pop | r&b

jazz | soft rock

Steve also developed an interest in playing piano. He learned to play by ear and at the age of thirteen, he became the musician for the Youth Choir at his church. He is currently the Minister of Music for all choirs at his church. Throughout the years, Steve has continued to play the guitar, and has played with B.B. King, Percy Sledge, Solomon Burke, Johnny Jones and many others. His band has opened up and played for famous jazz and blues artists like Najee, B.B. King, Bobby Bland, Phil Perry, The Manhattans, Nick Colionne and other numerous bands that have come through Nashville to perform. He is consistently included in the line up for Nashville’s annual Jazz Blues and Heritage Festival, where he and his band provided the music for Lori Jenaire, Jackiem Joyner, Joey Somerfield, Andre Ward, Alex Bugnon The Drifters, Glenn Jones, Alexander O’Neal, Howard Hewitt, Kindred The Family, Jessica Reedy, Pamela Williams, After 7, Paula Atherton, Freddie Jackson, Rashaad Patterson, Mike Farris, Vivian Green and Marion Meadows. He was the band leader and music director for the Steven Roper and the B.B. King Allstars at the B.B. King Club in Nashville for over three years. Steve’s first love is jazz and blues, this is the genre he’s famous for in the Nashville area; however, his talent is not limited to jazz and blues, he is equally talented in R&B and even country. That is the reason he still enjoys playing classics like, Betcha By Golly Wow, Fantasy, That’s The Way of the World, and The World Is A Ghetto and music from his CD’s, Colors of my Journey and Colors.

http://muscleshoalstheriverthatsings.com/steve-roper.html

rock & rock | r&b

Over the last 20 years, flugelhorn and trumpet artist, Michael Fair, has placed himself prominently into the competitive smooth jazz market. Michael has carved a unique niche for himself musically here in the Middle Tennessee area for a couple of reasons. Performing and recording smooth jazz in a city primarily known for country and contemporary Christian music makes him a bit unique, and being notorious for playing the flugelhorn and trumpet make him a Nashville anomaly.

Michael’s partnership with the trumpet began early in his life. At the age of 12, he was given his first horn. It was no time at all until he began playing the songs that he heard his parents listening to by Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass. Michael’s early performances included solo features in school bands. He studied trumpet performance at Middle Tennessee State University and graduated in 1979 with a Bachelors of Music. Early postcollege gigs included the typical frat band circuit, club gigs and casuals. Michael moved to Southern California in 1985 and actually did not touch the trumpet or flugelhorn for two years while pursuing other interests. A move back to Nashville in 1987 seemed as natural as picking the horn back up and joining up with a new band, The Cliff Notes, at the time. Working with this group gave Michael exposure to the Nashville music community, opening up opportunities for both live and session work.

http://michaelfairmusic.com/

https://www.facebook.com/michaeldfair

jazz | pop

Nashville-based guitarist/vocalist/producer, Les Sabler, released his seventh CD in 2014, entitled Jobim Tribute, which he produced in Nashville, Tampa and Los Angeles. It has been very well-received by critics, radio and listeners and reached #1 on Amazon’s Brazilian Jazz and Latin Jazz best sellers one week after its release. The mix of seven lushly produced vocal tracks and five instrumentals is already receiving high praise from a unique array of tastemaking voices.

Unlike many homages to Jobim, which simply scratch the surface of his catalog, Jobim Tribute delves refreshingly deeper, mining obscure gems amidst the more familiar to engender a fuller understanding of the legend and his music. Complementing Sabler’s exquisite vocals, acoustic guitar playing and thoughtful arrangements throughout Jobim Tribute are contributions by a carefully chosen ensemble of musicians, both old friends and fresh acquaintances, including keyboardist Clay Perry (Julio Iglesias), acoustic bassist Byron House (Robert Plant’s Band of Joy), drummer Celso Alberti (Airto, Flora Purim, Stevie Winwood) and the late Joe Lala (CSNY, Bee Gees).

His 2010 recording, Crescent Shores, spent several months near the top of the jazz and smooth jazz album download charts at Amazon.com, as high as #2 and received substantial international attention. In recent years, Sabler’s recordings continue to receive global radio play, including twelve selections programmed in rotation by Pierre-Jean Lavigneon Canadian music service Galaxie.

In 2007, Sabler released his fourth album, Sweet Drive, produced in Los Angeles by Brian Bromberg. The disc is a varied, soulful body of contemporary jazz, R&B and adult pop music that delivers a master’s class level of musicianship, performance and production on eight thoughtfully composed originals and four carefull-selected classics. Accomplished musicians Jeff Lorber, Eric Marienthal, Ricky Peterson, Vinnie Colaiuta, Alex Acuna and Gary Meek played on the record, while the Jerry Hey-orchestrated horn section added warmth, fullness and explosive energy to the tracks.

Critics praised Sweet Drive and the collection was nominated as Album of the Year at the 2008 Canadian Smooth Jazz Awards. Sabler, who performed at the awards show in March, earned a second nomination as Guitarist of the Year. He also received a nomination as Jazz Artist of the Year at the 2008 Canadian Indie Awards. Smooth jazz radio program, Café Jazz, named Sabler the #1 most played Canadian artist in 2007, while Sweet Drive was the #1 most played album by a Canadian artist, and “Club Street” was the #2 most played single by a Canadian artist.

Like many Canadians, Sabler grew up an avid hockey fan, thus it was a thrill for him to team with vocalist, Marshall Gillon, to perform the U.S. and Canadian National Anthems before numerous games for the Tampa Bay Lightning and Tampa Bay Rays. Together, they have done more than seventy anthem performances over ten seasons.

http://www.lessabler.net/

https://www.facebook.com/LesSablerFans/

A soulful singer with a sexy & raspy sound

sultry singer

Dallas Starke is a songbird living in Nashville, who loves to share her love of jazz music and the blues. Influenced

by Etta James, Adele, and Aretha Franklin, Dallas respects the classics but loves to add a little contemporary

flavor to her sets.

https://dallasstarke.wordpress.com/

https://www.facebook.com/Dallas-Starke-Music-160145624031225/

pop | soul

rock

Jazz rocker (SFWeekly) singer/songwriter/instrumentalist, Ben Graves, represents an eclectic history of musical experience; in high school in rural Tennessee he was a neo-folk/classical guitarist, a jazz saxophonist, and the lead singer in a band that would become the platinum-selling hard rock outfit Fuel. He attended Wesleyan University and Berklee College of Music (where he was awarded scholarships for both saxophone and voice) studying with avante-garde maverick Anthony Braxton, Ghanaian master-drummer Abraham Adzinyah and pop icon Billy Joel. After Berklee, Ben won an assistantship at Washington State University, where he earned a master’s degree in music and was recognized as an outstanding alto saxophonist at the Lionel Hampton Jazz Festival. After grad school, Graves found his way to San Francisco. From 1996 to 2003, he honed his craft, recording 2 original Cds and performing his original music in many of the Bay Area’s hippest venues: the Fillmore, Great American Music Hall, Cafe du Nord, the Hotel Utah, Freight and Salvage, Sweetwater, and many others. In 2003, he moved to Nashville, where he worked as a sideman with country artists Rebecca Lynn Howard, James Otto, Amy Dalley, and others. He spent most of 2005 doing administrative work for the New York Philharmonic in Manhattan and taking part in the New York scene before returning to Nashville, where he remains active as a session musician, performing songwriter, sideman, and educator.

Ben is a true multi-instrumentalist; he’s jammed on guitar and harmonica with Lyle Lovett and Nanci Griffith, played electric bass with Kid Rock and at the Grand Ole Opry, and has blown saxophone with Modern Jazz Quartet bassist Percy Heath, Late Show drummer Anton Fig, and tons of people you’ve never heard of. Ben embraces the jazz ethic of keeping the performance loose enough so that almost anything can happen, and nothing sounds stale. Solo, or in the company of other fine musicians, Ben Graves weaves his unique harmony and soulful voice into a truly original tapestry that is at once innovative, informed, and inspired.

http://www.bengraves.com/

rock

Brian Ashley Jones is a soulful singer, acclaimed guitarist, actor, and versatile touring songwriter whose guitar-driven Country and Blues tunes have found their way into film, television and radio, and have been recorded by other performing artists. Originally from the Greenville/Spartanburg area of South Carolina and a longtime resident of East Nashville, Brian performs internationally at festivals, concert series, clubs, music education programs and music conferences.

Jones’ 3rd CD of original songs entitled Out Of The City is slated features collaborations with Jonell Mosser, Suzi Ragsdale, Ike Stubblefield, Kevin McKendree, and more! Brian’s 2007 release, Courier, made the Top 40 of the Roots Music Report, broke the Top 100 of the Americana Music Association’s album chart, and has received widespread commercial, college, public, and international radio play. The swampy instrumental “Pull ‘em Up” has been featured in the widely acclaimed PBS television series “Road Trip Nation” and “Free To Miss You” has been featured in the British ITV2 network television show “Amanda Holden’s Fantasy Lives”.

Jones’ guitar chops and relentless touring earned him a nomination for Best American Roots Guitar Player in the Alternate Root’s 2011 Reader’s Choice Awards. Brian has accompanied a diverse batch of artists on stage and in the recording studio including Grammy Award winning songwriter Jon Vezner, Nashville Songwriters Hall Of Fame inductee Jerry Foster, Eric Heatherly, Caroline Aiken, Thom Shepherd, Sara Hickman, Donna Hopkins, David Gans, Corinne West, Doug Jones, Donovan Roberts, Jeff Black, Diane Durrett, Ralph Roddenbery, Deep Blue Sun, Celeste Krenz, Wyatt Easterling, and Spuyten Duyvil.

http://www.brianashleyjones.com/