Joyce Cooling

CD: This Girl's Got to Play - 2004, 2005

First single, "Expression" immediately became the #1 most added track on contemporary jazz radio and on the R&R charts.

"This Girl's Got To Play" shot up the Billboard charts to the top 10.

CD: Third Wish - 2001, 2002

First single, "Mm Mm Good", featuring Al Jarreau, immediately became the #1 most added track on contemporary jazz radio and on the R&R charts.

The second single, "Daddy-O", also immediately became the #1 most added track on contemporary jazz radio and on the R&R charts.

Best Jazz Artist nominee - California Music Awards 2002.
Best Female Artist Of the Year nominee - Smooth Jazz Awards 2002.

Best Guitarist of the Year nominee - Smooth Jazz Awards 2002

CD: Keeping Cool - 1999, 2000

#1 single ("Callie") in the country - R&R NAC / Smooth Jazz Trax charts.
Best Jazz Guitarist Of The Year (female) - Gibson Guitar Awards.
Best female artist of the year nominee - First Annual Oasis Awards.
Top-10 single ("Before Dawn"), Gavin and R&R Smooth Jazz charts.

CD: Playing It Cool - 1997, 1998

#1 CD in the country for five consecutive weeks - R&R NAC / Smooth Jazz / Gavin Smooth Jazz charts.
#1 single ("South Of Market") in the country for five consecutive weeks - R&R NAC / Smooth Jazz Trax charts.
Gavin Smooth Jazz Artist of the Year nominee.
Jazz Trax Debut Artist of the Year.
Best New Talent (Smooth Jazz) - Jazziz Readers Poll.
Top 15 single ("After Hours") - Gavin and R&R Smooth Jazz charts.
Third chart-topping single ("Imagine That") - Gavin and R&R Smooth Jazz charts

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I'm Mike Phillips and this is My Story..

I was born in Mount Vernon To Violet Phillips and Nathan Mumby both of who moved to mount Vernon from Jamaica. With 1 brother and 3 sisters I am the baby of the Family. My parents were hard working people who desired a better life and opportunity and believed that they would find it in the United States. My first contact with music was at the age of 3 when I received a gift from my mother, a toy record player. My mother tells me that I would have a fit when any records were missing. She said I would play each record over and over again and when I didn't hear a certain sound from a certain record I would flip out until I would find it. She kind of knew then that I had some connection with music.

When I entered 1st grade, my love of music grew even more when my mother brought me a little toy organ (it sounded soooooo nasty and out of tune) but back then you couldn't tell me anything, I thought it was the best! My connection with music was growing but my dislike for school was also growing because of one thing, I had a very bad stuttering problem. I didn't want to read out loud or even talk. I was teased by all the kids in my neighborhood. Kids back in da days let me have it by calling me names like mah mah mah mah mah mah Mike Phillips and even worse. At age 9, I was assigned to a speech teacher named Mr. Klein. He told me that my mind was faster than the words that were coming out which didn't make sense back then. But once I understood what he was saying, it helped me to conquer one of my biggest fears, talking. As a young child I also possessed a love for sports.

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Dotsero

DOTSERO's critically acclaimed CD Off the Beaten Path launched them to national prominence in 1990 and paved the way for the amazing breakthrough success of their second outing Jubilee. The release spent 5 weeks at No.1 on the Radio and Records charts, was No. 1 on the Gavin Report's Adult Alternative chart and spent ten weeks on the Billboard Contemporary Jazz chart.

In 1994, DOTSERO released Out of Hand, which cracked the Top 10 on Gavin's A2 Adult Alternative chart and the top 25 of the Radio and Records charts, and rave reviews from a variety of jazz critics and radio programmers across the nation. The top 20 radio hit Essensual and 1998's similarly successful Jumpin' Thru Hoops kept the momentum going through the end of the decade.

In 2000 DOTSERO hooked up with Smooth Jazz mainstay Russ Freeman to collaborate on West of Westchester, the band's sixth project which was released on Freeman's own label, Peak Records and distributed by Concord Jazz Records. The project's success led to the band joining Freeman's band The Rippingtons on a successful east coast tour in which DOTSERO stood the audience time and again.
The band has performed with a number of leading jazz acts over the years including Spyro Gyra, the Yellowjackets, Wynton Marsalis, Joe Sample, Dave Grusin, Richard Elliott, Nancy Wilson, David Sanborn, the Rippingtons, Norman Brown, Stanley Jordan, and Jeff Lorber among others.

The latest CD release and first studio holiday project from Dotsero, A SEASON OF WONDER was released in Dec. '07

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Lalah Hathaway

In 1990, Lalah was responsible for an acclaimed debut album, eponymously titled and compliments of Virgin Records. Words like "smoky" and "confident" were used to describe it. Then, in 1994, came the album A Moment, also on Virgin. Again, glowing reviews. She was said to be the possessor of "torchy elegance" and to have made a "solid" and "independent step" in contemporary Rhythm and Blues.
Lalah joined Joe Sample-jazz veteran of The Crusaders fame-for 1999's The Song Lives On; he provided the formidable piano tracks and she? well, she did what she always does: mesmerized us with a more than notable, persistently sultry vocal performance. Most recently, she has come to the table with a group of songs that reveals an even greater maturity and a darkly original approach to production.

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Average White Band

AWB are widely regarded as one of the best soul and funk bands in the history of music. Though perhaps best known for their timeless instrumental mega-hit 'Pick Up the Pieces' the band's strengths actually lay in their consistently accomplished song-writing, stretching across several gold selling albums and multi-Grammy nominations for the legendary Atlantic Records.

Somewhat incongruously, given their Scottish roots, the six piece took the influences of their R&B heroes - people like Marvin Gaye, James Brown, Donny Hathaway and others - and developed their own 'authentic' sound which was eagerly adopted by black audiences in the US and elsewhere. Whilst a good number of cuts - 'Cut The Cake' and 'Let's Go Round Again' to name but two - attracted chart action as hit singles, many other album tracks, like 'Schoolboy Crush' and 'Stop The Rain' became much sampled and turn tabled 'rare' grooves. Many more tunes, such as 'Cloudy', 'A Love Of Your Own' and 'Nothing You Can Do' - amongst many others- stand alongside some of the finest soul 'album tracks' ever recorded.

The current line-up of the band - this time with noted US recruits augmenting founder members Alan Gorrie and Onnie McIntyre - continue to record and tour around the world to ongoing critical and audience acclaim.

All this and more is perfectly illustrated in the band's latest release 'Soul And The City' which showcases the breadth and depth of the Band's material, all captured within the excitement of a 2006 live performance''

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Phil Perry

The powerhouse of R&B, Phil Perry is a force to be reckoned with. He is the vocalist's vocalist, with a stunning range and technique, yet all the while retaining all the soul that a great soul singer should have.

Perry, a former member of the R&B soul group The Montclairs, went on to great success as a sideman, guesting on many albums and tours ranging from Anita Baker to Lee Ritenour to Dave Koz.

In the 1990s he had his biggest success with the number one R&B hit "Call Me", as well as the top forty R&B singles "Amazing Love" and "Forever" all from the hit album 'The Heart of the Man'. Other hits include "Love Don't Love Nobody" and "One Heart, One Love". He was also featured on a song with The Emotions, "I Wanna Thank You For My Love", on the Bebe's Kids soundtrack. With a new album set for release July 2008, Phil Perry is at the top of his game and ready to rock the house!

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Everette Harp traveled internationally with Anita Baker, performed with Sheena Easton and Kenny Loggins and began developing his studio chops behind such artists as Patti LaBelle. Harp signed a solo deal with Manhattan/Blue Note in 1992 and recorded his self-titled debut between tours with George Duke and Marcus Miller.

That album's popularity led to further developments which established Harp as one of smooth jazz's greatest ambassadors - a date at the Montreaux Jazz Festival; a tour with label mate Rachelle Ferrell; playing alongside President Clinton, performing Your Mama Don't Dance at the 1993 Inaugural ball
(Clinton borrowed one of Harp's saxes for the occasion!); and appearing weekly with The Posse on The Arsenio Hall Show.

In the late 90s, his sax was heard performing the theme song for Entertainment Tonight, as well as the Soul Train theme (Produced by George Duke), which is still being heard over the main titles. He also played the main title theme to Roger Ebert at the Movies.

Over the years, Harp has also performed and/or recorded with a wide variety of pop, R&B and jazz superstars: Luther Vandross, Dionne Warwick, Jeffrey Osborne, Aretha Franklin, Gladys Knight, Billy Joel, Neil Diamond, Al Jarreau, After 7, Phil Perry, Go West, Natalie Cole, Chante Moore, Will Downing, John Tesh, Branford Marsalis, Herbie Hancock, Tony Williams, Wayne Shorter, Chaka Khan, Stanley Clarke, Michael McDonald and Larry Carlton among others.

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With 4 critically acclaimed records to his name and now the smash hit single "Love & Paragraphs", from his forthcoming 2008 release, Chris Standring has become known as the soul-hipster who prefers to push the boundaries of instrumental music to the limit every record he makes.

"I try to make every record I do cohesive in a slightly different direction," he says. "There's always an overall vibe in what I'm trying to do. The 70's vibe is the reference point on Groovalicious, my last record, but the fun was that we didn't set out to make it that way, it just happened as I got together with the guys and started writing.

Since Hip Sway cemented his status as one of smooth jazz's top stars in 2000, Standring has appeared regularly at top festivals (including the Catalina Island Jazz Trax Festival) and is a regular performer at The Wave's Smooth Jazz Nights at the Garden of Eden in Hollywood. He's also traveled back to London each winter to perform shows at the popular Pizza Express jazz club. The guitarist has also appeared on numerous jazz and R&B recordings, including dates by Rick Braun, Jody Watley and Bebe and Cece Winans.

Since the release of Velvet, his 1998 debut as a solo artist, The British born guitarist has titled his discs as a way of defining the places his creative muse has taken him. Velvet, whose single "Cool Shades" went Top 10 for over three months on Gavin/Radio & Records' airplay charts, came at a time when Standring was into the ambient European phenomenon known as the "chill out movement." The seductive moniker of Hip Sway, whose title track featuring sax great Richard Elliot peaked at #2 and was one of 2000's most played songs, captured the retro-flavored, dance floor ready, funk-soul-jazz 60's mindset explored by Standring.

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