Sandra Y. Johnson,

She began taking private voice lessons in 1990 and as a result, she started singing solos. Sandra has sung at Department of Laborofficial functions, area churches, homeless shelters, rehabilitation centers, and evangelistic outreach services.

Since 1995, she has been an active member of the Washington Performing Arts Society’s Men and Women of the Gospel Choir that performs annually at the Kennedy Center. In 2005 she was selected as one of the soloists to perform with WPAS at the Kennedy Center. Sandra still sings the first Sunday of each month at the Gospel Rescue Mission in Washington, D.C.

Sandra earned a Graduate Certificate in Arts Management in 2001 and a Master’s Degree in Arts Management from American University in May 2007. She has a Bachelor of Public Administration from the University of the District of Columbia. In January 2004, Sandra retired from the U. S. Department of Labor as a Manpower Development Specialist after 37 years of service. During the Fall 2005 semester, Sandra served as a Development Intern in the Development Office of Strathmore Music Center; and in the Fall 2006 served as a Special Events Intern at Wolf Trap Foundation.

Finding a Voice in Jazz

In 2001, Sandra became interested in singing jazz, and became astudent for 3 1/2 years at the Elliston Jazz Studies Workshopunder the direction of Ronnie Wells and Ron Elliston. She also studied privately for a year and a half with the late Calvin J. Jones, University of the District of Columbia’s Coordinator of Jazz Studies. She currently studies with Connaitre Miller, Professor of Jazz Voice at Howard University, Washington, DC.

Sandra’s first “gigs” were at The Islander Restaurant, Westminster Presbyterian Church Jazz Series, The Old Post Office Pavilion, and Twin’s Jazz Lounge on U Street. Since 2002, she has performed at several jazz festivals to include the Fish Middleton Jazz Scholarship (FMJS) Fund’s East Coast Jazz Festival at the Double Tree Hotel in Rockville, 2006 Potomac Jazz & Seafood Festival, The 2010 and 2011 Taste of Georgetown, Herndon Labor Day Jazz Festival, 2011 Mid-Atlantic Jazz Festival and many outdoor concerts.  Sandra also performed several times at the Henley Park Hotel and the Mandarin Oriental Hotel.  From 2005 – 2010, she performed every Friday night at Laporta’s Restaurant in Alexandria, VA. She performed at the Smithsonian’s American Art Museum’s “Take 5″ in 2008 and again in 2011.  Sandra also performed at the Phillips Collection in May 2012.

She entered and won 2nd Place at the 2006 and 2007 Billie Holiday Vocal Competition in Baltimore, MD.

Sandra performs around the DC Metro Area and at special events. Her goal is to plan and produce music events and other special events, while furthering her own music career as a jazz/gospel/R&B/Oldies vocalist.

CD Releases

In February 2004, Sandra released her debut CD entitled, “Steppin’ Out” and had CD releases at Blues Alley Supper Club and Westminster Presbyterian Church.

She produced her second CD, “What are You Doing the Rest of Your Life?” in January 2011 and had CD release events at the University of the District of Columbia and again at Westminster Presbyterian Church.

Visit  http://www.sandrayjohnson.com/

A multi-instrumentalist who plays clarinet, saxophone and flute, Shoenberg has produced three CD releases, Love Goes ‘Round, Someday, and Private Concert which include several of her original compositions. A native of Silver Spring, Maryland, Halley earned her Bachelor’s degree in Jazz Studies from Indiana University and Master’s in Arts Administration from Florida State University.

As leader of her own “Halley Shoenberg Jazz Quartet” and other ensembles, most recently adding the “Halley’s Hot Gumbo Swingtet,” her concert and festival presentations have won the hearts of jazz enthusiasts who demand master musicianship.

Past performances include the “Halley Shoenberg Octet” in concert at Strathmore Mansion and her bands at DC area festivals such as the Bethesda, MD Fine Arts Festival, Alexandria, VA Jazz Festival and the Silver Spring Swings concert series. As the clarinet soloist in DC’s premiere swing band, Halley is regularly featured on classic swing masterpieces and evening-long Artie Shaw and Benny Goodman tributes. She has played at major venues including the Kennedy Center, National Parks, at the Shenandoah Valley Music Festival and Blues Alley. Her Trio was featured in Worchester, MA at a live performance and broadcast for WICN Radio.

Benny Goodman, Artie Shaw, Buddy DeFranco, and Ken Peplowski influence her clarinet playing. Her saxophone style pays respect to Art Pepper, Lee Konitz, Charlie Parker, Lester Young and Stan Getz. Halley is also inspired by the legendary music of Louis Armstrong, Ella Fitzgerald, Nat King Cole and the Count Basie, Duke Ellington and Stan Kenton big bands.

Having intensely studied classical and jazz, she currently teaches private lessons to young clarinet and saxophone students in addition to performing. At Indiana University’s School of Music Halley studied with David Baker, Dominic Spera, James Campbell, Tom Walsh, Lynn Baker, J.B. Dyas and many more outstanding musician-teachers of performance, history, and composition. After graduation, Shoenberg served as intern in the Smithsonian’s jazz history department. During her arts administration graduate program at Florida State University, she performed and toured with the school’s award-winning jazz ensemble and interned at Carnegie Hall in New York City.

Based in Washington DC, her performances on saxophone in Rhapsody in Blue and the West Side Story Suite have been heard on tour in Germany with the Washington Symphony Orchestra. She has also performed traditional “Dixieland” jazz with the Potomac River Jazz Club’s Federal Focus Jazz Band, which participated in Chilliwack Jazz Festival in British Columbia and at the French Quarter Jazz Festival in New Orleans. Shoenberg has performed in New York, at the Boswell Sisters Centennial in New Orleans and at the Women in Jazz Festival at the Kennedy Center.

In addition to the Halley Shoenberg Jazz Octet, Quartet and Trio, Halley performs and has recorded with the Tom Cunningham (swing) Orchestra, the James Bazen (modern-style) Big Band, the La Salle (1920’s and 30’s jazz) Dance Orchestra, the Bitter Dose (gypsy jazz) Combo, Craig Gildner and Blue Sky 5, and Shannon Gunn and the Bullettes.

Visit http://www.halleyjazz.com/

In July and August 2006, Levit served as a fellow for the APPEX program at UCLA’s Center for Intercultural Performance where he lived, collaborated, and performed with creative artists from the Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia, India, Germany, and the United States. The program was sponsored in part by the United States Department of State. In September 2006, Levit was the recipient of the Annie Award for performing arts given annually to artists “who have made a lasting, significant and inspiring contribution to an art form, an arts organization, and to the wider community of Anne Arundel County.” In October 2006, he was awarded the City of Annapolis Mayor’s Come Together Award for citizens who “have demonstrated significant contributions to the spirit of community civility.” In January 2007, he was a recipient of Capital-Gazette Leadership Anne Arundel’s Community Trustee Award for his community programs, leadership and involvement. In January 2007, he founded 2C (Creating Communities) to foster creativity and the arts for the underserved with a focus on elementary school children, hospital patients and adults with mental illness. He is a multiple-time recipient of the Maryland State Arts Council Individual Artist Award and one of 10 composers to receive the inaugural jazz composition commission from Chamber Music America in 2000.

As an arts integration specialist Levit travels statewide working to harness the power of the arts as a learning tool in the classroom environment. He is on the roster of Maryland State Arts Council, Montgomery County Arts Council and Arts Council of Anne Arundel County. His organization, Creating Communities, received the Innovative Program award for the Arts Mentorship Academy for under-served youth, from the Volunteer Center of Anne Arundel County in October 2008.

Major performances as a leader and co-leader include: Montreal International Jazz Festival, Boston Globe Jazz Festival, Ottawa International Jazz Festival, Texaco New York Jazz Festival, Kennedy Center Millennium Stage, Maryland Hall for the Creative Arts (with Ballet Theater of Maryland), Blues Alley, The Regatta Bar and the World Festival of Sacred Music.

He has released and recorded over fifteen commercially available compact discs. He has painted the album art for his last four CD’s. His 2005 CD Touch the Spirit, a solo instrumental guitar album, was received to critical acclaim and climbed to #11 on the national New Age/World Music charts. In November 2006, Levit released Songs of Healing, an album of original guitar pieces designed for friend, families, and patients of Hospice of the Chesapeake. In 2007, he served as music consultant and composer for many tracks on the acclaimed Annapolis film Pip and Zastrow. In September 2008, he traveled to Los Angeles to perform at the opening concert of the World Festival of Sacred Music with musicians from around the world, the only American on the opening gala concert at UCLA’s Royce Hall.

Visit http://roblevit.com/

Chuck was featured vibraphonist with the Mel Torme All-Star Jazz Quintet from 1991 until 1996. While appearing in New York with Torme, Ira Gitler of Jazz Times said: “Redd’s vibes were equally notable for vigor and melodiousness.”

The Washington Post recently admired his “melodic sparkle.”

Jazz Times also praised Redd’s playing calling his vibes work, “Exquisite! “

In 2007 Chuck was featured with the prestigious “Milt Jackson Tribute Band”. Other recent engagements include jazz cruises in the Mediterranean, stints with Bucky Pizzarelli and Ken Peplowski at Dizzy’s Club (Jazz at Lincoln Center) and headlining with his trio at The River Room of Harlem. He has toured and performed with Dizzy Gillespie, Mel Torme, Tommy Flanagan, Dick Hyman, Ray Brown, Monty Alexander, Laurindo Almeida, Tal Farlow, Red Norvo, Scott Hamilton, Mickey Roker and Frank Vignola.

Redd is featured on over 70 recordings. Recent releases include his Arbors CD, “All This and Heaven Too”, featuring Gene Bertoncini and George Mraz, and “The Swing Kings”, an all-star session featuring Bucky and John Pizzarelli, Ray Kennedy and Ken Peplowski. He can also be heard on the sound track to the popular PBS television series, “The Great Chefs, and the NPR broadcast “Jazz Smithsonian.”

Performances by Chuck include a concert with the Dizzy Gillespie Quintet in Africa for the Namibian Independence Celebration, a recital at the White House with the Barney Kessel Trio, concerts at Carnegie Hall with Mel Torme’s Quintet, and The Tonight Show. In 2008, he was featured in the finale concert at The Lionel Hampton International Jazz festival with The Lionel Hampton Big Band and the Clayton/Hamilton Jazz Orchestra.

In addition to leading his own groups, Chuck was a member of the Smithsonian Jazz Masterworks Orchestra for 15 years. He frequently performs in New York City and headlines nationally at festivals and clubs. Chuck is on the faculty at The University of Maryland School of Music and presents master classes, workshops and lectures around the country.

Chuck’s newly released Noteworthy CD, “When Redd is Blue” is a collaboration with his brother Robert, featuring saxophonist Harry Allen. His Arbors CD “Happy All The Time,” is a critically acclaimed tribute to his mentor, Barney Kessel and features Monty Alexander, Jeff Hamilton and Howard Alden.

Visit ChuckRedd.com

With a master’s degree from the University of North Texas in jazz performance and West African ethnomusicology, Antoniuk spent a decade touring and recording with the Unified Jazz Ensemble. In 2004, he formed his own heavy hitting quartet, the Jazz Update.

The group celebrated the release of their first album together in 2007. Brimming with Antoniuk originals and luscious covers, the CD Here Today quickly climbed the jazz radio charts in the US and Canada and achieved stellar success in the world of high tech music sourced through high speed cable, Internet and broadband.

With the quartet’s 2010 album Brotherhood Antoniuk and company step out with fresh, memorable, and beautifully executed compositions. The progressive jazz disc delivers sophisticated and compelling rhythm, melody and harmony. Its global themes are brought home with depth and humor. Brotherhood began receiving significant airplay and advance sales even before the official release date.

Popular shows at Blues Alley, the Kennedy Center, the Smithsonian and U Street clubs show the Jazz Update to be equally adept at live performance. The group surprises and satisfies wherever they perform.
“Antoniuk continues a long-running tradition among jazz composers of stretching boundaries.“ – Michael Buckley, WRNR 103.5 FM Visit jeffantoniuk.com