Some actors learn how to sing and occasionally dance so they can land a plumb role on Broadway or another big stage, but this is the story of an actress who decided to turn to singing and we are the lucky ones. Melissa Stylianou is an incredibly gifted jazz vocalist who arrived in New York City from Toronto, Canada in 2005. Her effortless reading of Sting’s "Tea In The Sahara" (Bachelorette-2001) is elegant, her interpretation of Lennon and McCartney’s "Blackbird" (Sliding D …

Every once in awhile, a jewel goes undiscovered and gathers dust. Fortunately for me while surfing the internet one night in December, I discovered the music of New England guitarist Scott Tarulli. The teacher from the Berklee College of Music has released two albums to date, his studio project Transitions and the fall 2004 live recording September In Boston: Live, performed at the Abbey Lounge. Spectacular keyboard player Dennis Hughes, bassist Jordan Scanella and d …

Jazz bass guitar player and composer Michael Manson was relaxed and in a jovial mood as he spoke to me from his home in Chicago, shortly after returning from a gig as a feature guest artist on the Brian Culbertson jazz cruise. "Brian and I are old friends and I had a great time playing. As musicians we don’t get a chance to hang out as much as we really want to but this cruise afforded us the opportunity (to be together) for a whole week," says the man who has blown audiences and the …

"Bands come and go. I just try to do my best for the audience whether it is a live show or a recording. You are only as good as your last thing, your last project or your last show. You want to leave people with wanting to talk about you and having good things to say so they will come back to see the next show or buy the next CD," says Greg Adams who certainly needs no introduction to jazz fans. Adams was speaking to me from his home in Los Angeles on this Tuesday morning. The trumpet …

A camera is following blues artist Eric Bibb as he moves among the shops on Paris, France’s Rue Jean Jacques Rousseau and that is how the CD Diamond Days begins. Acting upon a last minute suggestion from a cinematographer friend, Bibb is filmed with a camcorder while he visits what he refers to as one of his "favorite haunts," a luthier shop, RF Charle Instruments de Musique à Cordes. "There was something about the spontaneity of the whole thing that I felt enticed with, a cert …