The Atlanta Jazz Festival is regarded as one of the country’s largest free jazz festivals. It is an annual musical showcase that celebrates jazz legends and rising jazz greats in venues throughout metropolitan Atlanta during the entire month of May. The festival culminates each Memorial Day weekend with show spectacular performances at Piedmont Park.
The year 2017 was such an awesome year for When We Speak TV and we are expecting even greater things in 2018. One of the great things that happened in 2017 is we joined on as one of the official sponsors of Jazz in The Alley in Norcross, Georgia.
We are super excited to announce that once again, we have jumped on board for 2018.
So save the dates and we will "speak" with you at Jazz In The Alley!!!
Croker began playing trumpet at age 11 after hearing Cheatham play in New York City, and by his teens was studying music formally at the Douglas Anderson School of the Arts in Jacksonville followed by the music conservatory at Oberlin College. Croker's musical training has taken him all over the world including Shanghai, China where he took up residency at the House of Blues and refined his style.
Chandra Currelley is a smooth, cool & sultry, chocolate powerhouse, at the same time syncopated and improvisational! That's what you get when you see and hear Chandra Currelley! Chandra is an artist that not only sounds great, but you can feel every note she sings. That's one of the reasons she is the 2014 recipient of the Black Women In Jazz, (Lady Soul Of Jazz Award). She has toured with jazz legendRoy Ayers, where she recorded the duet, “Let Me Love You”.
Because of her ability to legitimately cross musical and theatrical styles, Chandra has had the opportunity to work with some of the greats including music mogulClarence Avant and the legendary recording group, the S.O.S. Band, where Chandra replaced the original lead singer. She continued the band’s string of Top Twenty Billboard hits with the CD’s “Diamonds In The Raw”, and “One Of Many Nights”, where she wrote several songs, including the single “Broken Promises”. The Helen Hayes and NAACP Phoenix Award Nominee has released three solo CD’s, “Relationships”,“The Real Me” and “Love Songs”, which contains the hit song “Love Again” from the Lionsgate movie, “Diary of a Mad Black Woman”. Ms. Currelley has performed at the Long Beach Jazz Festival, the Berklee Jazz Festival, the JFly Music Festival, The Tom Joyner Fantastic Voyage, Praise 102.5, Gospel Jazz Live, the Holland Juneteenth Music Festival and The Atlanta Jazz Festival. Chandra Currelley's live shows are unforgettable and always leaves the audiences shouting for more! Chandra is a double threat as a singer and actress. She is the 2015 Black Women In Jazz & Arts (Best Black Female Performer in Theater & Film).
Mabu’s ArkBand is an eclectic musical group that performs soul, jazz, Reggae, fusion jazz, Caribbean and African music. Mabu Brad Young, Jr. is the drummer,
vocalist and production manager for the band.
Mabu started
he band while attending high school during the 1960’s. The original band name
was “Mabu’s Madness” because of the music they were performing by artists such
as Jimi Hendrix, Sly and the Family Stone, The Delfonics, Sun Ra, JohnColtrane, as well as British rock and roll.
Mabu planned
to go to law school. And he intended to play football in college and go on to
the NFL. His back-up plan was to become a school teacher and football coach. He
did become a teacher and then Principal for the Mount Vernon City SchoolDistrict in New York.
He also has
kept his band together for 40 years, and performed in Senegal, Africa, Jamaica,
Canada and around the United States. In New York he has played at venues such
as the Apollo, Sweetwater, Windows on the World, and The Bitter End. Mabu has
worked and recorded with artists including Jeff Young, Vincent Henry, T.M.
Stevens, Teddy Stilles, Hassan Melvin Sparks, Onajie Allan Gumbs, Julio
Virella, Mike Phillips, Flip Lewis Barnes, Fred Hunter, Kay Boyd, Phillip
Hamilton and Boo Boo Monk (Thelonius Monk’s daughter).
He thanks
God for his parents and his wife, Tricia.
Jermaine Sainis the host/ creator of a talk show called When We Speak. After exiting the U.S. Army in 2003, as a Medical Sergeant, Jermaine began pursuing a career in music after he auditioned for American Idol in 2005, in Austin, Texas.
