National Hunger & Homelessness Awareness Week

Nearly all of us have been touched by homelessness: either through personal experience, the experiences of those we know through work or school, or seeing someone homeless on the street. November 16-24th marks National Hunger and Homelessness awareness week.

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IWBE European Release

The feeling of releasing a new CD is a lot like falling in love – I’m scared and don’t know what to expect; I’m nervous and giddy with anticipation and I’m excited and eager for you to love me!

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July 2013 Newsletter

This quote from Arthur Ashe, “Start where you are, use what you have, do what you can” sure is coming in handy today – well, tonight, that is.

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Fall 2012 Newsletter

SLAM! YOUR WAY TOWARD YOUR AUTHENTIC VOICE

SLAM! THE DOOR ON NEGATIVITY, ANXIETY AND SELF-JUDGMENT

GET UP ON THE STAGE AND SLAM! (SING LIKE A MOTHERF*CKER!)

It’s here!

After years of conducting workshops at home, in universities and on the road
SLAM One-On-One Vocal Therapy Sessions are finally available online.

Conducting group workshops is great fun, but after each workshop is over, there’s always the question of whether everyone got exactly what they needed.

We all process things differently and some singers need one-on-one sessions. They need personal time to ask questions and discuss topics specific to their individual vocal issues. They require talk sessions tailored to their unique musical circumstances and backgrounds so as to sing more fully in their own voice.

SLAM! One-On-One Vocal Therapy Sessions can help you do just that.

You may select your own topic or choose from these 23 topics:

Loving the Truth of Your Voice
Criticizing The Birds
Stage Etiquette
Are You Nervous?
Restoring Emotion to Music
Finding Your Muse – And Engaging It
Conduct an Effective Rehearsal
Flawed Artists – And Their Art
Why Should Anyone Pay Their Hard-Earned Money To Hear YOU Sing?
Ricochet Your “Flaws” Into Musical Bliss
Sexism Among Musicians
Are You Singing the Song? The Story of the Song? or the Story Behind The Song?
Your Voice’s Story
Sing Like a Motherf*cker
What’s Missing In The Standards?
Undressing Onstage
Avoiding Common Singer Pitfalls
Get Rid of the Music You’ve Planned – Sing the Music That Is Waiting For You!
Form vs. Feeling
Improvisation
Get In Bed With The Song
The Importance of Silence
Bringing Your “Kitchen” To The Stage

Signing up for it is as simple as 1-2-3!

1. Decide the number of sessions you want
2. Select the topics you want to cover
3. Schedule the sessions.

Sign up before November 1, 2012 and receive a 10% rebate.

Click here to get started!

UPCOMING SHOWS

October 26

Denver, CO
King Center at Metro State University w/Special Guest Ron Miles
8:30pm – admission is free

December 7

New York, NY
Jazz @ Lincoln Center Rose Hall w/Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra & Gregory Porter

December 8

New York, NY
Jazz @ Lincoln Center Rose Hall w/Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra & Gregory Porter

December 16

Moscow, Russia
Moscow International Performing Arts Center

NEW MUSIC

in between gigs, SLAM sessions, raking leaves, perfecting my halloween costume and baking pumpkin pies, kevin bales and i will be hunkering down sometime this fall to work on new music. stay tuned!

August 2012 Newsletter


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