What a busy month!  So many wonderful places and opportunities to get out into this gorgeous spring weather to hear great music and celebrate Nashville's finest local musicians!

I'm honored to be playing with Bruce Dudley, Jonathan Wires & Josh Hunt at F. Scott’s on Friday, April 27th from 7-11pm.  This performance is free and open to the public, so be sure to put it on your calendar now!  Be sure to take advantage of F. Scott's wonderful wine & bar menu while you're there!

While you're there, please consider purchasing a copy or two of Make Someone Happy. Until June 30, I will be donating 50% of all CD sales to The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society.  This is a wonderful way to own a great album and support a very worthy charitable organization. Both LLS & I would love your support!

Also, I simply must share how excited I am that the Beegie Adair Trio is releasing their first live album together called The Real Thing! To celebrate, they're hosting a CD Release Party at the Nashville Jazz Workshop from 3-5pm on Sunday, April 29th.  It's a free celebration, so I hope to see you there! You can get the full skinny atwww.beegieadair.com.

Most importantly, I hope you will take some time, very soon, to do something really wonderful for YOU. Life requires so much and so fast these days.  It's important to recharge your batteries and reflect on all of the goodness around you. You deserve to be happy, proud and smile when you think of all that you do, every day.

 Enjoy & keep swingin’

 Monica

This event is special to me for many reasons. First of all, its a series in conjunction with the Nashville Jazz Workshop. Secondly, I get to play with two of my favorite musicians and lastly, it's a chance to support one of Nashville's newest treasures.  For those of you who are not familiar, Parnassus Books is an independent bookstore located in Nashville, TN. It was started by best-selling author Ann Patchett and publishing veteran Karen Hayes.  It happens to be run by one of my favorite people in Nashville, Mary Grey James.  For Mary Grey, I'll do just about anything!  So, it's a privilege and honor to be performing in such a special venue.

Oh, and if you haven't seen Ann Patchett's visit to Stephen Colbert, it's a must-see. Ann is my new hero! (skip to 15:14 and you'll be at the start of Ann's interview)

http://www.colbertnation.com/full-episodes/mon-february-20-2012-ann-patchett  

I'm really excited to share with you a few great Peggy Lee stories & songs.  It'll be fab, so join us!

Friends, 

I want to thank everyone for all of the encouragement and well wishes regarding our recent New York performance.  Beegie and I had a great show at Birdland and a delightful time in the city. It meant a great deal to us to know so many folks were rooting us on.  We felt your energy and love, thank you. 

This Friday, jazz rules Music City!  There are many wonderful opportunities to hear great performances and I hope you will be able to take in at least one of them.  To start with, Bruce Dudley, Jonathan Wires, Josh Hunt and I will be at F. Scott's from 7:00-11:00pm.  This is the ideal place to grab dinner and a glass of wine with a date or friends.  Liz and Jessica are two of the best bartenders in town and the company is always memorable! It's free, but your tips are appreciated.  Feel free to share this event with others! 

Also on Friday, you have the opportunity to celebrate the best of Nashville's jazz scene in at least two other ways. Geary Moore will be at NJW and Bob Mintzer will be featured with NJO.  Two wonderful experiences!  

I hope to see you all soon. For those of you on Facebook and Twitter, please spread the word about these exciting events!  You'll be supporting some grateful local musicians and you'll look super HIPdoing it! 

Thank you for all of your support and kindness.  It keeps a huge smile on my face!

Keep Swingin' 

Monica

Beegie and I are both getting pretty excited about traveling to New York to play at Birdland on January 26th. We're also pretty excited about all of the great food, shopping, live music and museums we plan to take advantage of!

 
If you are in the NY area on the 26th, please come and see us at 6pm. Tickets are on sale at www.birdlandjazz.com.  The amazing Tierney Sutton Band will also be performing that evening and I recommend you stick around to hear them.  Absolutely amazing!

If you have any great restaurant or music recommendations, please post them on my Facebook page.  I'd love to read your suggestions! And while you're on Facebook, please feel free to tell all of your friends in the NY area about our show.  We'd love to meet them!

This is an exciting opportunity for both of us and I'm thrilled to share the experience with all of you.  Your enthusiasm and support are pure motivation for us to put on a bang-up show!  I'll be sure to take lots of photos and share them with everyone, post event.  Thank you so much.

Keep swingin!
Monica

Monica

Happy Holidays!  I hope everyone is enjoying and sharing the holiday season with lots of people you love. Tis the season for holiday parties, lots of shopping and if you're in Nashville, lots of live jazz!  

This Saturday, come see us at F. Scott's from 7:30-11:30pm. Joining me will be Joe Davidian, Jonathan Wires and Chester Thompson.  If you've never been, I strongly encourage you to take advantage of their world-class wine list, fabulous menu and A-List music.  Liz and Jessica are two of the best bartenders in town and the company is always memorable! Grab some friends or a date and come see us. It's free, but your tips are appreciated.  Feel free to share this event with others! 

Also, next Monday, 12/12, I will be doing something also very cool. Over the past 12 weeks, 4 other singers and i been working our transcription and vocalese chops, under the direction of Liz Johnson and Lori Mechem, in the Transcription/Vocalese Class at NJW.  It's been a wonderfully challenging experience and to celebrate our hard work, we're going to peform the tunes we've been working on for you!  So, if you're looking for something different and exciting to do next Monday, come to NJW at 6pm to experience not only my class's hard work, but two others classes as well.  This event is free, open to the public and NJW is a BYOB establishment.  Please, spread the word!

These are just two of many opportunities to hear fine, local musicians do what they do best! Regardless of where you live, I encourage you to find local music venues and players that you can support.  Chances are, you'll dig it and you'll make some hard working artists very happy at the same time!  

I hope to see you all soon. For those of you on Facebook and Twitter, I'm enjoying keeping up with you! Thank you for all of your support and kindness.  It means so much...

Keep Swingin' 

Monica

If you're in Nashville on Saturday, come see us at F. Scott's!  Chester Thompson, Jim Ferguson, Joe Davidian and I will be playing from 7:30-11:30pm.  More skinny atwww.monicaramey.com.

Much love and thanks to you, always.  

Monica

With Thanksgiving just around the corner, we start to plan our meals, travel plans, invitation lists and all of the vitals for a memorable dinner. With so many logistics to plan, its easy to overlook one important aspect for any great occasion- the music! Here are a few of my favorite Nashville-based artists & albums that may be perfect for your thanksgiving playlist:

Beegie Adair Trio (I Love Being Here With You)

Lori Mechem Quartet (April in Paris)

Denis Solee (Sinatra on Sax)

Sandra Dudley (Close to You)

Chris Walters (Yay! Everybody, Yay!)

Rod McGaha (Preacherman)

Joe Davidian (Silent Fire)

Christina Watson (A Flower Truly Blue)

Annie Sellick (Street of Dreams)

Third Coast Vocals (3CV)

Bruce Dudley (Mostly Monk)

Jim Ferguson (Not Just Another Pretty Bass)

Naturally, I want everyone to have Make Someone Happy in their playlist!  Order MSH through paypal (visit www.monicaramey.com to purchase) and I'll give you 3 free digital downloads of the entire album as a thank you. You don't have to have a paypal account to purchase and shipping is free. So please, do order!

If you're in Nashville for the holiday, plan to join Chester Thompson, Jim Ferguson, Joe Davidian and I on Saturday, November 26th, at F. Scotts!  All of the details are at www.monicaramey.com!  We'd love to celebrate the holiday weekend with you and you never know....there may be a surprise or two as well!

My deepest thanks to everyone for your support of not only my work, but of my peers as well.  I sincerely hope that my suggestions help you discover new music that you'll love and create a Thanksgiving you'll never forget!

Keep swingin'!

Monica

P.S. Please spread the word!  

www.monicaramey.com

www.facebook.com/mlrmusic

www.twitter.com/monicaramey

My deepest thanks to everyone who came to my debut "Snap on 2 & 4" performance Friday night at the Nashville Jazz Workshop. What a wonderful, energetic group! Additionally, my thanks to Beegie Adair, Roger Spencer, Marcus Finnie for joining me, along with George Tidwell, Denis Solee and Lori Mechem for sitting in on several tunes.  George, Denis and Roger really know how to write some fantastic arrangements, don't they?! It was my "Dream Team" in full swing!

I also want to thank Roger Spencer for the guidance he showed me leading up to this special night.  He deserves a big shout out for his wonderful ideas and patience! :)  Thank you, Roger.  

For those who couldn't make it, you should be able to see some footage on both NJW's & myYouTube channels in the near future.  For now, please simply accept my love and thanks.

Keep Swingin'

Monica

www.monicaramey.com

www.facebook.com/mlrmusic

www.twitter.com/monicaramey

Happy belated Labor Day! I know everyone is trying to catch up on emails after the extended weekend, so I'll keep this short & sweet.  If you're in Nashville this Friday, seats are on sale now for the Snap on 2 & 4 performance, featuring the Beegie Adair Trio, me and some pretty fantastic surprise guests!  If you're in town, you should come.  There are only a few seats left, so call soon. 615-242-JAZZ (5299). 

For more info, please visit www.nashvillejazz.org, www.monicaramey.com orwww.beegieadair.com.

Thanks all and keep swingin!

Monica

www.facebook.com/mlrmusic

www.twitter.com/monicaramey

www.monicaramey.com