Axel sound and visual art

Some analogue tube warmth on guitar and bass | Art: Ax.W. '24

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NORA McCARTHY Creative Jazz Voice, Composer, Lyricist, Poet, Actor, Visual Artist, Author, and Educator 

Nora McCarthy is indeed a remarkable figure in the New York jazz scene. She possesses the earthiness of an early blues singer, the articulation, phrasing and timbre of a jazz trumpet. Her unique and original style has made her a prominent vocalist, composer, improviser, and poet. McCarthy’s versatility is one of her strong points. She has demonstrated that she is comfortable with both the inside and the outside of musical expression. And whether she gets into free form, abstract improvisations, or performing standards, McCarthy is as expressive as she is unpredictable. Her adept and adventurous improvising is on a high level; she is a musical colorist eager to push the envelope. With a sound 
reminiscent of the great voices and horns in jazz, her burnished alto voice is steeped in the classic jazz and rhythm & blues tradition and is rich with a distinctive style that draws on both the spirituality of post-bop instrumentalists and the spirituality of post-bop vocal jazz. 

Nora’s ever increasing need to expand her own musical consciousness and convey a spiritual awareness through the music is her creative motivation and inspiration. McCarthy performs in every setting from a voice and saxophone duo to a twenty-piece orchestra. Her original compositions and arrangements are stunning works of art and include graphic compositions, soundscapes, and poetic architectures. 

McCarthy currently leads the following groups: The Nora McCarthy Trio; Lyrical Duosity; Nora McCarthy Qu’ART’et; The People of Peace Quintet; The Panama Red Trio; Modern Voice Ensemble, and Manna For Thought Improvising Trio. She has been in collaboration with her husband alto saxophonist Jorge Sylvester for the past 25 years and as a result of this intensive collaboration, craftmanship, and discipline, their hard-won synergy has enabled them to create nine distinct creative new music/poetry projects which include the renowned ConceptualMotion 21-piece Orchestra, A Small Dream In Red Innovative Improvising Duo, Jorge Sylvester ACE (Afro-Caribbean-Experimental) Collective and the Extended Edition with Strings; Quartet Imagination; and an improvising octet, Spontaneous Expressions. Mayhem at Large, this group’s first CD was released in late 2021 is a live performance captured at the Baha’i Center in March 2020. 

Nora is a gifted poet and lyricist who has amassed a large body of prose, poetry, and word art that she’s written for her many musical projects as well as lyrics she’s penned for other well known jazz compositions. Her powerfully moving delivery of the spoken word and interpretation of the lyrics reflect her deep and intense emotional capacity. McCarthy’s living poem, "Today In America" is one such work that began in 2001 and is a time lapsed look at ongoing events written in a collage format and delivered in the passionate poetic style of the great activist poets of the 60’s and 70’s. Written for the composition of the same title composed by alto saxophonist, Jorge Sylvester and performed by their ConceptualMotion Orchestra. 

The importance of Nora’s work as a member of A Chorus of Poets and her affiliation with its founder, the late Conductor Lawrence D. “Butch” Morris from 2005 to 2015 as the Chorus organizer and featured poet, cannot be overstated. 

Nora’s long-term association with the legendary experimental Medicine Show Theatre in New York afforded her the opportunity to hone her acting skills. Inspired and encouraged by its Co-Founder, Actor, and Artistic Director Barbara Vann and working with its Manager, Actor, Poet, Chris Brandt, Nora was a member of the cast in Listen To Me—an Opera (Music by: Rainy Orteca—Text by Gertrude Stein. In addition, Nora played “Aunt Beth” in Moral Support, a drama written by Bill Considine, directed by Félix E. Gardón, and participated in several onstage readings. 

Through her vast experience in the jazz and creative music field, Nora has developed a spiritual and conceptual approach to teaching vocal artistry including unique improvisatory techniques that views singing through the lens of an interdisciplinary art form.  McCarthy published her first book entitled: The Spiritual Path to Finding Your Voice™  in August of 2024. In addition, she is founder of, The Modern Voice Studio © and currently teaches privately, conducts workshops, and master classes.

McCarthy and her groups have performed at the top jazz venues, concert halls, galleries, theaters, performance spaces, concert halls, universities, and music cafes throughout New York City, upstate New York, the Tri-State area, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Ohio, Europe, and Panama. 

DISCOGRAPHY - (RedZenRecords™):  Mayhem at Large - the Last Baha'i, Spontaneous Expressions; Manna For Thought; blesSINGS ; A Time For Love; Spirit Driven; In The Language Of Dreams; Circle Completing; A Small Dream In Red (Sundown Jazz); and,  red&blue. (Blue Unity Music)Toward The Hill of Joy - George Brandon-Blue Unity Ensemble

Axel sound and visual art

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