We got the jazz. We got the jazz...

My passion is to rebuild the youths appreciation for jazz.  Ironically, my students love it.  It has taken me 4 years to get them to appreciate different genres of music and they love it.  They jump up and dance.  DANCE... That is my key.

When jazz was created it was current because young people were doing jazz music people wanted to dance too.  It was upbeat, lively and kept the audience feeling the beat and rhythms.  Thing is after people allowed jazz to become a mental thing and took away the feeling/dancing vibe it slowly began to lose audience.

I am a teacher and started Rock and Roll/Funk/Disco this week.  The students lost their minds on learning how to do the Twist just like Chuck Berry.  I showed them 6 current dances and asked them what the name of the songs were and each time they shouted the names out.  It stands to reason that if you are gonna get new or young fans hype about a style of music, you need a gimmick.  You need a flavor that reaches them.

Many people are complaining about how wack our culture is musically.  How the gimmicks not talent are what these young people like... HELLO!!!  Get with the program.  No reason great musicians can add some gimmicks to their awesome style and make that music shine!!!!  I love performing as I sing.  I dance I move and connect to the music.  Well when I get to make music.  I miss it horribly too. 

Dancing is a way we can pull students back into the music we connect by connecting it to a dance.  Yeah that sounds corny and simple but the reality is there are songs out there being played nationwide are are making millions of dollars and are cornier.  And we are struggling to get anyone... Someone to purchase our music.  Just put one on the CD.  Keep the rest your style.  Add a video.  before you know it you'll be starting a trend..

Of course these are just ideas I'm getting from the 1950s...

Missing my Music...

Well,

It has been a long time since I have blogged.  I'm doing pretty well but have had to take a break from singing to complete another degree.  Unfortunately, I have NO TIME to actually get to the performing side of singing which STINKS.  I miss it like crazy too.  I teach music and am creating a great deal of online material for music educators so it is taking everything to keep up with the work.  However I am not out of the game at all.  I am excited and can't wait until my next few months. 

Working on a new CD of standards in a couple of months.  So this will be in addition to my work at the school.

I miss you all and hope to get back on that stage soon.

For now, I'm teaching young people to do it and they are doing very well.

Peace and Blessings.

I Won't Complain

You know,

I had to think about how much I have a opposed to what I don't have. What a nightmare my life could be if I don't start doing so? I find that Satan likes to bring up the things you don't have or have lost so much he makes you feel helpless sometimes. You may not be a Christian which is cool but what Satan likes to do is destroy your innerself by reminding you of the hurt or the loss or the failures or the darkness in your life as opposed to the blessings. Daggone shame too. I read a great Christian sci-fi book by Frank Peretti and it was talking about how Satan uses complacency and guilt and sadness and loneliness and heart ache and confusion before he comes with the big guns like suicide and death and sickness etc. etc... etc.... Losing my Uncle just hurts. Hurts like someone beat me in the face with a brick. I know that he was an changed person. I know that God got a hold of him and forced him to see others more than himself. He wasn't always like that. That makes me reflect on the good, the blessings, the happiness, the joy, the straight comedy, the love he bestowed on so many.   I can say I won't complain.

I got a premonition from 3 people this year in January that this year was gonna be my year. I was gonna do some amazing things. Nothing happened either. Spring was whew... I ran outta that school when it was over but summer, was filled with loss. OMG. One day after the next just weird losses. I was so disappointed but thing is if God didn't have confidence I'd make it thru and make it thru victoriously, NONE of those things could have happened. I won't complain

2 days before his death, and 3 days after, I have struggled sleeping. Anxious every night. Feeling helpless and like there wasn't anything I could do. But you know what? My cuzzin, my Uncles son came to me and talked and shared and told me the stories of greedy people in the community and all of a sudden family who never had anything to do with him when he was sick all of a sudden wanna be front and center at the funeral. Shame. I shook my head but knew what a strong guy this LITTLE BOY I grew up with has become. God prepared him to deal with the madness. All of that was while a 55 or so year old dude walked in the house driving a car with the words... "SWEETNESS in bold caps on the front of his ride in metallic gold... Cah Moe Dee.... The family house is in his name and I'm good. Our family house will stay in our family at least for another generation. I won't complain

So I look around and think things over, I'm gonna stand a little taller tonight. I gonna sing a little louder. And just say thank you Lord. I won't complain anymore. You got this!!!!

I leave you all wtih this. I'm not the best. I'm not the smartest. I'm not the wisest. I'm not the prettiest. I'm me. I love me more than I can say now because I'm in the image of God. They made a man in their image and then made him a help mate to look like me to be a diva along side my man. I am sooooo thankful tonight for my family, my friends, my home, my opportunities, my experiences, my health, and all that goes along with those. When I look around... And a sista thinks things ova. I wanna say Thank Ya Lord... I WON'T COMPLAIN... WELL ANYMORE.

Dreams... Don't let them go!

Recently I had a dream I have waited on all of my life to fall. This dream was awesome. I finally had met the man I was going to spend the rest of my life with and he was awesome. However, it didn't work out. After all of the tears and pain, I changed course. God started working out my other dreams and I yielded to them. It made me think about how sometimes we hold on to one dream and when its not time or something happens we get hurt and get bitter or even give up on those same dreams. Well I'm here to tell you don't give up on your dreams. I wrote a song about the book of Ecclesiates. It was recorded and all but you may never get to hear it. It talks about how season's change. Spring Summer Winter and Fall all bring exciting experiences. I think if we were to focus on our lives like the seasons we would be much happier.

I believed in that dream and made every effort to stop it from not coming to pass. It ended, but it doesn't mean that my dream is over. He wasn't the right one and that's ok. I'm very strong willed. God showed me signs but I hadn't met ANYone that matched up to my expectations in so long that when he came I was wide open. I'm thankful too. It let me know that love is out there and being just a little more patient will bring the right one. Edris maybe... LOL. Who knows but one thing is for certain, I'm gonna be GREAT.

I then started getting some music together. I hadn't written in months. Actually a year has gone by and even though I wanted to write I felt stifled. LOL... God opened that door back up and ideas started flowing. You would have thought I'd still be holding on to that dream but I let that jokah go as soon as he walked out of the door. I grabbed a hold of a dream I had let go of months ago. I started feeding it again and it came to me with beauty and power.

Dreams... Hopes that turn into reality. Believing in something I am destined to do. I was not put here to waste away focusing on yesterday. I am here to provide something new for tomorrow. So things i created years ago and left alone came back into my mind. Ideas that I typed out but God wasn't ready for resurfaced and now my peace is in knowing its time for a different dream to come to pass.
Some of us are holding onto dead weight. You are in a job that drives you nuts or a relationship that is toxic. Could be just some bad choices that keep leading you down the wrong path. Well I'm here to tell ya, keep it moving. Life is too short to waste seconds focusing on junk that matters less than anything in this world. You are special. You are awesome. You are the most unique thing in this world. Sounds kinda arrogant and prideful but there could be 500000000 women in this world but only one me. Ha... So that makes me unique. I'm taking these next few weeks to capitalize on these realities. Standing taller. Working out. Sweating on this treadmill and keeping my spirit in tune with what God wants me to do. I encourage you to do the same.

Some of you may not have God but He sure wants you to. He doesn't always do the things we ask and that can be frustrating but he protects us and guides us even if we are too hard-headed to listen. Open your mind and heart to something new. A dream you had when you were a child. Maybe you used to write stories or draw. Pull out the paper and do something creative. Vangogh's paintings are revered around the world and they look like little kids pictures to me. I'm not an artist or enthusiast like that but I can say just do something with the dreams you have and let go of the dead weight.

Life is perfect. It's special. Its YOURS. Use it wisely.

All That Jazz!

Most believe that jazz is strictly for the upper-class and affluent, but the roots of jazz tell a different story. Jazz is an art form and the pioneer language of music. Jazz is, and always has been, at the centre of the music world. Kemba Cofield's style is very much the same. Her music is the centre of her world and she performs with such energy and soul that it grabs you the moment you hear her voice.

Traditional jazz began with the subjugated African Americans in the early years of contemporary music. The earliest jazz music was influenced by African tribal drums and later, by gospel, blues and “field hollers”, which was the call of the workers in the fields on plantations. Early on, jazz was considered the cornerstone of African American life and their expressions toward their way of life. This is not how jazz diva, Kemba Cofield, got her start, however. Yes, her musical roots come from gospel and blues and ancestors who began the jazz tradition, but her heart is what drew her to the eclectic sounds she sings today.

The origin of the word “jazz” actually came from an early obscene term for sexual acts, but the cadence of the music never identified with women of the night or bordellos. To the people who play jazz music, it has always been about the music itself and the fact that it comes from their hearts. Kemba Cofield has always said her songs come from her life and how she grew up in Frankfort, KY.

Jazz music's jaunt soon became an art form in the world of music, with both song writing and and those who came up with the words on the fly, creating out-of-the-box harmonies. Jazz musicians, like Kemba Cofield, have the innate talent to express their emotions because the music and the words come from the heart and resonate from the soul.

The legend of jazz music started in New Orleans and worked its way up the Mississippi River to Memphis, St. Louis and eventually Chicago. Modern jazz was largely shaped by the ragtime music of New Orleans, but it has grown into so much more with the introduction of African tribal drums and music that was introduced by the Europeans. The music has really been influenced by many genres including gospel, ragtime and blues. Kemba Cofield's music is a mix of all of these sounds. When she performs for a live audience, she incorporates old-time ragtime music into modern blues, with the spiritual energy of Southern Gospel. Her musical style is rooted so far in old world jazz and blues, that no matter what she sings, it comes from deep within her.

One of jazz history's most famous legends is said to have been on of New Orleans barbers, named Buddy Bolden, in 1891. He was said to blow his cornet (a trumpet-like wind instrument) every day and the birth of jazz began. Almost 120 years later, American jazz has produced some of the world's greatest musicians. Jazz has been studied at major universities and is now considered a base for all aspiring musicians when learning to sing and play. Kemba Cofield has found that even when she tries out other genres of music, she always, without thinking about it, integrates that jazz sound into every piece of music she composes.

Jazz music became hugely popular in America in the early 1920s, which was described as the Jazz Age. It spread like wildfire during the swing and big band eras of the 1930s and 1940s, and what we know as modern jazz today, is what originally influenced the rock n' roll in the 1950s. Jazz keeps evolving and influencing other types of music because it is grounded in rich history of a community of people who sang with their hearts and souls.

To learn more about Kemba Cofield, visit KembaCofield.com

You may also contact her manager, marketer, and PR:

Lena Hunt of CelebritizeYou and Lena Hunt PR

lena@celebritizeyou.com or celebritizeyou@gmail.com

Skype: lena9875

727.266.5191 or 754.484.0021

Today was a beautiful day. Things are hard right now. I have to admit as an artist, gigs are getting scarce, and it can get a bit frustrating. I'm yet holding on!!! Its so weird. I get ready to quit and then I do a gig and the passion takes over me. I love it. I love love love it. Music is a great opportunity for me to express myself. All of my frustrations I can sing out. Crazy but its an amazing outlet for me. Its just like when you want to change your mood you pick a great song and just dance like a fool. Yeah I have some quiet FOOL times!!! Its great. So if you are going through, pick one of those songs that made you so happy back in the day and put it on loud. Loud is important. Then dance like a FOOL. Whew I feel so much better. That is a great upliftment. If you haven't oone it in awhile, you maybe sore in the morning but Who CARES!!!

Shake it Shake it Shake IT!!!!!

New Year

Wow, I have never been so happy for a year to end and a new one to begin. Yeah I know some people think its the same ol same ol but every second has a new opportunity for me and my life. I haven't blogged for awhile I guess I've been soaking in all of the drama and madness going on in the world. Not good. So last night I reflected and sat down and really dealt with my life and the hopes and dreams and I changed. It was so awesome. Well I'll get back into my swing in a few days and blog more. I'm singing at Lincoln Center in Jan and Lenox Lounge Jan 22. If you are available in the NY area, I'd love to see you and hear you and or talk with you.

Sincerely,

Kem