I had the recent thrill of listening to my favorite jazz/R&B vocalist—the award winning Maydie Myles at The Curtain Call in Stamford, CT. Maydie performed there for two nights to sold out, standing ovation audiences.
Maydie always captivates her audience, giving an emotional and passionate performance. When she belts out a song, she pulls the soul up from the ground. It vibrates throughout her body. She also has a warm, humorous interaction with the audience that always wins her the crowd.
Her band is Rob Aries on keyboards, Tom Devino on drums, Kris Jensen on saxophone, Henry Lugo on bass and Andy Abel on guitar. All are top shelf musicians, who clearly showed their musical proficiency while thoroughly enjoying themselves throughout the evening’s performance.
Maydie grew up in Norfolk, Virginia, the daughter of a Pentecostal minister, singing gospel at eleven years of age in the church her father pastured. As a young teen, she took the stage name “Debbie Taylor,” singing in nightclubs around the area. (The name change was to protect her family from her “secular” music.) Soon she sparked the attention of talent scouts and agents, including Decca Records, GWP/Grapevine Records, and Clive Davis for Arista Records.
Maydie has worked with Quincy Jones, the Blues Brothers Band, Cornelius Bumpus, Jessie “Wild Bill” Austin, Jimmy McGriff, Jimmy Vivino, Mark Naftalin, and The Holmes Brothers. She has played major jazz festivals throughout the country and worked with New York’s largest jingle houses.
Maydie Myles currently performs in the New York, New Jersey and Connecticut areas. It is an event to hear her live. She has a new CD in the works. For more info on Maydie, contact daiardo@optonline.net.
