Straight Ahead to Perform at Fayetteville State University’s Seabrook Auditorium
What: Straight Ahead
When: Saturday, April 6, 2013, at 7:00pm
Where: Seabrook Auditorium
Admission: $5.00 general admission
FSU students free with ID
Out of Detroit’s lively jazz scene, and just in time for Jazz Appreciation Month, comes the ground breaking all female jazz group, Straight Ahead. A group of strong, inventive instrumentalists and vocalists, they have shown themselves to be powerful and imaginative composers and arrangers as well.
Widely recognized for their eclectic and soulful approach to creating music, the Straight Ahead sound ranges comfortably from mainstream jazz, to R&B ballads, to Latin to funk. Their live performances are a dynamic celebration of power and joy. They delight in changing textures, moods and tempos seamlessly.
Discovered by legendary Motown songwriter and producer Sylvia Moy, the group was introduced to the New York jazz scene. After a riveting performance at the Montreux, Switzerland Jazz Festival as opening act for the legendary Nina Simone, they were signed to a recording deal with Atlantic Records.
Their first recording “Look Straight Ahead” was nominated for a Grammy Award and made the Billboard Contemporary jazz Chart TOP TWENTY. They followed that release with “Body and Soul” and then with “Dance of the Forest Rain”, which received rave reviews that include a comment by Branford Marsalis who called the group “a monster unit that truly swings!”
These award-winning artists have traveled extensively in the United States, the Caribbean and Europe, garnering rave reviews. Recent appearances include an appearance at the prestigious Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, where Sorab Modi, reviewer for “Jazziz” magazine, wrote that the group was “..particularly impressive”. A review of their appearance at the Kansas City Blues and Jazz Festival stated that “This tight, dynamic outfit stole the show with its high-energy tour-de-force of musical styles. (Kansas City Star). Recent awards include the Motor City Music Awards HALL OF FAME, and Downbeat Magazine’s TALENT DESERVING WIDER RECOGNITION.
Straight Ahead’s appearance is made possible in part by the generosity of the Arts Council of Fayetteville/Cumberland County, FSU Office of Title III, and the Cumberland County Community Foundation.