SONGWRITER'S BEAT 2005
SUMMER FESTIVAL
Tues. July 19 - Sun. July 24, 2005
A benefit event for "Feel the Music!"
and The World Foundation for Music and Healing
THE SONGWRITER'S BEAT, a monthly
series for performing songwriters hosted by Valerie Ghent at Greenwich Village's famous Cornelia Street
Cafe, is delighted to present its first Songwriter's Beat
Festival -
six straight nights of
the best live original music by some of the New York area's finest performing songwriters.
The best performing songwriters
in jazz, blues, rock, pop, soul, rhythm & blues will be presented during
the Festival's six nights. Benefiting "Feel the Music!", a nonprofit music
education program for children/teens who lost a parent on September 11
th,
the festival brings together songwriters from the almost five years of
continuous Songwriter's Beat performances (and hundreds of new songs!)
The Songwriter's Beat
Festival takes place at the Cornelia Street Cafe, a classy, intimate venue in
the heart of Manhattan's most legendary arts district. Cornelia Street Cafe is
located at 29 Cornelia St. (just off Bleecker St.) in Manhattan's Greenwich
Village neighborhood. Reservations: 212.989.9319.
SCHEDULE:
Tues. July 19 - 8:30 PM to 11 PM
Wed. July 20 - 8:30 PM to 11 PM
Thurs. July 21 - 8:30 PM to 11 PM
Fri. July 22 - 9:00 PM to 1 AM
Sat. July 23 - 9:00 PM to 1 AM
Sun. July 24 – 8:30 PM to 11 PM
ADMISSION:
- $10 per night plus $6 food/drink minimum. Proceeds from the entire festival benefit The World
Foundation for Music and Healing, for WFMH's "Feel the Music!" music education
program*. Donations welcome.
* please contact
valerie.ghent@musicandhealing.org
for more information on "Feel the Music!" and/or The World Foundation for Music and
Healing.
THE SONGWRITER'S BEAT
is New York's most popular acoustic songwriter series -
where songwriters are encouraged to perform new material in a supportive and
intimate atmosphere. Since December, 2000, over 185 songwriters have presented
new songs from The Songwriter's Beat stage!
For more information please visit
songwritersbeat.com
Songwriter's Beat Founder/Director and Festival Organizer
VALERIE
GHENT
has dedicated her life to creating music, performing around the world, and
encouraging others' creative energy though music events. A native downtown
New Yorker with a strikingly powerful voice, a funk-blues piano style and
"soul-stirring, uplifting songs full of vitality and joy", Valerie's
performances have been described as "truly great and invigorating",
"absolutely magnificent", "amazingly gifted" and, "an
inspiration, Valerie is an unsung hero (who sings!!)". Valerie has worked
with Songwriter's Hall of Fame inductees Ashford & Simpson since 1989, runs
her own independent record label, West Street Records, directs the Songwriter's
Beat, founded the World Foundation for Music and Healing, works with several
non-profit organizations, is finishing her fourth CD release and has
photographs included in various publications.
valghent.com
SONGWRITER BIOGRAPHIES (for complete bio please visit artist website)
Naked Albert is all about original acoustic soul folk straight from his warm chewy center.
If Elvis Costello and Angus Young were a gay couple, they would have adopted
singer/songwriter
JJ Appleton as a child and raised him on a diet of John,
Paul, Ringo and George's solo recordings and The Blues.
Chris Belden
warbles songs about life, love, sex & politics while playing guitar with hands made of concrete.
Laura Berman's pop-inspirational sound is like an
Anita Baker/Carole King-fused delicacy. The most popular post-performance comment she gets is: "How does someone
that small have such a big voice??"
Sal Casabianca has been recording and performing
for over 25 years. He went solo about 5 years ago, has two records under his belt and is
currently working on a new record in an undisclosed, highly restricted and confidential area
of the world.
Cellist and acid folkster
Martha Colby is
unlike any other Martha Colby ever heard. As Clay Steakley said, "she scrapes,
glides, and plucks her way like a flame"; and she sings too.
Tuey Connell's soulful voice and accomplished guitar and banjo playing in his mix of Americana,
gospel, roots, jazz standards and folk music make him a one of a kind. Imagine
if Bill Withers sang and played the banjo?
The music of
Susan D
and Stew Cutler is a marriage of jazz, R&B, and pop.
The songs are creations that come from
conversations in Susan's studio.
NYC-based pianist, vocalist, and Unisong International
Contest finalist
Anna Dagmar captivates fullhouse
audiences with her songs of love, longing, and compassion. Her melodies and lyrics are accessible to
pop listeners, while her sweeping piano improvisations intrique jazz fans. Collected Sounds proclaims, "She's
an original."
Jesse Du Bey - Incorporating R&B, pop and country,
Jesse's music aims to make listeners think, feel,
laugh and remember. Jesse is a native of Seattle,
Washington, and has been composing and performing for
ten years.
Rolling Stone Magazine's "up and coming acoustic artist"
Randi Driscoll,
has opened for Bonnie Raitt,
Jackson Browne, Pat Benetar and many others, while her music has been featured in films,
commercials and the hit series Dawson's Creek. Randi is best known for her song "What Matters",
a benefit single that has raised more than $35,000 for the Matthew Shepard Foundation,
whose goal is to replace hate with understanding, compassion and acceptance.
With a "voice that paints Picassos"
(JAM Magazine),
Danielle Gasparro performs
dynamic, jazz-influenced originals
that speak to the soul. Deep grooves and lush harmonies take the listener on a
journey to a place where memorable melodies and insightful lyrics reign.
"...seductive" (Village Voice)
Vicki Genfan
Valerie Ghent, a native downtown New Yorker
with a strikingly powerful
voice and a funk-blues piano style to match, writes "soul-stirring, uplifting and intimate
songs full of vitality and joy" while riding her bicycle no hands along the Hudson
River. "After hearing her sing, be ready to give this woman your heart..."
In her spare time Valerie runs The Songwriter's Beat, The World Foundation for
Music and Healing, Feel the Music! and West Street Records, travels to China
and performs with r&b legends Ashford and Simpson.
Dan Gonzalez is "the future of
the singer/songwriter...a masterful solo performer." (reviews, cdbaby.com)
Bill Grady is poised to release his first album, "A
Room Called Home" this year and simply sings his heart
out.
Michael Hill is an acclaimed songwriter, singer and guitarist who specializes in original New York-style
blues and sedition. His recent songs speak in praise of women and Hubert Sumlin, and decidedly not in
praise of our current administration.
Ann Klein has played guitar for Joan Osborne, PM
Dawn and Kate Pierson, among others. She's also toured in Europe
playing her original music and has released three independent cds, which have been
featured in Billboard, but she feels most proud of her ability to wah-wah
her way out of any solo, any time.
Kismet Lyles is a singer, songwriter who recently finished a 5 week tour abroad as a
featured lead in a Robert Wilson/Dr. Bernice Johnson Reagon production.
She is now performing her R&B sound, built on her love of jazz and sharpened with a
rock edge, as a solo artist.
Paulette McWilliams: Chicago born,
started singing before she could talk with her low, deep sultry, velvety, tones...
Paulette was the lead singer with Ask Rufus and Quincy Jones' Body Heat tour, sang with Sarah
Vaughan, Marvin Gaye, Johnny Mathis and Noel Pointers as well as sang backup vocals for
countless artists including Bette Midler and over 20 years
with Luther VanDross. Now she's writing and performing her own
material - there's no voice like Paulette's!
Morley
'This jazz minded pop chanteuse, soul sister, cosmopolitan home girl from Jamaica Queens
embodies modern-day NY femininity in all its multicultural finess." -
The New York Times.
"Morley's urban folk is smooth and powerful and proves she knows love is the only way."
-
Time Out New York.
Leni Stern's just got the blues in her
soul. she plucks her strat with globetrotting ease,writes melodies to rival the mockingbird
and sings them like a real human" - greg burke l.a. weekly june 3 05
Singer - Songwriter
Bar Scott has been writing, recording
and performing on piano and guitar for 15 years. She's got a rich, deep voice and loves the
compliment she was given by one presenter who introduced by saying: "Bar Scott creates Beauty".
check out www.barscott.com for a sample.
Someone once said..."I think
target="new" href="http://www.crystaltop.com">Ryan Scott sounds like the alien love child of
Sade and Bill Frisell with Elliott Smith for a foster dad."
A former lead singer of Homer Erotic,
Sara Wendt's
boy-choir voice sings songs set to lively
melodies that tell stories of spinning, falling and slipping, not altogether very settling,
but joyful in their own right.
Composer, singer, trumpeter
Sarah Wilson writes unique, fresh, complex music
for her all-star quintet. Her original approach to songwriting and
composition defies genre; her music is truly exceptional.
The Cornelia Street Cafe
Between Bleecker and West 4th St at 29 Cornelia Street in Greenwich Village, NYC NY :: 212.989.9319
For more information and a local street map, please visit corneliastreetcafe.com. The nearest subway stations are West Fourth Street (A, C, D, E, F, V) and Christopher Street (1).
