every song she plays, make it special and emotionally touch her listeners.

Her style has been compared to many of the jazz greats like Oscar Peterson, Bud Powell, Bill Evans and even Thelonious Monk...all of these influences have merged and Lenore has created an original voice in jazz piano.

Featured on the NPR award winning Marian McPartland's Piano Jazz, Lenore has been busy with a recording and touring schedule.

She has been picked by Dr. Mike Matheney, host on radioio.com as one of the top 5 rising starts of jazz for 2005.(www.radioio.com/radioiojazz.php)

With her great trio, she has consistently given sold out concerts and performed in major jazz clubs across the USA.

Lenore and her trio have performed at the East Coast Jazz Festival (Rockville, Md), the Cape May International Jazz
Festival, 15th Annual Jazz Showcase in North Carolina with Ken Peplowski and Wyciffe Gordon, the Keyport Festival, the Panasonic Village Jazz Festival, the S.S. Norway Floating Jazz festival with Clark Terry, Gainesville Florida gala for Friends of Jazz, Colorado Springs Conservatory Jazz tribute and many more.

She has performed at Dazzles, Denver's TOP jazz club, Birdland, Triad (NYC), Trumpets (NJ) and many other top jazz clubs. In Scottsdale, AZ at the Steinway Hall Jazz Showcase to a capacity crowd. A major showcase appearance at the IAJE Convention in California in 2002 brought rave reviews and she now continues to travel and perform extensively, "selling out" performances in Colorado, California, Florida, Arizona,Tennessee and many more.

This year Lenore, along with famed trumpeter Dr.Ron Modell, received a standing ovation for her guest artist performance with the East Tennessee State University jazz ensemble, led by Dr. David Champouillon.

She was invited back to perform for a week at Dizzy's Club Coca Cola at Jazz At Lincoln Center.

She will also be a star performer on the S.S. Oosterdam Jazz Cruise (www.thejazzcruise.com) in October 2006.

On heavy playlists across the country, she has had interviews on KUVO (Denver) WFIT/WUCF (Orlando/Cocoa Beach) WUSF(Tampa) WDNA (Miami), KJZZ (Phoenix), KRML, Carmel, WAER, Syracuse. She is a favorite with Maxx Myrick, jazz director on XM Satellite Radio, and many more.

DISCOGRAPHY
Lenore has four CD's released on the Swingin' Fox Label. The Whole Truth, released in 1991 is a quintet album featuring such greats as Vic Juris on guitar, Mark Vinci on sax, Mike Richmond, bass and John Paul Biagi, drums.

"Reflections" released in 2000 is a great swinging recording with Sean Conly, Pat O'Leary, bassists and
John Paul Biagi and Rudy Lawless, drums.

Her fourth CD, "A Beautiful Friendship" was released in January, 2005 and has gotten critic's raves.

CLINICS/WORKSHOPS
As an outreach artist for the International Association for Jazz Education, Lenore has done many jazz workshops with students of all ages. She has done a clinic at the East Coast Jazz Festival on the music of Thelonious Monk,
high school workshops at the Orange County Performing Arts Center in Costa Mesa, CA. She is also the co-creator of "Jazz Journey."With vocalist Janet Lawson, she designed an interactive program for children (ages 6-12) to teach them all about the origins and the making of jazz...using just their voices and movement.
The program was adopted by many European countries and became the model for teaching children about the history and development of jazz.

Lenore was director of JOY (Jazz Opportunities For Youth) a two week "hands-on" summer workshop at Montclair State College in New Jersey. She and co-director bassist Chris White designed the program to be functional for beginners and also more advanced students. It ran for three highly successful summers and enrolled over 100 students of all ages.

Her theory books "Jazz Master Class" have been published by Hansen House and she has received awards from the IAJE for her dedication to the field of jazz education.

Lenore is now working on a show for children called "Scat Cat in Jazzland". For more information about how to get this program into your school or venue contact swinginfox@swinginfox.com

COMPOSITION
Lenore is a talented composer/lyricist and has gotten ASCAP awards for jazz originals.
Some of her original tunes are now appearing on other artists CD's as well as her own.

REVIEWS
"Jazz critics have compared her to Oscar Peterson, Bill Evans and even Thelonious Monk, but with all these influences, Lenore Raphael is just ONE thing...a great pianist!"...Ricky Miller, JazzUSA

"Raphael has a love affair with the piano...fresh ideas abound...she is the personification of swing"...John Gilbert, AllAboutJazz

"A wonderfully inventive musician. It is hardly surprising that she is earning a reputation as one of the most versatile and impressive modern day mainstreamers"...Wes Gillespie, euroclubdejazz

"Raphael has a delightful, playful touch. She swings hard, fast and always melodically on originals, jazz standards and classics"
...Seth Rogovoy, the Rogovoy jazz report"

"Lenore Raphael has emerged as one of the most promising pianists currently playing creative music in the modern mainstream of jazz. She always swings and never runs out of fresh ideas"...Scott Yanow, author and critic Swing, Bop and Afro Cuban Jazz

"One of the world's top jazz pianists...a melodic finesse and electric punch,,,a complete jazz artist with a very personal style...superb!...Joao De Penha, Jazz & Bossa Nova.

"Every note glows...Lenore Raphael has a powerful voice, and it sure is worth hearing"...John Barrett, JazzUsa

"One of the top new talents in mainstream jazz. A bright pianist with roots in the post-bop era"...Richard Bourcier, JazzReview

"Her music is like a world-class piece of art...its message and meaning become clear and absolute"...George Carroll, EjazzNews

"Raphael's performance at the Westin (IAJE, Long Beach) was exciting, impressive, swinging and unpredictable"...Scott Yanow, LA JazzScene


Raphael pays homage to her roots without slavishly imitating anyone...Marshall Bowden, Jazzitude.

"The name that comes to mind when listening to her is Bill Evans, but Lenore has her own style. In "Reflections" she has created a magical experience"
...G. Stonestreet, In Tune International

"Lenore Raphael is indeed an important pianist. At times she cleverly combines block chording with inventive single note runs that are reminiscent of Gene Harris. She adds into this mix powerhouse passages that make the whole thing very swinging and full of variety."...Brian Harvey, EuroClubDeJazz.com

"Those who love bebop piano should head straight for one of Lenore Raphael's shows"...Barry Bassis, Town & Village