Gretchen Parlato

Donning a blue wig, performing a whacky improvisation of a very senior citizen awaiting her boyfriend’s arrival, the absolutely comedic woman on the youtube video is obviously blessed with talent. "Miss MacKenzie’s" performance was repeated in part last Valentine’s Day as she delighted the patrons of New York City’s Cornelia Street Café. This time she had an accomplice in a jazz artist by the name of Dave Devoe. Miss MacKenzie is the alter ego of the very talented and equally beautiful jazz vocalist Gretchen Parlato, whose ethereal vocals have caused seasoned jazz musicians and singers to marvel at her seemingly endless musical gifts.

Onaje Allan Gumbs, one of the music industry's most respected and talented musical collaborators, will be honored by The National Jazz Museum in Harlem’s Harlem Speaks series on July 26th at 104 East 126th Street at 6:30 p.m. The Harlem-raised artist has worked for more than 30 years with an illustrious list of jazz, R&B and pop artists. In 1974, he created a special arrangement of "Stella By Starlight" for the New York Jazz Repertory Company as part of a concert honoring Miles Davis at Carnegie Hall. He followed that with performances on albums by such artists as Woody Shaw (Moontrane), Buster Williams (Pinnacle), Cecil McBee (Mutima) and Betty Carter’s eponymously titled recording. In 1975, Gumbs joined forces with trumpeter Nat Adderley and his quintet, contributing to the group's releases on Atlantic and Steeplechase Records.

Nils Winter of Steeplechase, upon hearing Onaje’s solo improvisations, invited the young pianist to record a solo piano album entitled Onaje (1976). In 1978, the Woody Shaw Group, which Onaje contributed as pianist and a composer, won the Down Beat Reader’s Poll for Jazz Group and for best jazz album, Rosewood. This album was later nominated for a Grammy. In 1985, Onaje lent his keyboard work and arrangement to "Lady in My Life" on guitarist Stanley Jordan’s enormously successful debut album, Magic Touch on Blue Note Records. This was the 1st jazz album in history to maintain the #1 spot atop Billboard Magazine’s jazz charts for more than 47 weeks.