Gold Coast Jazz Society 2023-2024 Concert Season

Cyrille Aimee

Catch a Rising Star

Wednesday, January 10, 2018

7:45pm

Cyrille Aimée
was primarily raised in France by a French-Dominican parentage. As a curious child in Samoissur-Seine, she would sneak out of her bedroom window to wander into the nearby gypsy encampments filled with those attending the annual Django Reinhardt Festival. She quickly fell in love with the gypsy music and way of life and in the years later she would sing on street corners with musician friends while traveling across Europe. While in the midst of one such odyssey, she found herself at the Montreux Jazz Festival, where she won first prize in the 2007 vocal competition—which included the financing of her first self-produced album.

When Aimée auditioned for the French version of American Idol, she became a finalist.  Informed she would have to sing only what she was told, her gypsy spirit rebelled—and in what was a cause célèbre, she walked from the competition.  Soon after, Cyrille moved to the states and went on to be a finalist in the legendary Thelonious Monk International Jazz Vocal Competition in 2010, before winning the Sarah Vaughan International Jazz Vocal Competition in 2012.

Aimée’s talents recently caught the attention of Stephen Sondheim, who cast her in an Encore Special Presentation starring Bernadette Peters at New York City’s City Center in November 2013. In August 2014, The New York Times referred to Aimée’s major label release It’s a Good Day as “a bravura turn, presented with a smile.” With Let’s Get Lost, her second album for Mack Avenue Records, the bright mademoiselle has blossomed into a full-fledged artist.

Shelly Berg Trio
Shelly Berg, Piano, Chuck Bergeron, Bass and John Yarling, Drums 

Shelly BergShelly Berg is an accomplished pianist in both classical and jazz styles, Shelly Berg is a recording artist for Concord Music Group, and a Steinway piano artist. He has arranged and recorded with many award-winning artists. In 2007, Berg was appointed as Dean of the University of Miami’s Phillip and Patricia Frost School of Music where he teaches both privately, in the Frost Experiential Music Curriculum, and administers the academic, musical and research pursuits of over 700 music students and 100 faculty.  He was formerly the McCoy/Sample endowed music professor at USC Thornton School of Music where he taught for 16 years. 

Berg is featured as an arranger and pianist on two Grammy and Latin Grammy Award winning Arturo Sandoval projects on the Concord label.  His trio, the Shelly Berg Trio (Shelly Berg, piano; Gregg Field, drums; Chuck Bergeron, bass), recorded an all-Gershwin CD with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra with José Serebrier, Conductor.  His recent Grammy Award nominations include “Best Instrumental Arrangement Accompanying Vocalist” for his arrangement of “Out There” on the CD Tales of the Unusual (Jazzed Media) featuring vocalist Lorraine Feather in 2013. In 2014 he was again nominated for “Best Instrumental Arrangement Accompanying Vocalist(s) for his arrangement of “What a Wonderful World” on Gloria Estefan: The Standards (Sony Masterworks) and as co-produced for Gloria Estefan: The Standards in the Best Traditional Pop Album category, along with Gloria Estefan and Emilio Estefan.
      
Shelly performs at major music festivals and venues throughout the world, is the Music Director for an annual Jazz Cruise and was recently a featured speaker at the TEDxMIA conference on Miami Beach.  He is also a featured performer on several concerts for UM’s annual Festival Miami.  He appears regularly for the Gold Coast Jazz Society at the Broward Center and was recently appointed as the Artistic Advisor for Jazz Roots Series at the Adrienne Arsht Center in Miami.

Chuck Bergeron is one of the most active and innovative musicians working in the field of Jazz today. His unique compositional style and approach to improvisation reflect a wide variety of musical influences and confirm a deep commitment to the rich polyrhythmic characteristics of his musical and cultural heritage as a native of New Orleans and a seasoned professional from the New York Jazz community.   He is a faculty member of the University of Miami’s Frost School of Music where he conducts big bands and small jazz ensembles, and serves as the faculty mentor for the Stamps Jazz Quintet.  He also conducts clinics around the nation.  He also serves as the director of the South Florida Jazz Orchestra.   As a professional, Bergeron spent seven years as bassist, arranger and musical director for Kevin Mahogany.  He has also performed, toured and recorded with a variety of jazz luminaries from Stan Getz to Arturo Sandoval to Patti Austin.   

John Yarling is a lecturer in the Department of Studio Music and Jazz at the University of Miami Frost School of Music. His flawless musicianship and commitment to his art make him the drummer of choice for many South Florida performers such as Ira Sullivan & the Inter-Outer Continental Quintet, The Shack Daddys, South Florida Jazz Orchestra, Brian Murphy Trio, The Nicole Yarling 4-Tet, and the Jeff Taylor Band. John Yarling is at ease playing in many styles including Modern Jazz, Blues, Funk and Rock. In past years he has performed with jazz luminaries Mose Allison, Sonny Stitt, Nat Adderley, Lou Donaldson, Jaki Byard, Jimmy Forrest, Mark Murphy, Mike Stern, Pete Minger, Larry Coryell and Dave Liebman as well as rockers Mick Taylor, Nicky Hopkins and Bobby Keys (The Rolling Stones).  He has recorded with Ira Sullivan, Curtis Fuller, Pepper Adams, Joe Williams, Ernest Ranglin, Kevin Mahogany, and most recently, Pink.

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