Virginia Mayhew | |
|---|---|
| Born | May 14, 1959 San Francisco, California, United States |
| Genres | Jazz |
| Occupations | Musician, composer, arranger, bandleader, educator |
| Instruments | Saxophone |
| Labels | Renma Recordings |
| Website | Renma Records artist page |
Virginia Mayhew (born May 14, 1959, San Francisco, California) is a New York-based saxophonist, composer and bandleader. She has led her own groups for over 25 years, and currently leads several quartets, a quintet, and a septet. [1]
Mayhew has worked with such artists as Earl ‘Fatha’ Hines, Cab Calloway, Frank Zappa, James Brown, Norman Simmons, Al Grey, Junior Mance, Joe Williams, Chico O'Farrill, Marlena Shaw, Toshiko Akiyoshi, Kenny Barron, Leon Parker, Ingrid Jensen, Claudio Roditi, Nnenna Freelon, and many others. [2]
Earl Kenneth Hines, also known as Earl "Fatha" Hines, was an American jazz pianist and bandleader. He was one of the most influential figures in the development of jazz piano and, according to one source, "one of a small number of pianists whose playing shaped the history of jazz".
Cabell "Cab" Calloway III was an American jazz singer, dancer, and bandleader. He was associated with the Cotton Club in Harlem, New York City, where he was a regular performer.
Frank Vincent Zappa was an American multi-instrumentalist musician, composer, and bandleader. His work is characterized by nonconformity, free-form improvisation, sound experiments, musical virtuosity, and satire of American culture. In a career spanning more than 30 years, Zappa composed rock, pop, jazz, jazz fusion, orchestral and musique concrète works, and produced almost all of the 60-plus albums that he released with his band the Mothers of Invention and as a solo artist. Zappa also directed feature-length films and music videos, and designed album covers. He is considered one of the most innovative and stylistically diverse rock musicians of his era.
Mayhew has been a guest on Marian McPartland’s Piano Jazz, the featured artist on NPR’s All Things Considered , and has appeared twice on Jazz Set with Dee Dee Bridgewater. In 2007 she was selected by Down Beat magazine as a "Rising Star" on soprano saxophone, and has been the subject of several feature articles in Down Beat, Jazztimes and Jazziz magazines.
Margaret Marian McPartland, OBE, was an English-American jazz pianist, composer and writer. She was the host of Marian McPartland's Piano Jazz on National Public Radio from 1978 to 2011.
All Things Considered (ATC) is the flagship news program on the American network National Public Radio (NPR). It was the first news program on NPR, premiering on May 3, 1971. It is broadcast live on NPR affiliated stations in the United States, and worldwide through several different outlets, formerly including the NPR Berlin station in Germany. All Things Considered and Morning Edition were the highest rated public radio programs in the United States in 2002 and 2005. The show combines news, analysis, commentary, interviews, and special features, and its segments vary in length and style. ATC airs weekdays from 4:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. Eastern Standard Time (live) or Pacific Standard Time or from 3:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. Central Standard Time. A weekend version of ATC, Weekend All Things Considered, airs on Saturdays and Sundays.
Dee Dee Bridgewater is an American jazz singer. She is a three-time Grammy Award-winning singer-songwriter, as well as a Tony Award-winning stage actress. For 23 years, she was the host of National Public Radio's syndicated radio show JazzSet with Dee Dee Bridgewater. She is a United Nations Goodwill Ambassador for the Food and Agriculture Organization.
Her 2012 recording, Mary Lou Williams – The Next 100 Years, was selected by Down Beat as one of the Best New Releases of 2012 and by Rhapsody as one of the ten best new CDs of 2012. [3]
Mayhew has performed in many of New York City's major jazz venues, including Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, Town Hall, Jazz Standard, the Blue Note, Sweet Basil, and Small's, and has performed throughout the United States, Europe, Australia, Southeast Asia, as well as in the Caribbean and Bermuda. Mayhew has been featured as a leader at many jazz festivals, both within the United States and abroad, and has traveled twice as a representative of the United States as a Jazz Ambassador.
Carnegie Hall is a concert venue in Midtown Manhattan in New York City, United States, located at 881 Seventh Avenue, occupying the east side of Seventh Avenue between West 56th Street and West 57th Street, two blocks south of Central Park.
Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts is a 16.3-acre (6.6-hectare) complex of buildings in the Lincoln Square neighborhood of Manhattan in New York City. It has thirty indoor and outdoor facilities and is host to 5 million visitors annually. It houses nationally and internationally renowned performing arts organizations including the New York Philharmonic, the Metropolitan Opera, and the New York City Ballet.
Blue Note Jazz Club is a jazz club and restaurant located at 131 West 3rd Street in Greenwich Village, New York City. The club was opened on September 30, 1981, by owner and founder Danny Bensusan, with the Nat Adderley Quintet being the featured performers for the night. The club’s performance schedule features shows every evening at 8:00 pm and 10:30 pm and a Sunday jazz brunch with performances at 12:30 pm and 2:30 pm. The venue has also started a bi-weekly Late Night Groove Series giving New York's up-and-coming jazz, soul, hip-hop, R&B and funk artists an opportunity to showcase their talents on Saturday and Sunday mornings at 12:30 am. The club currently maintains locations in Japan, Italy (Milan), United States, China (Beijing), and Slovakia.
Mayhew earned a black belt in Seido Karate, and is seen engaging in the sport on the cover of her fifth album, Sandan Shuffle. "My karate studies not only inspired the cover photo, but also the title track," she explained in an interview. "Sandan is 3rd level." [4]
Seidokaikan (正道会館) is a traditional full contact karate derived from Kyokushin by Kazuyoshi Ishii. Seidokaikan organized the first professional full contact karate tournament named the Karate World Cup. The Karate World Cup had special extension rounds, if the judges decision was deadlocked after an extension round, the rules then allowed face strikes with fighters donning boxing gloves (kickboxing).
