Attn: Phillyissimo - free show Friday at Cheyney State

[felser]

The cooperative jazz-gospel group Renewal will be performing in a free show at Cheyney State University in West Chester on Friday, April 13, at 7:30 PM, at the Dudley Center for the Performing Arts. The members of the group include pianist Bill Edgar and singer Ruth Naomi Floyd. Ruth has five CD's out on Contour Records (www.contourrecords.com) and has performed in concert in the past at the Painted Bride Art Center and the Ethical Society. Personnel on her latest CD include James Weidman (her musical director), Gary Thomas, James Newton, Tyrone Brown, Ralph Peterson, and others. Past personnel on her CD's and live groups have also included Julian Joseph, Bryan Carrott (the best vibes player in the world IMO, never properly captured on CD), Bobby Zankel, T.K. Blue, Terri Lyne Carrington, Craig Handy, Uri Caine, and Charles Fambrough. She is an amazing singer, the best out there to me. She is also, incidentally, my wife's old roomate from when we were dating, so I come with serious biases, but also trust my ears. Scott Yanow is as enomored of Ruth's singing as I am (see his review in AMG). In the spirit of full disclosure, I will let you know that there will no doubt be a strong faith element in the show, in case you consider that a bad thing (I'm thankful for it - find it incredibly uplifting), but the music will no doubt be outstanding. Ruth and her producer, Keith McKinley, turned down a contract offer from Polygram and interest from DIW in the early 90's to retain artistic control over Ruth's music - Polygram and DIW loved the music, wanted the lyrics watered down for mass consumption. Felser and Mrs. Felser (and hopefully our daughter Zakiyyah) will definitely be there. Let me know if you have any interest in attending. Hope to see some of you. We could also meet for dinner beforehand if interested in that.

[felser]

Up because show is tonight.