Melanie Alice Scholtz | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Background information | |
| Born | February 25, 1979 Cape Town, South Africa |
| Genres |
|
| Occupation(s) | Singer, songwriter, composer |
| Instrument(s) | Piano and voice |
| Website | www |
Melanie Scholtz is a South African born jazz singer, composer, dancer and visual artist who has performed with Wynton Marsalis, The Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra, and Hugh Masakela. [1]
Scholtz was born in Cape Town South Africa into a musical family. She began classical piano lessons at the age of 5 and at 16 started her formal vocal training with soprano May Abrahams. From 1997-2000 Scholtz attended The University of Cape Town where she graduated Cum Laude with a Performers Diploma in Opera.
After graduating from The University of Cape Town, Scholtz appeared on the 2001 South African Woman of the Year Awards show. The following year she returned to the South African Woman of the Year Awards Show with South African Music Award Winner, Mozambican guitarist Jimmy Dludlu, performing their hit single Peaceful Moment to which Melanie penned the lyric. In 2002 she won the Best Jazz Vocalist Award at the Old Mutual Jazz Encounters.
Scholtz released her debut album Zillion Miles [2] in 2006. The album was produced by Thor Kvande and recorded at Paris Studios in Cape Town.
In 2010 Scholtz won the prestigious Standard Bank Artist Award. [3] Her sophomore album Connected was produced by Ole Jørn Myklebust with whom Scholtz had previously toured and recorded with. That same year she also released Living Standards, [4] her first endeavor recording traditional jazz material.
Scholtz released Freedom’s Child - Melanie Scholtz sings James Matthews [5] in 2013. This collaboration with dissident, anti apartheid activist and poet James Mathews was produced by Mark Fransman and features saxophonist Soweto Kinch. The album spans 11 poems of Matthews from various anthologies set to Scholtz’s music. The same year Scholtz released Our Time [6] produced by Bokani Dyer.
Scholtz moved to Czech Republic in 2015 and worked there as a songwriter while freelancing in Europe.
In 2017 Melanie moved to New York City and started working with the Jazz at Lincoln Centre organization as part of outreach workshops highlighting South African and American Jazz. She was featured as part of The Great South African Songbook Tour [7] with Wynton Marsalis and The Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra, performing in New York, Chicago, Vienna and South Africa.
Wynton Learson Marsalis is an American trumpeter, composer, and music instructor, who is currently the artistic director of Jazz at Lincoln Center. He has been active in promoting classical and jazz music, often to young audiences. Marsalis has won nine Grammy Awards, and his oratorio Blood on the Fields was the first jazz composition to win the Pulitzer Prize for Music. Marsalis is the only musician to have won a Grammy Award in both jazz and classical categories in the same year.
Cassandra Wilson is an American jazz singer, songwriter, and producer from Jackson, Mississippi. She is one of the most successful female jazz singers and has been described by critic Gary Giddins as "a singer blessed with an unmistakable timbre and attack [who has] expanded the playing field" by incorporating blues, country, and folk music into her work. She has won numerous awards, including two Grammys, and was named "America's Best Singer" by Time magazine in 2001.
Abdullah Ibrahim, previously known as Dollar Brand, is a South African pianist and composer born Adolph Johannes Brand on 9 October 1934. His music reflects many of the musical influences of his childhood in the multicultural port areas of Cape Town, ranging from traditional African songs to the gospel of the AME Church and Ragas, to more modern jazz and other Western styles. Ibrahim is considered the leading figure in the subgenre of Cape jazz. Within jazz, his music particularly reflects the influence of Thelonious Monk and Duke Ellington. He is known especially for "Mannenberg", a jazz piece that became a notable anti-apartheid anthem.
Ellis Louis Marsalis Jr. was an American jazz pianist and educator. Active since the late 1940s, Marsalis came to greater attention in the 1980s and 1990s as the patriarch of the musical Marsalis family, when sons Branford and Wynton became popular jazz musicians.
Regina Carter is an American jazz violinist. She is the cousin of jazz saxophonist James Carter.
Cape jazz is a genre of jazz that is performed in the very southern part of Africa, the name being a reference to Cape Town, South Africa. Some writers say that Cape jazz began to emerge in 1959 with the formation of The Jazz Epistles, many of whom were from Cape Town, including Abdullah Ibrahim, then known as Dollar Brand. Cape jazz is similar to the popular music style known as marabi, though more improvisational in character. Where marabi is a piano jazz style, Cape jazz in the beginning featured instruments that can be carried in a street parade, such as brass instruments, banjos, guitars and percussion instruments.
Rodney Whitaker is an American jazz double bass player and educator.
Marcus Wyatt, is a South African trumpeter, composer and producer.
Beatrice "Sathima Bea" Benjamin was a South African vocalist and composer based in New York City for nearly 45 years.
Ted Nash is an American jazz saxophonist, flutist and composer. Born into a musical family, his uncle was saxophonist Ted Nash and his father is trombonist Dick Nash, both prominent jazz soloists and first call Hollywood studio musicians. Nash is a member of the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra directed by Wynton Marsalis. He is one of the founders of the Jazz Composers Collective.
Cleveland Watkiss,, is a British vocalist, actor, and composer.
Branford Marsalis is an American saxophonist, composer, and bandleader. While primarily known for his work in jazz as the leader of the Branford Marsalis Quartet, he also performs frequently as a soloist with classical ensembles and has led the group Buckshot LeFonque. From 1992 to 1995 he led the Tonight Show Band.
Here We Go Again: Celebrating the Genius of Ray Charles is a live tribute album by country singer Willie Nelson and jazz trumpeter Wynton Marsalis. It was recorded during concerts at the Rose Theater in New York City, on February 9 and 10, 2009. The album received mixed reviews, in which the instrumentation of Marsalis' orchestra was praised by the critics.
Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra is an American big band and jazz orchestra led by trumpeter Wynton Marsalis. The orchestra is part of Jazz at Lincoln Center, a performing arts organization in New York City.
Yacub Addy was a Ghanaian traditional drummer, composer, choreographer and educator who collaborated with many musicians in various genres, including Wynton Marsalis. He has been referred to as "the leading ambassador of Ghanaian music and culture".
Rashid Lombard is known as both a jazz photographer and political photojournalist.
Tutu Puoane is a South African Jazz singer. She grew up in the township of Mamelodi, Pretoria. By 1997 she had already been performing in Johannesburg downtown. Realizing her passion for singing, Tutu went on to study jazz vocals at the University of Cape Town with Jelena Reveshin and Virginia Davids. She received several awards from major South African jazz competitions. In 2000 she won the old mutual jazz encounters for Cape region and in 2001 she received a merit award for young promising talent at the Daimler Chrysler South African jazz competition.
Play the Blues: Live from Jazz at Lincoln Center is a 2011 live album by Eric Clapton and Wynton Marsalis. Released on September 13, it contains live recordings of the 2011 collaboration at the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts between the British blues guitarist and the American jazz trumpeter. A video release accompanies the audio recordings. The live album reached various national charts and was certified in several territories.
Brianna Thomas is an American jazz singer, vocalist, composer, songwriter, band leader, and percussionist. She was born and raised in Peoria, Illinois, United States. She made her singing debut at the age of six. She is the daughter of drummer and vocalist Charlie Thomas. She is known as being one of the best young straight ahead young jazz singers, says music critic and author Will Friedwald. She is known to bring together various forms of American music from bluegrass to jazz in to an original hybrid of jazz/funk/rock and soul. Her voice is said to be strong and her range huge. She incorporates rare music in her repertoire of early female blues and jazz pioneers such as Bessie Smith, Victoria Spivey, Ma Rainey, Ethel Waters, Mamie Smith, and Ida Cox. All About Jazz said of her 2015 debut album, You Must Believe in Love, “Brianna Thomas is the complete package. Through this music she exhibits emotional depth, to-die-for scat skills, incredible pitch control and shading, strong songwriting skills, intuitively elastic phrasing, soulful bearing, and a great range.”
Pedrito Martinez is a Cuban percussionist, drummer, singer, dancer, bandleader, songwriter, composer, and educator. He was born and raised in Havana, Cuba. He is a Cuban Conguero performing classic Cuban Rumbas, Afro-Cuban folkloric and religious music. He is a Santería priest. He came to the United States of America from Havana in 1998. He plays the Batá drum, conga, cajón, timbale, and bongo drums, among other percussion instruments. Pedrito learned his craft from the streets of Havana, Cuba. He has performed with Paquito D'Rivera, Arturo O'Farrill, Brian Lynch, and Bruce Springsteen. He settled in the New York City - New Jersey area in 1998.
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Artists | |
