Photographer: Tyrone Kenney        Aug 11 2012

August 25

Marcus Garvey Park in Harlem, NY
Charlie Parker Jazz Festival
5pm
i’m excited about my first gig ever at the charlie parker jazz fest! we’ll also have our “new” bassist, elias bailey, onstage. why do i have quotation marks around the word ‘new’? because elias and i played regularly together several years ago. we both went through some iterations and now things have come full circle. they say ‘what goes around comes around’. all i know is that i’m thrilled to have elias around again as he brings his own special brand of awesomeness to our group, “experiment in truth”. our set is only 45-50 minutes long, so you better come quick!

August 26

Waynesboro, PA
Renfrew Jazz Festival
2-4pm
Q&A to follow concert
it’s been 12 years since i played renfrew jazz festival. i met the organizer and founder of this festival, andrew sussman, in an online chatroom (remember those?) for jazz musicians. we started chatting, the chatter grew into phone calls until finally i said i’d show him mine if he showed me his – music, that is! he sent me some of his music, i sent him some of my lyrics and before you knew it we began a collaboration and friendship that resulted in an inclusion of two of some of his most gorgeous compositions on our latest CD, “black lace freudian slip”: “free for a day” and “thanks, but i don’t dance”. well, a lot has changed since my gig there in 1999 – i’ve gotten older and my music has gotten bolder. and, much as i love to sing, i really dig talking about singing and answering folks’ questions. that’s why i’m so very pleased to have a Q&A after our concert! me and the guys will be ready to answer anything you have the nerve to ask..that’s right, anything!


Photographer: Pat Harris        Location: San Jose Jazz Festival        Date: 8/11/2012

September 6

Bogota, Colombia
Internacionale Festival de Jazz, Teatro Libre
2:15pm
did you check out video in the link above for this festival? isn’t that just the hippest thing? it’s just what you’d expect from bogota, an up-and-coming jazz mecca. this will be our first time traveling to bogota and i can’t wait. before this gig, i didn’t know a soul in bogota (or colombia, for that matter). but in the past three weeks i’ve ‘met’ three people who live there: andrea gomez, a young jazz vocalist who’s going to serve as our interpreter and drill me with questions about jazz vocal improvisation, and tigre hall and his partner, toby. i know i’m in alignment with the universe when i meet folks as beautiful as these before i’ve ever stepped foot on colombian ground. i’m stoked!

September 8

Rosslyn, VA
Rosslyn Jazz Festival
2:00pm
another first!
although i was born in warrenton, virginia – less than 45 miles away – and lived there for the first 10 years of my life, i’ve never been to rosslyn before. while we’ll be bringing our own special “experiment in truth” to the stage (laying it down and cuttin’ up), i’m also looking forward to hearing joshua redmond and the don byron gospel quintet!

lotsa new stuff coming up within the next few months, including a single, a music book and online “sing like a motherf*cker” vocal “therapy” sessions!

y’all stay tuned…

in the meantime, leave a message on my music page on facebook

or follow me on twitter @manaymanee

or visit my youtube page

this silence, this moment, every moment,
if it’s genuinely inside you,
brings you exactly what you need.
~ rumi