joyce cooling expression,THE FIRST CLUES... ÓI grew up in one of those stark neighborhoods in New Jersey, the ÑGarden State,Ò where developers mowed down everything in sight Ö trees, gardens joyce cooling expression and all Ö and then slapped up identical ÑSaltine boxÒ houses all in a row. When people moved in they painted them all kinds of crazy colors Ö anything to be different. I think that may have been my first clue.You can defy mediocrity in your own little way. ÓMy first school was School #17. joyce cooling expression Schools 1 through 16 were identical to joyce cooling expression number 17, and schools 18 through whatever followed suit.Ô The pattern of joyce cooling expression sameness seemed to surround Joyce Cooling, but so too did her budding skewed view of it all. ÓMy parents were joyce cooling expression school teachers. My mother joyce cooling expression taught Music and my father, English and History. Music was everywhere in our house and my grammar was corrected ruthlessly. My mother not only joyce cooling expression turned us on to music, but to all of the arts Ö dance, painting, sculpture, poetry, you name it. She was passionate. My father was all about facts and math, spelling and diction, and had the best damn directions to anywhere. ÓAs I grew joyce cooling expression older, I came to realize joyce cooling expression that my parents were teachers to the core.They were joyce cooling expression teachers of things, of ideas, of perspectives joyce cooling expression of both beauty and openness.They just wanted you tojoyce cooling expression yearn to learn.Ô By the time Joyce reached high joyce cooling expression school she had amassed a huge record collection Ö everyone from Abbey Lincoln, Joe Henderson, Cedar Walton, and Miles, to James Brown, Led Zeppelin, Frank Zappa, and Jimi Hendrix, to Ravel, Stravinsky, Bach, and Brahms, to Hermeto Pascoal, Elis Regina, João Bosco, and Jobim. ÓI like R&B. I like folk. I like joyce cooling expression heavy metal and headbanger joyce cooling expression stuff. I like punk. I like rap. I like music from all over the world. I just like good music.There are no joyce cooling expression boundaries with me.Ô It seems her parents prevailed. ÓNo, I wasnÒt a joyce cooling expression cheerleader in high school and no, I didnÒt go to the prom.Ô Her focus was elsewhere.joyce cooling expression Many of JoyceÒs high school-era joyce cooling expression evenings were spent on the steps of the Village Vanguard and outside other Manhattan jazz clubs. ÓI was underage, but the bartender at the Vanguard saw how much I loved joyce cooling expression the music and let me hang out on the steps. I heardeverybody! It was fantastic and I was hooked joyce cooling expression.Ô THE EVOLUTION WEST... JoyceÒs penchant for the eclectic continued when she moved to the San Francisco Bay Area in the early 1980s and began dabbling in keyboards and percussion. Music had long been the most passionate part of her life, but an actual career as a musician started taking shape only after she began hanging around an African drumming class taught by C.K. Ladzekpo, a renowned Ghanaian percussionist. Integrating the polyrhythmic sophistication of West African music with her love of melody and harmony, Joyce focused her attention on playing, singing, and songwriting. ÓEverything crystallized when I heard Wes MontgomeryÒs solo on ÑIf You Could See Me Now.Ò From then on, it was as if guitar had chosen me.Ô Teaching herself to play guitar by ear, she developed a personal style of finger picking that has given her playing its unique sound and feel. ÓI have always played that way. This wasnÒt a conscious decision, it was just easier and more natural for me to first sing what I wanted to play and then play it. I was also never comfortable with a pick. I couldnÒt feel what string I was on so I tossed the pick and played with my fingers.Ô A PARTNERSHIP IS BORN... Her introduction to producer Jay Wagner, a keyboardist on San FranciscoÒs Brasilian circuit, gave her the energy that her self-taught chops needed. Joyce, also playing on the Brasilian Jazz scene, began working with Jay on a full-time basis. Becoming a top attraction, they appeared at many of the major West Coast jazz festivals and expanded their reach by playing in the Philippines, Mexico, and Colombia, performing with such jazz giants as Joe Henderson, Stan Getz, and Charlie Byrd. ÓJay and I grew up 3,000 miles apart, but when we met we had almost identical record collections.We liked the exact same bar of a Bill Evans or Toninho Horta solo, the same phrase from a Joe Henderson record.To use a cornball expression, we were musical soul mates.Ô Joyce and Jay recorded their first two albums, CAMEO and PERSON 2 PERSON, on their own label. ÓIt was really a home-grown, kitchen-table operation at that stage, and PERSON 2 PERSON doubled as our demo.Ô In 1997 they signed with Heads Up Records and debuted their first international CD, PLAYING IT COOL.The whirlwind was now in motion. The San Francisco-inspired chart-topping single, ÓSouth of Market,Ô took the jazz world by storm. Both the single and album soared to #1 on the Gavin Report and R&RÒs NAC/smooth jazz charts. The CD also produced two more radio chart-topping hits, ÓAfter HoursÔ and ÓImagine That.Ô Cooling was a nominee for GavinÒs Smooth Jazz Artist of the Year, named Best New Talent in the Jazziz ReaderÒs Poll, and was an easy choice for Artist of the Year by the nationally syndicated radio program, Jazz Trax. It seems fans and critics alike had made up their minds.They loved the compositions.