Artist’s Line-Up

JazzFest 2012 – Artist Line-Up

The headlining performers for the 2012 Pensacola JazzFest, scheduled for Sat./Sun. April 14 and 15, 2012:

Champian Fulton

Pianist/vocalist Champian Fulton grew up with music in her home. Her father (jazz trumpeter and educator Stephen Fulton) and mother quickly recognized their daughter’s interest in music at an early age. The presence of her father’s musician friends, including Clark Terry and Major Holley, also served to stimulate her focus on music. She began studying piano with her grandmother at the age of five, while she later took up singing, drums, and trumpet before eventually settling on piano and vocals. The family moved to Lemars, IA, in 1994 after Stephen Fulton became director of the Clark Terry Institute for Jazz Studies. Champian participated in the summer camp jazz program there, where she met other young jazz musicians from her area and formed the Little Jazz Quintet. They would get together to perform a couple of times annually for the next few years, playing shows consisting exclusively of Terry’s repertoire, including Terry’s 75th birthday party.

One of Fulton’s first vocal influences was Dinah Washington, especially her album For Those in Love, which she played repeatedly.  She admired Nat King Cole (one of the earliest jazz artists to show equal chops on piano and vocals), while she devoured Art Tatum, Red Garland, Wynton Kelly, Bud Powell, Hampton Hawes, Sonny Clark, and Thelonious Monk. In 1999 Champian‘s family relocated to Norman OK, where Champian continued to play with her new band while attending high school, appearing at a number of regional jazz festivals. After graduating as valedictorian of her high school in 2003, Fulton moved to New York to pursue a degree in jazz piano performance at SUNY Purchase Music Conservatory.  One of her favorite professors was trumpeter Jon Faddis, who taught with the wisdom of one who had been actively involved in recording and touring for decades and tailored his instruction to his students’ interests.  More information can be found at www.champian.net

 Jeff Lorber

By the late 1970s, keyboardist and composer Jeff Lorber had become a prominent figure in the new movement known as jazz fusion – a marriage of traditional jazz with elements of rock, R&B, funk and other electrified sounds. Lorber and his band, the Jeff Lorber Fusion, first honed their craft in the Portland, Oregon, club scene and rapidly expanded their reach to a national and international audience via a combination of complex harmonies, unconventional time signatures and compelling rhythms.

Stretching the envelope has been Lorber’s strategy from the very beginning. Born in Philadelphia in 1952, Lorber began playing piano when he was just four years old. By his teen years, he had hooked up with several local R&B bands, but his tastes trended more toward jazz when he studied at Berklee College of Music. After college, he relocated to Portland, Oregon, where he formed the Jeff Lorber Fusion. The group released their self-titled debut album in 1977, and quickly became one of the most popular acts in the jazz fusion scene, due in large part to relentless touring and a string of artistically daring and commercially successful recordings.

The entity formerly known as the Jeff Lorber Fusion became Lorber’s solo career with the release of It’s a Fact in 1982. After a brief but prolific stretch culminating with the highly successful Private Passion in 1986, Lorber took a break from recording his own material, opting instead to do session work and produce other artists. He resumed his solo career in 1991 with Worth Waiting For, although he continued to produce for the remainder of the decade. Lorber has been just as prolific and innovative in the new century as he was in the last, with recordings on Narada (Philly Style, Flip Side), Blue Note (He Had a Hat), and most recently Peak (Heard That).  His most recent recording, “Now Is The Time” was released in 2010.  More info is available at www.lorber.com

Louis Ford & His New Orleans Jazz Flairs

Considered an integral part of the second New Orleans revival, Louis is a second-generation musician. His father, Clarence Ford, was a phenomenal musician whose career span three decades and performed with many great entertainers such as Fats Domino. Louis yields from an impressive legacy of musicians which can be traced back to the Storyville days. Like his father, Louis is an accomplished clarinetist and saxophonist and truly dedicated to the preservation of jazz.

Born and raised in New Orleans, Louis studied under professor Kidd Jordan at Southern University in Music Performance. Louis graduated from Loyola University with a degree in music education which he has built on to create a unique sound all his own. Louis will be joined by a fine group of New Orleans musicians, known as the New Orleans Jazz Flairs.

Linda Dachyl

Linda is a performer, composer, and music instructor at Kenyon College, Ohio. Her playing experience includes jazz, blues, rock, and classical music genres. She is involved with Tony Monaco’s “Mother Hen” organization to provide educational instructional materials for Hammond B3 players and other keyboardists. She holds a Bachelor of Music in Jazz Performance from Capital University and a Master of Arts in Percussion Pedagogy from The Ohio State University.

Linda’s LDB3 and Friends 2006 Chicken Coup Records release,”Blue Bop” has received very favorable local and national reviews and also charted for 6 weeks on jazzweek.com.  In the summer of 2006.  Linda’s second release on Chicken Coup Records, “For Hep Cats” was released nationally on January 8, 2008 and achieved a chart position of No. 45 on the jazzweek.com Top 100. Linda’s main instrument is the Hammond B3 organ, but she also freelances often on drumset in jazz, blues, and rock styles.

Artists and organizations she has performed with include:  Teeny Tucker, Gene Walker, Soul Satyr, Trudy Pitts, Gloria Coleman, Jim Alfredson of Organissimo, Sean Carney, Willie Pooch, Honk, Wail, and Moan, The Harry James Orchestra, The Benny Goodman Big Band, The Rick Brunetto Big Band, and Vaughn Wiester’s Famous Jazz Orchestra. Festival appearances include: Monterey Blues Festival (CA)-Teeny Tucker Band (Hammond B3), Women’s Jazz Organ Summit, The Ohio State University-Columbus, OH, Dayton Women in Jazz Festival-Dayton, OH, Columbus Arts Festival-Columbus, OH, Creekside Blues and Jazz Festival-Gahanna, OH, Columbus Jazz and Ribs Festival-Columbus, OH, Lansing Old Town Jazz Festival and B3 Summit-Lansing, MI, Hot Times in Olde Town East-Columbus, OH, Arts in the Alley-Grove City, OH

More information is available at www.dachtyl.com

Roman Street

Roman Street is a energetic band born and raised out of Mobile, AL dabbling in the arts of “new” flamenco, smooth and not-so-smooth jazz, and its own brand of fusion style music with a youthful and spontaneous approach to musical expression. The guitarists of Roman Street are internationally trained, seeking to incorporate their travels and experiences into their musical expression. The band as a whole seeks to create a unique sound by blending old styles and techniques with a modern twist, and conversely, giving modern music styles a historical elegance.The result is a style that appeals to the young and old alike; a juxtaposition of the new and the traditional that has something for every music lover. Through a varied repertoire and unique composition, they endeavor provide some enjoyment for everyone who hears them.  

Noah M. Thompson, Classical Guitar  Noah is a scientist turned musician in his mid-twenties. Always interested in the world’s many cultures…he has been loving world music long before studying it. A graduate of Lee University, Cleveland, TN., Noah now lives back on the Gulf Coast where he continues to develop the Roman Street band with his brother and co-founder, Joshua Thompson. Other interests include economics, espresso, Deutsch, and immersing himself in people.

Daniel Brett, Percussion  Daniel Brett is a Daphne based percussionist with professional training from the Atlanta Institute of Music. A drummer at heart, Dan plays a variety of instruments, including the congas and other hand percussion that augment Roman Street’s unique sound. Over the past 10 years, Dan has toured the Southeast several times and recorded with a variety of bands. As the founder of local music school Modern Ensemble Music, Dan shares his passion and musical talent with his students every day.

Josh Thompson, Classical Guitar   Josh Thompson is a founding member of Roman Street, forming the band with his brother Noah when he was 18. Now 22, he is a senior at Auburn University majoring in Exercise Science. His road with music began with him playing acoustic guitar in his local youth group, but this path took a dramatic turn upon his meeting of two guitar virtuosos (Tonic Strings) from Switzerland. They forever changed his perception of not only guitar playing, but what is means to be a musician. He has taken these lessons and applied them to Roman Street, where he creates and performs music that he considers to be an extension of himself. Though he plans to eventually attend medical school, his immediate plans are to continue to tour and craft music with his brother and three of his close friends.

More information can be found at www.romanstreet.com

Dan McMillion Jazz Orchestra

Dan McMillion was born in Mt. Hope, WV. His parents moved to Detroit when he was five years old. Dan’s musical career started in the Junior High School band, where he studied trumpet with his band director and pro trumpet players in the Detroit area. In his late teens, he was working with bands in and around Detroit, where he played in a jazz club that featured national jazz acts. Dan gained experience backing Joe Williams, Peggy Lee and Carmen McRea.  In the early 60’s, Dan played with the the Woody Herman Orchestra.

Dan has been leading his successful Jazz Orchestra for over 15 years playing through the Southeast. In 2002 his “Got The Spirit” CD was nominated for a Grammy award. The Dan McMillion Jazz Orchestra has recorded six CD’s on the Seabreeze Jazz label, and the recordings have been receiving rave reviews in major jazz publications in the US and Europe, including Jazz Improv magazine, JazzTimes and Jazzis. “High Octane” is his latest release, and was dedicated to the memory of the late jazz trumpeter Maynard Ferguson, who was a personal friend and inspiration for Dan.  In addition to festivals and performing art centers, Dan is also involved in music education, conducting clinics and concerts in high schools and colleges.

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If you are interested in applying to be considered for the 2013 JazzFest, send your information to:

Crystal Joy Albert, Director of Music – Pensacola JazzFest
850-939-8678-H
850-217-5645-C
850-433-8382-JSOP

6511 Calle De Lago
Navarre, FL 32566
If you prefer to send an EPK (Electronic Press Kit), send an email to: crstljoy1@aol.com