DENNISBELL, pianist, is a gold and platinum award-winning producer, arranger, songwriter/ composer, conductor andmusiceducator. Graduate of the High School of Music & Art, NYU (BMus in Piano/Music Theory) and CUNY Queens College (MA in Composition). Dennis is the founder and CEO of City Slicker Productions, Mark of Aries Music (BMI) and GuavaJamm Entertainment. Dennis has produced records by Doug E Fresh, Dave Valentin, New Voices of Freedom, U2, and Touché, amongst others. He was the musical director/ conductor for the international tour of Jesus Christ uperstar and has written TV and Radio Jingles for Drakes, Hardees, Roy Rogers, and Nabisco companies. His modern dance scores have been performed at The Yard in Martha’s Vineyard, The Arts Umbrella in Vancouver, Yale University in New Haven, LaGuardia HS of Music & Art and Performing Arts in NYC, Ailey II, Juilliard New Dances 08, Perry Mansfield in Steamboat Springs and U Cal at Irvine amongst others. His compositions for modern dance/ballet CD, “Musique Pour La Danse Modern” was released in 2008 in addition to his Dennis Bell Jazz NY and solo piano recordings. His recordings are also available from Apple iTunes (http://itunes.apple.com/us/artist/dennis-bell/id3690433), Amazon.com, CDBaby.com, and all other major internet digital outlets.
He has played with and/or performed on albums and concerts with Marcus Miller, Buddy Williams, Nick Brignola, Jimmy Owens, Dave Grusin, Buddy Morrow, Sal Salvador, Dave Valentin, Noel Pointer, Steve Jordan, U2, Lenny Kravitz, Celia Cruz, Billy Preston, and many others. He was the musical director/conductor of the international tour of Jesus Christ, Superstar and has performed and conducted in venues from Carnegie and Alice Tully Halls to Madison Square Garden, and appeared on the Joan Rivers Show, New York at Night, MTV Music Video Awards, music videos, and in the movie U2, Rattle and Hum.
He was a long time Music Educator in the NYC school system. At LaGuardia HS of Music & Art and Performing Arts he was teacher of Jazz Improvisation, Musicianship, Choir and Music Technology. He was the long time Conductor of the award winning Bronx Boro-Wide Chorus and he is presently an Adjunct Professor of Music and Music Technology at Mercy College in Westchester County. Dennis Bell is a Yamaha Influential Artist.
LYNETTE WASHINGTON, jazz vocalist, is a native New Yorker, born and raised in Brooklyn, New York. Her extensive music career in jazz, R&B, and gospel, has taken her across the globe travelling as far as Australia. She has the gift and ability to sing in several languages including Russian, Hebrew, Yiddish, French, Italian, and Portuguese. Ms. Washington is a sought after artist for a variety of multicultural events. Lynette was the 2005 Grand Prize Winner of the Jazzmobile / Anheuser Busch Jazz Vocal Competition, and was featured on WBGO's Singers Unlimited Show with Michael Bourne. As the Grand Prize Winner, Ms. Washington performed at WBLS' Croton Music Festival, the City Of Yonkers' Friday Night Jazz Festival in the Yonkers Sculpture Garden, and BB Kings Jazz and Blues Club in the heart of New York City.
An accomplished songwriter and arranger, Lynette has worked with well-known artists such as, Aretha Franklin, U2, Peter Gabriel, Celia Cruz and Clifford Jordan, to name a few. She was a featured lead singer and musical arranger with New Voices of Freedom, the singers who appeared in U2's Rattle & Hum, with performances at Madison Square Garden and Radio City Music Hall in New York City. She was also featured in a Special Olympics live telecast at the Kennedy Compound in Hyannis Port, Massachusetts. Other performances include the BBC/Virgin Records worldwide telecast and album, One World, One Voice, the Give Peace A Chance video with Lenny Kravitz, the 2002 VMA Music Awards with the Godfather of Soul, James Brown and comedian Jimmy Fallon.
Lynette has recorded national radio and television commercials for Roy Rogers, Pizza Hut, Nabisco, and Toyota. In 2002, Lynette completed her first solo project entitled Long, Long Ago: A Jazz Celebration of Christmas, Chanukah and Kwanzaa, and released her second album, Smoky Dawn, in 2004. She is presently recording her third solo album scheduled for release in early 2010. She appears regularly at New York metropolitan area venues, including The River Room, Creole, The Schomberg Museum, BB Kings, The Zinc Bar, Solomon’s Porch, Pier 2110, The Brooklyn Museum, and The Sculpture Garden in Yonkers. She was selected by the Jazzmobile Society to pay tribute to Nina Simone at a solo performance held at Harlem Stage/Aaron Davis Hall in September 2008. She is currently touring in the Off-Broadway production of Regina Taylor’s Crowns.
Lynette Washington is an iTunes Essential Jazz Artist. For your listening pleasure, Ms. Washington's CDs, Smoky Dawn, Live! At The Kennedy Center, and Long, Long Ago are also available all major digital outlets including iTunes.
New Voices of Freedom – 'ROCKSPEL'? How do you describe it? A vibrant, raucous collision of rock, gospel. R&B. Jazz, Reggae and Hip-Hop as introduced to the world by the internationally renowned choir New Voices of Freedom (NVOF), "The original #1 Rock & Roll Choir of the World." New Voices of Freedom (NVOF), directed and conducted by pianist, conductor, and producer, Dennis Bell, was first heard by the super bank U2, doing a choir version of their classic "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For." The superstar rock band U2 subsequently invited the group to perform their magic at their "Rattle & Hum" celebration tour at Madison Square Garden. The rest of that magical meeting is seen and heard in the movie "U2, Rattle & Hum. The Madison Square Garden meeting was so successful, U2's Bono asked the group to sing another one of their songs "The Sweetest Thing" for the Bill Murray movie "Scrooged".
After the meeting with U2 in 1987, NVOF set out on their own adventures, singing in many venues some of which had never seen the likes of a choir before. The choir performed at clubs like The China Club, Wetlands, Tramps, The Lonestar Cafe, and Delta 88, to name a few, bringing their unique style and message to a variety of audiences. The group appeared in commercials with, Aretha Franklin, videos with Sean Lennon and Lenny Kravitz ("Give Peace A Chance"). and also appeared in several TV public service announcements and commercials including the long-running "Boys Town USA" spot. Rockspel presents New Voices' unique brand of music — ROCKSPEL.
John Cariddi, composer and ubiquitous guitarist on the New York recording studio scene, has performed and/or recorded with Jazz and Pop artists including Steve Marcus, Patti Austin, Ricki Lee Jones, Angela DeNiro, Annie Haslam, Nancy Wilson, and Peggy Lee. A master guitarist with a blazing technique, John's dynamic approach to live performance has made him one of the most in-demand guitarists in the New York area. His debut album “Come Together” was released by GuavaJamm Entertainment in 2008.