Publishers Note: So many musicians out there work hard creating music and work very hard to be the best they can be. It is always a pleasure to meet so many talented artists from around the state of Florida. Moreover, I really appreciate the opportunity to introduce music makers to a different audience. Each person must travel their own path and Tyler Noel continues to navigate through various obstacles. I hope that some of you young and aspiring musicians can learn from Tyler’s experience and find inspiration to continue your quest to reach your personal best. Edward Reid
A native of Fort Lauderdale, Florida, Tyler Noel began singing at the tender age of five in the church choir. It was there at church that her passion and love for music would begin to grow. At the age of 12, Noel began her professional music career when she joined the girl group, Solo Tre. The group was signed to acclaimed producer Derek Baker, also known as Bigg D, who is known for producing Jamie Foxx’s hit, Unpredictable. After singing with Solo Tre for two years, Noel then joined the girl group Synphony that was created by songwriter and producer Troy Bell. Within a couple years, the five-piece group Synphony had became a trio and by the time Noel was 18, the thought of being a solo artist was burning in her mind.
Having been a lead singer most of her life and with years of life experience, Noel knew that being a solo artist would be the best move for her career. With plans to attend college, fate had different plans for her when she suffered a severe partially paralyzing stroke, which left her barely able to speak at the age of 18. For a while, Noel began to doubt that she would be able to go to school, but the fighter within gave her strength to overcome a speech impediment caused by the stroke. Her determination, love for music, and support from her father, who she credits as her best friend, allowed her to prevail against the odds and continue her musical journey at Florida Atlantic University in Boca Raton, Florida where she studied music with a concentration in vocal performance. With academic training, street credibility, and pure talent, her infectious charisma cannot be contained into one box.
Noel is inspired by the memory of her father, who passed 2007, and her life experiences in the streets of Florida. You can hear her story and passion in her music. It’s raw, it’s real, it’s uncensored, and it is truly powerful. To know Tyler Noel, is to know her music. It is there that she gives you light into her world. “I write and sing about my life and that’s why my songs are instantly relatable,” says Tyler Noel whose vocal idol is gospel icon Karen Clark Sheard. She also adores all genres of music ranging from Mozart and Bach, to Gwen Stefani and Sarah McLachlan, to Donny Hathaway and Brandy. Sultry, sexy, and unadulterated R&B singer, Tyler Noel is giving you something to listen to that is real.
The unsigned artist gearing up to sign with a major label has an album in the works and a new smash single “I Can Do Better” featuring a hypersexual duet with R&B sensation Pleasure P formerly of Pretty Ricky. The song also features the production artistry of Lil Ronnie (Brittany Spears, Bow Wow, & R. Kelly) Tyler’s story is bursting with up’s and downs, achievements as well as disappointments. “Singing is a source of healing for me. If it’s not real, how can I expect other people to believe it?” One thing remains constant to all who know and love her as family, friend, or fan: her sincerity.
Tyler Noel is currently ranked #5 on the R&B/Soul charts for Atlanta, GA on Reverbnation
Top-ten finalist in The A&R Southern Talent Expo II (Atlanta, GA) in conjunction with PlayPro Media and Kennesaw State.
She currently a top-ten finalist in the YOBISing Season 5 Singer/Songwriter contest on YOBI.TV
Tyler Noel is currently over 1,491,344 total views and 11,815 subscribers on her YouTube channel at http://youtube.com/tylernoelmusic and climbing consistently.
Cover/featured artist for the month of March at Unsigned Magazine
Featured on thatgrapejuice.net in December 2012, http://thatgrapejuice.net/2012/12/cover-star-tyler-noel-sings-keyshia-coles-trust-believe/
Feature on youknowigotsoul.com, http://youknowigotsoul.com/?p=29172
Tyler Noel is currently working on her full-length album and a soon to be released mix tape.
Soul2Soul Music Buzz Artist of the Month R&B/Soul, http://www.soul2soulmusicbuzz.com
1st place Tamar Braxton “Got Chops” Challenge, http://tamar.braxton.us
Publishers note: I am very happy to present a special Florida Music Letter this month featuring Fats Navarro. I sincerely thank Mr. Leo T. Sullivan who made this article possible. My father was a jazz trumpeter who knew Fats at a time when they were teenagers, Fats in Key West and my dad in Miami. He always admired Fats and spoke very highly about his musicianship. Fats Navarro was an influential horn player with many of our modern jazz trumpet players tracing their innovation back to the things Fats did in his time. Therefore, I present to you a journey back into Florida’s music history and celebrate one of the great ones of all times, Fats Navarro.
Edward Reid
The story begins in Key West, Florida where Theodore “Fats” Navarro was born of mixed Cuban-Black-Chinese parentage on September 24, 1923. His musical training began early with piano lessons at age six, but he did not start taking music seriously until he took up the trumpet at age thirteen. He became well grounded in the fundamentals of music during his high school years. He also studied tenor saxophone and played briefly with Walter Johnson’s band in Miami. After graduating high school, he joined Sol Allbrights’s band in Orlando, traveled with him to Cincinnati, took further trumpet lessons from an Ohio teacher, and soon went on the road with Snookum Russell’s Indianapolis-based orchestra.
Russell’s group, a well regarded “territorial” band in the 1940s, proved to be a valuable training ground for Fats. Such stars an J.J. Johnson and Ray Brown had paid their dues there. Fats stayed with Russell for about two years (1941-42) and became its feature trumpet soloist. At that time, his style was strongly influenced by the great Roy Eldridge and his (Fats’) third cousin, the wonderful trumpet stylist Charlie Shavers. He was yet to hear and incorporate Dizzy Gillespie’s and Charlie Parker’s message. His next stop was with Andy Kirk and his Kansas City-based “Clouds of Joy.” Here he met and forged a lasting friendship with trumpeter Howard McGhee. Maggie, as he was known, was a few years older than Fats and was an important influence in his development.
From the Andy Kirk band, Fats accepted Billy Eckstine’s invitation to join up as Eckstine’s band was both commercially successful and perhaps the most musically advanced. Besides Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie, the band included at one time or other during a brief four year span a lineup of future stars that is unprecedented in all of jazz: Kenny Dorham, Miles Davis, Dexter Gordon, Wardell Gray, Gene Ammons, Lucky Thompson, Bud Johnson, Frank Wess, Charlie Rouse, Sonny Stitt, Leo Parker, Cecil Payne, Tadd Dameron, Jerry Valentine, Tommy Potter, Art Blakey, and Sarah Vaughan were some of the more notable to pass through the band.
Unfortunately, few of the recordings give any impression of this. The record companies were mainly interested in the commercial potential of Eckstine’s rather conventional ballads. There are only a handful of examples of Navarro’s work with the band on the many recordings that were made. After an eighteen month stay, the rigors of road travel and the lack of opportunities to play his music led Fats to leave the Eckstine band and remain in New York City. There would be a period of brilliance and increasing musical maturity over the next three years. It was the summer of 1946 and Fats was about to enter his most productive period. He was now twenty two years old and already a trumpet virtuoso
New York City has been a major center of jazz development through most of jazz’s history, and 1940s was a particularly fertile period. Both the Harlem and 52nd Street musical scenes were a hotbed of jazz activity. Due to the economics of the big band and the change from a mainly dancing to a listening music, big band jazz gave way to the small jazz combo format consisting usually of a rhythm section of piano, bass and drums, and from one to three “front line” feature soloists. (There were a few notable exceptions such as Duke Ellington, Count Basie, Woody Herman, Lionel Hampton, and Stan Kenton, but for the most part the big band era was over.)
The small combo format was ideal for Fats. He was able to give full expression to his ideas and soon developed a reputation as a major force on modern trumpet rivaling that of Dizzy Gillespie. As a result, he was much sought after for recording dates as a feature sideman by such jazz greats as Kenny Clarke, Dexter Gordon, Coleman Hawkins, Benny Goodman, Bud Powell, and particularly, Tadd Dameron. He also appeared as a feature soloist on many “all-star” or “dream band” engagements, including a JATP concert at Carnegie Hall.
His association with Dameron was probably the most productive musically. They seemed to be in sympathy with one another. The Dameron influence brought a more lyrical feeling to his playing to go along with his breathtaking technical facility and his high note ability which he used sparingly but with great effect. Navarro was the feature soloist with Tadd’s group, which also included at various times Wardell Gray, Allen Eagar, J.J. Johnson, E Henry, Milt Jackson, Curley Russell, Nelson Boyd, and Kenny Clarke. The group gigged mostly around New York City and was often at the Royal Roost.
Navarro achieved considerable popularity with the jazz public and was highly admired by both critics and fellow musicians. He also was a Metronome jazz poll winner for 1948 which led to an appearance on a Metronome All Stars recording date. It would have been a natural step for him to form his own group, but he showed no inclination to do so.
Navarro, who spoke Spanish, used to jam at several Latin clubs in New York City. He recorded a Tadd Dameron original entitled “Jahbero,” based on “All the Things You Are,” with Afro-Cuban bongo player Chino Pozo (Chano’s cousin).Then, in early 1949, he recorded “Casbah,” another Dameron piece based on “Out of Nowhere, “featuring Afro- Cuban percussionists Diego Ibarra and Carlos Vidal Bolado. In late 1949, Navarro recorded a bop-mambo entitled “Stop” composed by tenor saxophonist Don Lanphere which was based on “Pennies From Heaven.”
Somewhere along the way, Fats contracted tuberculosis, which led to a sharp decline in his health and a curtailing of his musical activity over the last seventeen months of his life. He nevertheless went on the road one last time with the Jazz at the Philharmonic tour for about seven weeks in February and March of 1949.
He had only two studio recording dates in 1949, one in August on a Bud Powell date and one a month later with the little known tenor saxophonist, Don Lanphere. The last recordings in 1950, were private records done live at Birdland that featured Charlie Parker and Bud Powell. Fats holds his own throughout, while playing several long and interesting solos.
Navarro left a legacy of about 150 recorded sides of phenomenal consistent quality. In 1982, he was elected by the International Jazz Critics into the Down Beat Hall of Fame. He was a major influence on Clifford Brown and through him Navarro has indirectly influenced so many of the trumpeters playing today as Benny Bailey, Lee Morgan, Freddie Hubbard, Sam Noto, Woody Shaw and even Roy Hargrove.
Theodore “Fats” Navarro died on July 6, 1950 in a New York City hospital.
Excerpts from an original text by Stuart Varden, a true Fats Navarro fan.
"121 Financial Credit Union presents a free concert at the Jacksonville Landing on June 8, 2013. The show will be headlined by Red Jumpsuit Apparatus and Warner Bros. recording artist New Boyz. The concert will help raise funds for high school band programs and bring awareness to the needs of all music programs. There will be a performance by Chelsea Entertainment Group recording artist GUDGUD".
The I Love Music Foundation will host a benefit concert on June 8, 2013 at the Jacksonville Landing. The event will start at 2pm and run until 8pm. The Concert will feature 10 recording artists, a performance by the Teal Sound Alumni Corps and special performances from 5 of our local high school bands. The concert is headlined by recording artist Red Jumpsuit Apparatus and Warner Bros. recording artist New Boyz. Red Jumpsuit Apparatus earned a Gold record with their "Don't you fake it" album, powered by the top 3 Billboard Alt Rock hit "Face Down". New Boyz has earned 3 US Billboard Platinum singles. ("You're a Jerk", "Backseat" and Tie me down ft Ray J".) The concert is presented by 121 Financial Credit Union.
The purpose of an I Love Music Tour event is to promote the importance and benefits of music education. We intend to pass out literature at the concerts showing case studies and facts about the added benefits of music education. Also in between artists we will show videos of Music education in action and testimonials from the students who are a part of high school bands, drum corps and winter guards. Also we will show testimonials from artists, politicians and business leaders who have all benefited from being in a school music program. The artists will also make mention of the importance of music in our schools. We will also have the band directors give testimonials during the concert of their struggles to keep a quality program going in the day and age of the all mighty budget cuts.
New Boyz
There has been a lot of focus on losing sports programs but there hasn't been enough spotlights shined on the need for music programs. The event on June 8th will be a celebration of all music education has to offer and show the great need for music programs. "Although the evidence shows that participation in school music programs supports higher achievement in reading and math, never in my 39 year career have the challenges to developing & maintaining high level public school music programs been greater. Now that we have serious economic challenges all over America, the need for creative ways to raise money to support our music programs is critical to our success. This is one of the newest and most creative ideas I have encountered to meet these challenges" says Frank Williams hall of fame band director.
The concert will be a free concert. High school band students will be selling discount coupons to local and national businesses of all types to raise funds for their bands. The coupon will also enter you into a sweepstakes to win a $500 gas card or two tickets and a limo ride to the Justin Bieber concert August 7. Plus many more great prizes. Coupons for the sweepstakes are $5 and can be purchased from any high school band student or online at www.ilovemusicfoundation.org
The second phase of talent confirmed for the 2013 ULTRA MUSIC FESTIVAL taking place March 15-17 and 22-24 during Miami Music Week, has been unveiled with what is undoubtedly the most diverse, forward thinking line-up ever billed in the event’s 15 year history.
Set to annihilate the newly designed, never-before-seen ULTRA MAIN STAGE and the aptly titled ‘MEGA STRUCTURE,’ MID PARK and more the Phase 2 DJ billing is quite simply out of this world. ALESSO, BENNY BENASSI, DIRTY SOUTH, DOG BLOOD (Boys Noize & Skrillex), ERIC PRYDZ, FEDDE LE GRAND, HARDWELL, LOCO DICE, LUCIANO, LAIDBACK LUKE, MARTIN SOLVEIG, PRETTY LIGHTS, STEVE AOKI and SVEN VÄTH are among just some of the names to join the already eye-catching line-up delivered in Phase 1, which included ABOVE & BEYOND, AFROJACK, ARMIN VAN BUUREN, AVICII, BASSNECTAR, CALVIN HARRIS, CARL COX, DAVID GUETTA, FATBOY SLIM, KASKADE, KNIFE PARTY, RICHIE HAWTIN, SWEDISH HOUSE MAFIA and TIËSTO. After 14 consecutive years of delivering the ultimate dance music experience, it was never in doubt that ULTRA MUSIC FESTIVAL would deliver for its 15th anniversary.
Set to shake the revamped ‘LIVE STAGE’ to its very core, the next slew of LIVE acts confirmed includes AZELIA BANKS, FAITHLESS (Live DJ & PA Set), SLEIGH BELLS, SNOOP DOGG and THE WEEKND. Joining the likes of THE BLOODY BEETROOTS, BOOKA SHADE, BOYS NOIZE, CRYSTAL CASTLES, deadmau5, DISCLOSURE, DJ FRESH (LIVE), HOT CHIP, MAJOR LAZER, MATT & KIM, MODESTEP, RUDIMENTAL, THIEVERY CORPORATION and YEASAYER announced in Phase 1 at the beginning of the year, it’s safe to say that never before has an electronic music festival offered so much variety and such an array of top live talent than this year’s fifteenth edition of ULTRA MUSIC FESTIVAL.
“In celebration of Ultra Music Festival’s double weekend and 15 year anniversary, what we’ve achieved with this edition’s ocean of talent and stage production is we feel unprecedented. As the industry we work in continues to explode, with so much talent emerging and the taste of our consumer changing in the process, diversity was key,” says Russell Faibisch, Ultra Music Festival Founder, Executive Producer, CEO & President. “We’ve never put so much time and effort into programming an event as we have for this year’s Ultra Music Festival. We truly hope everybody attending this year will value and more importantly enjoy the unique experience we’ve worked so hard to create,” adds Adam Russakoff, Ultra Music Festival Executive Producer, Director of Business Affairs & Talent Buyer.
There is more. ULTRA have also announced the incredible array of arenas set to appear over the two weekends this year. It wouldn’t be ULTRA without the legend that is CARL COX. Bringing his titanic CARL COX & FRIENDS ARENA to Bayfront Park this March, he’ll be playing host to some of the finest names in house and techno, including CASSY, FATBOY SLIM, JAMIE JONES, JOHN DIGWEED, LOCO DICE, LUCIANO, MAGDA, NICOLE MOUDABER, RICHIE HAWTIN, SVEN VATH, UMEK and UTO KAREM. Expect seriously big things from this much-loved ULTRA veteran and his merry following. Once again, the world’s #1 DJ ARMIN VAN BUUREN delivers his breathtaking A State Of Trance 600 stage, where ABOVE & BEYOND, ATB, COSMIC GATE, DASH BERLIN, FERRY CORSTEN, MARKUS SCHULZ, TRITONAL and W&W will all be joined by the legendary PAUL VAN DYK who will be making his long-awaited return appearance to the world’s premiere dance music event.
Finally, the MEGA STRUCTURE serves up an all-star lineup of the world’s top acts, which includes main stage regulars ALESSO, CALVIN HARRIS, DAVID GUETTA, ERIC PRYDZ and TIËSTO, just one example of what ULTRA meant by “2 Weekends, 2 Unique Experiences.” Fans will rejoice to see their favorite artists tackle both the Main Stage and the Mega Structure at ULTRA 15. Keeping it going for underground fans, new to ULTRA this year is SURFACE, a brand new concept arena held each Sunday of the festival at the Bayfront Stage. Reading as a ‘who’s who’ from the world of the underground scene, look forward to seeing the likes of ART DEPARTMENT, CLAUDE VONSTROKE, DAMIAN LAZARUS, DANNY DAZE, DROOG, FRANCESCA LOMBARDO, GUY GERBER, JUSTIN MARTIN, LEE FOSS, MACEO PLEX, MAYA JANE COLES, MIGUEL CAMPBELL, SETH TROXLER, SOUL CLAP, SUBB-AN, TOTALLY ENORMOUS EXTINCT DINOSAURS, WOLF & LAMB and more.
ULTRA is not only delivering the world’s greatest underground sounds each Sunday, but every day of the festival. The MIXMAG STAGE will play host to performances by tech gurus CARLO LIO, DUBFIRE, ELIO RISO, JON RUNDELL, JOSH WINK, SHADED and YOUSEF on Friday of Weekend 1. The second Friday will boast additional techno sounds from AUDIOFLY, CARL CRAIG, KEVIN SAUNDERSON, NINA KRAVIZ, PAUL WOOLFORD, RADIO SLAVE and STACEY PULLEN. Each Saturday will also see a myriad of techno and deep house artists that include DAVID SQUILLACE, tINI + GUTI, MARTIN BUTTRICH, NIC FANCIULLI B2B JORIS VOORN, REMO, ROBERT DIETZ, SCUBA, STEVE LAWLER, and TIGA on Weekend 2, and an undisclosed arsenal of premier DJs to play on Weekend 1. SPACE IBIZA (voted #1 Club in the world and winning multiple awards) plans a triumphant return on Saturday, March 23 to host the tech house and techno acts that they are known for. Also hosting stages will be Skrillex’s formidable OWSLA label, Afrojack’s JACKED, Mark Knight’s TOOLROOM, with more to be announced in Phase 3.Completing the full house, the brand new ‘TRAPPED’ arena, featuring the likes of BAAUER, BRO SAFARI, DJ CRAZE, DILLON FRANCIS, FLOSSTRADAMUS, NADASTROM and many more look more than adequate to cater to the new trap craze.
Finally, for the ninth consecutive year, ULTRA MUSIC FESTIVAL proudly welcomes back the “ECO Village”. This area is dedicated to the exposure and understanding of numerous non-profit organizations and charities, and will run over both weekends of the festival. You can find several interactive booths that provide an informative outlook on the world today.
About ULTRA MUSIC FESTIVAL:
As the world’s most famous outdoor electronic music festival, ULTRA has won “Best Music Event” by the International Dance Music Awards (IDMA) six consecutive years, from 2005 to 2011, “Best International Dance Music Festival” by the Ibiza DJ Awards in 2008 and “Best Festival” by the Village Voice Media New Times consecutively five years running from 2005 through 2009. Originally created as a pure EDM (electronic dance music) festival in 1999, ULTRA has grown through the years to present not only the genre’s hottest, biggest and best headline artists (The Prodigy, Swedish House Mafia, The Chemical Brothers, Tiësto, David Guetta, deadmau5, Underworld, Kraftwerk, Armin van Buuren, Moby, Fatboy Slim, Justice, Carl Cox and Avicii to name a few), but also crossover headline bands that incorporate EDM elements in their music and have a history or new beginning in the EDM community and culture (The Cure, The Killers, New Order, Duran Duran, The Black Eyed Peas, Erasure, M83, Santigold, The Ting Tings, Cut Copy, Empire of the Sun and Bloc Party). In 2012, global pop icon Madonna appeared as a special surprise guest—the festival’s gift to their fans—to introduce the main stage final headlining artist AVICII, joining him behind the decks to premiere his UMF remix of her new single “Girl Gone Wild.” The year also was the subject of CAN U FEEL IT, a major documentary feature about the festival, which was shown in over 500 theatres nation-wide. Together with its signature, cutting-edge productions, ULTRA is unrivalled by consistently presenting the world’s greatest, most diverse EDM line-ups year after year.
In 2013, as it celebrates its 15 year anniversary, ULTRA will become the first major EDM festival in the world to expand to two weekends with dates set for March 15, 16 and 17 and March 22, 23 and 24.
A global brand, ULTRA takes place in Miami, Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Ibiza and Korea, expanding into Europe with ULTRA EUROPE July 2013 in Croatia.
