Berklee College jazz vocalist to share talent on the Shore
PRINCESS ANNE, MD - (Feb. 17, 2011) - Gabrielle Goodman, a longtime Berklee College of Music voice professor and jazz recording artist, shares her talent with campus and community as she appears at the University of Maryland Eastern Shore.
Goodman will perform with the UMES Jazz Ensemble at its annual spring concert on Tuesday, March 1, at 7 p.m. in the Ella Fitzgerald Center for the Performing Arts. Prior to the performance, she will conduct a master class on jazz vocal improvisation at 11 a.m. in the same venue. Both events are open to the community.
Although it is the norm for a guest jazz artist to join student-musicians at the spring concert, Dr. John R. Lamkin, director of bands at UMES, said “this artist stands out.”
“This is the first time we have had a jazz vocalist of this caliber perform during the concert,” Lamkin said. “Ms. Goodman teaches jazz vocal techniques at the premiere school for jazz education in America. That school has seen the likes of Quincy Jones, Branford Marsalis, Christian McBride, Ralph Peterson and other well-known jazz musicians.”
Goodman’s career took off after touring with Miles Davis in the 1980s. Since then, she has sung as a solo as well as a backup vocalist for Roberta Flack, Chaka Khan, Patti LaBelle, Brian Ferry, Freddie Jackson, Quincy Jones, Norman Connors, Dee Dee Bridgewater, Marion Meadows, Patrice Rushen, George Duke and Nancy Wilson.
She earned a top 10 ASCAP songwriter’s award as co-writer of the song “You Can Make The Story Right” on Chaka Khan’s Grammy award-winning CD, “The Woman I Am.” Goodman has released three highly acclaimed jazz CDs of her own and currently is working on a fourth recording.
Goodman and her own group have performed at some of the world’s most prestigious jazz festivals, including: Montreux, Switzerland, the North Sea in the Netherlands and Newport, R.I. She has appeared in theatrical productions and performed as a guest artist with the Boston Pops and the Yamayuri, Syracuse and Baltimore symphonies. She is the author of “Vocal Improvisation: Techniques in Jazz, R&B and Gospel Improvisation.”
The master class is free and open to vocalists in the community who are interested in vocal improvisation, commonly known as scat singing. Admission to UMES’ Spring Jazz Ensemble Concert is $7 for the public. The event is free to students with identification.
A High School Jazz Ensemble Festival follows on Wednesday, March 2, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. in the Ella Fitzgerald Center for the Performing Arts. Students from Arundel, Calvert, Cambridge-South Dorchester, Kent County, Meade and Washington high schools and the Hammond School Without Walls will compete for awards. The festival is free.
Call 410-651-6571 for more information.
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Gail Stephens, assistant director, UMES Office of Public Relations, 410-651-7580, gcstephens@umes.edu.
Bill Robinson, director, UMES Office of Public Relations, 410-621-2355, wrobinson3@umes.edu.