Joyce Cooling bio info?
PeterA9709
Cooling. Does anyone out there know where she is from, when she was born, who
she has played with, etc.? I hear she played real jazz before she went smooth
and would like to hear the earlier stuff and know her history.
Thanks.
P.A.
Morrice
Sometimes, all it takes is one incredible song for a renowned local
performer to become an overnight national sensation.
Bay Area jazz fans had known and loved Joyce Cooling as one of the region's
most dynamic and popular guitarists for years when her San Francisco
inspired hit single, "South of Market", and her debut CD, Playing It Cool,
took the contemporary jazz world by storm in 1997. Both soared to #1 on the
Gavin Report and Radio & Records NAC/smooth jazz charts and remained there
for five consecutive weeks as the accolades came streaming in. Cooling was a
nominee for Gavin's Smooth Jazz Artist of the Year, was named Best New
Talent (Smooth Jazz) in the Jazziz Reader's Poll and was an easy choice for
Artist of the Year by the nationally syndicated radio show, Jazz Trax.
Her follow-up CD in 1999, Keeping Cool, also shot up the charts with
meteoric speed and boasts yet another #1 radio hit ("Callie") and earned
Joyce the Best Jazz Guitarist Of the Year Gibson Guitar Award.
When Cooling and longtime partner, producer and keyboardist, Jay Wagner
entered the studio to record Third Wish, their first album for GRP Records
and fourth overall, Joyce knew exactly what they were going for. Cooling
wanted to provide contemporary-jazz that was accessible and groove-oriented
but not without substance and creativity. Cooling, with the release of Third
Wish has accomplished her goal; even though the set has the makings of a
major contemporary/smooth jazz hit, it also has meat on its bones. If Third
Wish is smooth jazz, it's smooth jazz with a brain.
Third Wish, produced by Wagner, was executive produced by The Verve Music
Group's VP of A&R Bud Harner, a major behind-the-scenes player in the
contemporary jazz world. It was Harner who brought Cooling to GRP after her
contract with Heads Up ended in 2000. When Verve became their new home,
Cooling and Wagner were glad to know that Harner was willing to let them do
things their way: Wagner would still be Cooling's producer, and original
material would still be their focus. "While I've always dedicated myself to
becoming a better musician, the true artistic love of my life continues to
be songwriting", Cooling says. "What you hear on this CD is a collaboration
between Jay and me," Cooling adds. "We're partners. We've been partners for
years, and thankfully GRP realized this and didn't try to separate us."
One of the things that Cooling and Wagner have in common is eclectic musical
tastes. The two appreciate everything from funk to Brazilian samba, and
Third Wish reflects that. Even though many of the instrumentals on Third
Wish are NAC-oriented, the album is hardly one-dimensional. Third Wish
offers everything from Brazilian-flavored grooves like on "Tamba", to
infectious jazz-funk tracks like "Jelly on My Jacket," "East Side," and
"Daddy-O". Parts of the album are exuberant, and parts of it are more
introspective, such as the gentle ballad "It's All Because of Loving You".
Third Wish employs a wealth of top notch musicians, including members of
Joyce's and Jay's touring group, bassist Gary Calvin and drummer Billy
Johnson, as well as Tower Of Power drummer David Garibaldi, and
percussionist Peter Michael Escovedo. Another participant is Brazilian
percussionist Helcio Milito. Milito, a former member of Brazil's Tamba Trio,
invented his own drum kit, the Tamba Drum Set, and put his creation to use
on the song carrying its name. Wagner, true to form, plays keyboards on all
of the tracks.
Meanwhile, the jazz-funk tune "Mm-Mm Good" boasts a guest appearance by GRP
label mate Al Jarreau. Cooling comments: "Al Jarreau is a kid at heart when
he sings. He's so playful with his vocals and has never lost any of his
enthusiasm or energy - not one spec. Al Jarreau is such a creative free
spirit."
One track that is radically different from anything else on Third Wish is
"It'll Come Back to Me," an adult contemporary ballad that finds Cooling
singing lead and venturing outside of instrumental pop-jazz. For the most
part, the main attraction on Third Wish is Cooling's guitar playing. When
she offers wordless scat singing on "Tamba," "Jelly on My Jacket" or
"Daddy-O," her voice is another instrument and is meant to complement her
guitar playing. On "It'll Come Back to Me," however, Cooling's role isn't
that of a pop-jazz instrumentalist who sometimes scats - it is that of a pop
singer who is embracing actual lyrics and accompanying herself on guitar.
"When Jay and I recorded 'It'll Come Back to Me', we were in the mood to do
a simple, intimate, pop/folk tune," Cooling explains.
If Third Wish expresses any type of musical philosophy, it is the belief
that commercial appeal and creativity are not mutually exclusive. "I don't
want to record music that will never awaken any taste buds or make the
listener feel anything. That would make me very uncomfortable. I would just
get out of the business altogether before I would record music that made me
feel unfulfilled. Thankfully, I'm nowhere near feeling that way."
Growing up in New Jersey and New York, Cooling absorbed a wide variety of
music and amassed a huge record collection. "My CD collection contains
Ornette Coleman, Ahmad Jamal and Bill Evans, but it also contains James
Brown, Maurice Ravel, Jimi Hendrix and Aerosmith as well music from all over
the world," she notes. "I like R&B. I like folk. I like heavy metal and
headbanger stuff. I like punk. I like rap. I just like good music. There are
no boundaries with me."
She continued to be quite eclectic 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 began taking shape only after she began hanging around
an African drumming class. Integrating the polyrhythmic sophistication of
West African music with her passion for melody and harmony, Cooling focused
her attention on playing, singing and songwriting. "Everything crystallized
when I heard Wes Montgomery's solo on 'If You Could See Me Now'. From then
on, it was as if guitar had chosen me".
Teaching herself to play guitar by ear, she developed a personal style of
finger picking that has given her playing its unique sound.
She met Wagner in the mid eighties and the two instantly discovered their
songwriting compatibility and have been working together consistently ever
since. At first, Cooling played straight-ahead jazz on her Bay Area gigs and
then later joined Wagner on the Brazilian music circuit where they expanded
their reach beyond the Bay by playing in numerous exotic cities like Manila,
Guadalajara and Cartagena. Cooling gained further credibility as a jazz
player by appearing with giants like Stan Getz, Joe Henderson, Airto and
Charlie Byrd before making contemporary-jazz her main focus and signing with
Heads Up in 1997.
The amazing success of Cooling's first CD, Playing It Cool, led to non-stop
touring all around the country to play for new, enthusiastic fans who
weren't familiar with her rich and varied Bay Area history. "It's really the
people that make what we do possible", she says, "and I've always considered
the musician-listener connection to be a symbiotic relationship in a sense -
we depend upon one another.
Cooling also makes note of the true working "ensemble" nature of her live
performances. She and Wagner have been working with bassist Gary Calvin and
drummer Billy Johnson steadily for years. "We're all into doing this as a
band", she says, and it's great when your band mates know instinctively
what's coming next and play from the soul rather than from charts".
The success of Playing It Cool and Keeping Cool - which included four other
chart topping singles, ensured that the music and spirit of Joyce Cooling
would never again be confined to one specific region. Third Wish finds her
poised to take her growing legacy even further. "We strive to create songs
that will sound as good twenty years from now as they do today. The idea is
to touch people emotionally with the music that Jay and I write", she says,
"whether they are seeing us live in concert, listening to our CDs, or tuning
in on the radio."
Finally, where did the title Third Wish come from? Cooling explains: "Jay
and I were thinking of the old myth of the genie in the bottle and how you
get three wishes. When you get to your third wish, you go for the big one,
since you only have one wish left, you really want to make it count. And I
really wanted to make this CD count."
Check out : http://www.joycecooling.com/
Morrice
"PeterA9709" <peter...@aol.com> wrote in message
news:20020623143823...@mb-mq.aol.com...
Someone
> I hear she played real jazz before she went smooth
I hear people used to use real writing implements before the invention of
the typewriter.
Jenna763
was hype written by a paid PR hack.
Really what I wanted to know is stuff like what musicians she played with in
the straight-ahead scene in her SF Bay Area gigs, where she was born, how old
she is etc. Her bio says she has been on the scene for over 10 years but it
seems that she has been gigging since the early 80s which is more like 20
years.
But thanks.
PA