A blog article about thr LA concert.
Dee Dee McNeil, born in Detroit, Michigan, spent her early musical life as a contract songwriter for Motown Record Company. Her music has been recorded by Nancy Wilson, Jonah Jones, Diana Ross & the Supremes, Gladys Knight & the Pips, David Ruffin, The Four Tops, Edwin Starr and the wife of late, great Reggae master Bob Marley, Rita Marley, to name only a few. Although she is successful commercially, McNeil's roots and real passion have always embraced jazz music. She's a diverse writer, poet, plays piano, sings professionally and has written a number of plays and children's stories. Her freelance articles and CD reviews have appeared in Essence, Pathfinders Travel Magazine, Cadence Magazine, All About Jazz and many more publications, both in this country and abroad. She was the original lady who recorded with the historic Watts Prophets spoken-word group in the early 70's. Their "Rappin' Black in a White World" LP was nominated for an NAACP Award long before rap became popular. Her original song, "What Is A Man" (sampled from that LP) was used in the motion picture "Higher Learning." As part of the first spoken-word group to put danceable music to poetry, she became an opening act for Roberta Flack, Les McCann, Richard Pryor, and many others. Ms. McNeil is currently producing jazz concerts helping keep jazz music alive; raising the pay scale for jazz musicians; introducing jazz to a younger audience and at the same time, sharing historic facts about some of our great jazz artists, who are too often taken for granted. In 2001, Dee Dee won the National BET (Black Entertainment Television) Jazz Discovery Contest, competing with vocalists all over the country. When she is not performing at jazz clubs, she is a part-time vocal coach at the Music Perforrnance Academy (MPA) in Alhambra where she also teaches Artist Development.
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Emily Bear: 11-Year-Old Piano Prodigy Introduced By Quincy Jones
(May 13, 2013, 10:40 AM PDT)
"She's astounding, man. She is the complete 360-degree package and there are no limits to the musical heights she can reach."
Emily Bear - Photo by Dee Dee McNeil
On May 8th I attended one of Ruth Price's moveable feasts under the banner of her Jazz Bakery concerts. Since the Jazz Bakery lost its lease in 2009 in Culver City, Ms. Price has been presenting high quality performances in a number of venues across the Los Angeles basin. Tonight was another fine example of music excellence. The performance was held at the Musicians Institute in Hollywood. A line of inquisitive music fans, mostly white-haired and over fifty, filed into the music school. A few parents with young children dressed in their Sunday best were there. After purchasing the Jazz Bakery, bright, green tickets, we formed a long line against the institute hallway, while the band was still having a sound check.
Musician Institute students plodded past us, carrying their instruments and sporting tattoos, piercings, hoodies, levies, gym shoes and leather. They looked at us curiously and we stared back. In search of a ladies room, I stumbled upon the back of the concert hall and peeked through the huge, plate-glass windows to watch a petite, little girl dressed in jeans and a brown sweater bounce around with healthy energy. She talked with animation to her grown drummer and bassist, then plopped down on the piano bench and began to play. The music I heard through the glass barrier was certainly not something you would picture an eleven year old producing. Emily Bear was mesmerizing.
The performance started late. We were finally allowed to enter the hall a little after nine. The room looked as if it could hold about 500 people, and there were maybe seventy-five people present. Beth Marlis welcomed us. She is the Vice President of Industry and Community Relations at the Musicians Institute and Executive Director of the Musicians Foundation. Not to mention I hear she plays a mean guitar. Ms. Marlis said the music school loved having the Jazz Bakery events at their facility. She then passed the baton to Ruth Price, who took the mic and told us she and Quincy Jones had been friends for years. She shared that Q once gave her away at one of her weddings and somehow lost the ring. That got a laugh out of the crowd. Quincy took to the floor podium, first greeting Ms. Price warmly with "Hey Ruthie" and then addressing his attentive audience. Then, Quincy made a profound statement. Speaking of marriage, he said "…jazz shacks up with music first and marries it later." Rich, warm laughter warmed the room.
Q told us he just celebrated his 80th birthday with British actor, Michael Caine. "We were born the same day and the same year", Jones shared. (March 14, 1933). The crowd ooo'd and ahhh'd.
Then the record mogul spoke about the mediocrity he had been watching in the music field and on the internet for some time. But he assured us that the newest generation of musicians was giving him great hope, like "the sweet, little thing you are about to meet," he spoke about Emily, referring to his newest protege with great pride. "These kids are turning it around. Emily has already composed for symphony orchestras and she plays it all from classical to bebop. Here is Ms. Emily Bear."
His hand swept towards the well lit stage. She appeared in a silver sparkle skirt a soft, gray blouse and wide belt. The young lady had all the confidence and class of a grown woman, although she was just a slip of a girl. Taking her place on the piano bench, her body moved with the music. She let us know right from the first musical phrase that she could 'swing' and that she was in charge. The next tune was a slow, sultry jazz ballad. Her bass hand set the groove and she gave the upright bass player, Peter Slavov, a run for his money. Drummer Kevin Kanner played mallets on this one and the trio kept the mood sweet. The third cut was full of classical overtones and rich with smooth jazz grooves. Her small hands owned the piano and she was obviously controlling the band with both her body language and eye contact. Occasionally, she glanced out at the crowd with a pleasant smile on her lips, as if she has a special secret she was about to share with us. As a leader of her trio, we were all mesmerized by her technique and tenacity. She didn't stand up to speak to us at first and I was wishing she had shared the titles of those first, four, amazing songs she performed. I assumed they were all her original compositions.
Next, she leaped into a rhythmical, up-tempo number with a killer bass line she fluidly played with the bassist, and a strong melody that nimble fingers danced on top. Her timing was precise and the pace was racing. This had to be one of my favorite numbers of the night. After it was finished, amidst much applause, hoots and hollers, she stood and told us that song was called "Hot Peppers". The title certainly epitomized the flare and fire of her arrangement.
"There are so many different styles in my CD, but all jazz," she assured us. The audience chuckled, obviously pleased and under her spell.
At this time she invited Zuiu Bailey, a handsome cellist, to the stage and the quartet played the title tune of her CD, "Diversity."
This was followed by a composition composed in three parts. Emily explained, "I wrote this song for a Spanish concert. We were in Peralta, Spain." She spoke like an old soul hiding in a child's body. "I wrote the second part when I was six and the third part when I was seven." She was dead serious.
Someone in the audience said, "Wow, long time ago!"
But the song was spectacular and truly captured the culture and essence of Spain. I've toured Spain from the Northern to the Southern tip of the country and I swear I could see those women in their balloon-like, flaring skirts and heavy shoes stomping their feet wildly with pure musical abandonment. I could picture the matadors and the bull fights; the rich red wines in the colorful bars and the happiness and emotion that bubbles from every hot, spicy nook of Spanish culture. Emily Bear captured the entire scene in a three-part composition. Bravo Emily!
The CD Diversity was recorded at Westlake Studios in Los Angeles, the same studio where Quincy recorded Michael Jackson's multi-platinum "Bad" album. And yes - according to their press release, all the music on Ms. Bear's CD is composed by the artist. This was her official CD release party on Concord/Qwest Records and like Quincy Jones said:
"She's astounding, man. She is the complete 360-degree package and there are no limits to the musical heights she can reach."
I concur.