Session Singer/Arranger

Q: What do you like most about your job?

A: I love to sing, and arrange....so that's the beginning and end of it.

Q: What's the biggest misconception about what you do?

A: That All I can sing is Jazz because of whom I traveled with for 20 years.

Q: What questions do you ask prospective clients?

A: What genre are you in and what audience are you trying to reach?

Q: What advice do you have for a customer looking to hire a provider like you?

A: Know what you really want out of your creation.

Q: If you were on a desert island and could take just 5 pieces of gear, what would they be?

A: Piano, microphone, headphones, mbox, laptop

Q: What was your career path? How long have you been doing this?

A: I've been singing professionally since 1978.

Q: How would you describe your style?

A: Smooth, jazzy, yet soulful.

Q: What questions do customers most commonly ask you? What's your answer?

A: They usually ask me to create some groovy backup vocals to add a little something to their lead. And they ask me to adlib in the vamp. My answer is always ok.

Q: What do you bring to a song?

A: Experience, creativity and good taste. Because I am a songwriter, I understand where the songwriter is coming from ... I recognize the value of telling the story and addressing the lyric. It's not about me, it's about the song. so I will not let my leads overpower the song, neither will I allow the backs to overshadow the junk up the arrangement.

Q: What's your typical work process?

A: I ask the client to give me a reference track, a track with no vocal and lyrics. Once I record the vocals, I bounce them separately, per part and send them back to client via wetransfer. Usually takes no more than a day.

Q: What other musicians or music production professionals inspire you?

A: Jill Scott, Anthony Hamilton, Miles Davis, Ella Fitzgerald, Quincy Jones, Frank Sinatra, Barbara Streisand, Nancy Wilson, John Coltrane, Natalie Cole, Kem, Ron Isely, Aretha Franklin, Kirk Franklin, Chaka Khan, Tony Maiden, Justin Timberlake, Michael Jackson

Q: Describe the most common type of work you do for your clients.

A: Sing, arrange and record vocals. Lead and backs.

Q: Which artist would you like to work with and why?

A: I would like to work with Kem, Quincy Jones,

Q: Can you share one music production tip?

A: One tip that I would have is to encourage singers to listen, listen, listen to the heart of the song with YOUR heart before interpreting the lyric and understand how the songwriter is feeling.

Q: What type of music do you usually work on?

A: Most of my recorded work as a featured vocalist has been in smooth jazz. But my demo work has been all over the place, mostly pop, R&B, and Gospel.

Q: What's your strongest skill?

A: My strongest skill is my ability to blend with any voice. I can change my sound from Angelic to soulful seamlessly. I have a large repertoire of singers in my voice, so I can adapt my sound to any genre.

Q: Tell us about your studio setup.

A: Fully equipped professional studio with Protools 8 and 10 on both macbook pro computers, 4 sets of microphones: akg 214, Mxl , Sennheiser MK4, Sterling ST55, MAudio Monitors.

Q: Tell us about a project you worked on you are especially proud of and why. What was your role?

A: We just released a 2 sided cd single on our first Artist, Danny Johnson. The 2 songs were written and produced by Jazz Suite (that's me and my husband Vincent) . We're looking forward to a good response and more action as producers.

Q: What are you working on at the moment?

A: Original Wellness Project. We have a Wellness cd out now and have been working on the second one as we speak.

Q: Is there anyone on SoundBetter you know and would recommend to your clients?

A: No.

Q: Analog or digital and why?

A: Analog. It's warmer, like film.

Q: What's your 'promise' to your clients?

A: That i will treat their song with as much care as I do my own songs and get it back to them quickly.