User:Sandrabooker

Sandra Booker, (born March 5, 1966) is an American Jazz singer, songwriter, arranger, producer and playwright noted for her four- octave range, crystalline tone, impeccable timing, flawless enunciation and her ability to scat at breakneck speed. Booker is a native of New Orleans, Louisiana. She is the sixth child of her parents, Mr. and Mrs. Johnny Q. Booker, Sr.

Professional Career
She began singing at age 2 as her mother often recalls, “she sang everything she wanted to say and she could sing it exactly right.” She spent her formative musical years in various church choirs, fairs and revivals. She performed with her siblings, most notably drummer Johnny Q. Booker, Jr. and bassist Gregory Booker and briefly led an all girls singing group called The Black Magnolias.

Booker’s powerful voice and unusually melodious style quickly became her calling card as she gained popularity as a singer but also demonstrated a skill for soaring oratory in ministry becoming an ordained junior missionary at the tender of age 10 years old. Combining her love of literature, spoken word and music, she has a developed a conversational approach to singing in her interpretations of various styles of music.

She credits her love of music and art to the nurturing hands of her maternal grandmother Mattie Pendleton Pryor Johnson, who introduced her to classical music and the Great American Songbook. Booker studied for three years at the New Orleans Center for the Creative Arts where she studied with Dr. Burt Braud, Lorraine Alfaro and Ellis Marsalis. Other mentors included saxophonist Red Tyler and drummer, Billy Higgins.

Education
While attending NOCCA, she met and became band mates with Harry Connick, Jr., Jesse Davis and Delfeayo Marsalis. She cites Connick as being the driving force behind her introduction to jazz music and her earliest development in the genre. He encouraged her to pursue jazz music instead of classical, but Booker pursued both. She was a member of the Jesuit Philalectric Society and performed the lead role in a revised version of “Ain’t Misbehavin” directed by Sonny Borey in 1984.

Upon graduating from Warren Easton High School, Booker relocated to Los Angeles and continued her musical education with Big Band trombonist and bassist, Bela “Bill” Berger whom she cites as being the greatest musical influence in her career. She’s led several bands, which has included other standout musicians including Dr. Derrick Finch, Tamir Hendelman, Robert Perkins Thomas White and Dale Fielder.

She is a graduate of the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) with a BA degree in ethnomusicology She is currently working on two stage plays (Life on Stage & Moonlight & Suicide) and writing her first novel Jazz in Black. She plans to release a new recording in 2012 as a tribute to the survivors of hurricane Katrina.

Stage
As president of The Booker Group which serves as the umbrella for all her artistic outlets that include a record label of the same name, and theater company Life On Stage.' She is the executive producer and host of American Vernacular'', a weekly 60 minute internet radio show that addresses the social, political and cultural life of America on blogtalkradio.

Philanthropy
She sits on the Board of Directors of the Derrick Finch Music and Scholarship foundation, established to provide scholarships and musical performance opportunities to students interested in furthering their education in jazz in memory of Dr. Derrick Finch.

Recordings
In 2000, she won a Los Angeles Music award for “Best Children’s CD” for her work as a member of TeamVico. She has also recorded for Pepesito Reyes, Billy Higgins, Sherry Luchette (Jazz Kitten), Billy Mitchell, and film composer/conductor Lalo Schifrin.

Booker released her much anticipated follow up to her 1995 debut ‘Very Early’ with ‘When Love Happens: The Loving Day Concert’ in 2010 to wide acclaim. This recording is the first CD of its kind to commemorate and celebrate the legalization of interracial marriage in the United States. The project was inspired by the real life love story of Mildred and Richard Loving and the 1967 U.S. Supreme Court case that struck anti-miscegenation laws in all 50 states. The recording prominently features her original compositions.

She currently resides in Los Angeles, California.