Charmaine Clamor is the first Filipina jazz singer to find success on American radio. Her debut album, "Searching for the Soul" (2005), “announced the arrival of an impressive new vocal artist. When Charmaine Clamor’s warm, luscious contralto slips into a seductive rhythm or purrs through tender lyrics, there’s no doubt that a first-rate jazz talent is present" (Don Heckman, Los Angeles Times). Critics and disc jockeys have compared her “bedroom eyes voice" (All About Jazz) to legendary vocalists like Sarah Vaughan, Anita Baker, and Cassandra Wilson, all the while recognizing her individual style and sound.

Charmaine's second album, "Flippin’ Out" (2007), synthesizes American jazz, blues and soul with traditional Filipino folk music, instantly creating a new hybrid genre she calls jazzipino. "Flippin’ Out" introduces an imaginative singer daring to create a category all her own.

Originally from the provincial town of Subic-Zambales, Charmaine Clamor began her singing career at age 3, entertaining passengers (whether they liked it or not!) in the back of buses traveling to Manila. As she grew, she began providing piano accompaniment while her mother sang kundiman (Filipino torch songs) and English language classics. From these early memories comes her love of the Great American Songbook.

Charmaine is also the first Filipina to headline the world-famous Catalina Bar & Grill jazz club, in Hollywood, which presented Charmaine at their sold-out 2005 & 2006 Filipino-American Jazz Festival. In 2006, she headlined the First Manila International Jazz Festival in her birth country, the Philippines.

One of the founding members of JazzPhil-USA, a non-profit organization which promotes Filipino-American jazz artists in the United States, Charmaine has been credited with introducing the Filipino culture to mainstream audiences, delighting music lovers with her “very honest stage presence” and vocal artistry that listeners describe as “a spiritual experience” and “utterly mesmerizing” (LA WEEKLY).

In 2007. Charmaine Clamor was named one the 100 Most Influential Filipino Women in America.

Videos:
Charmaine Clamor - Don Sa Brazil (with Mon David)
Charmaine Clamor - I Live to Love You

Website:
www.charmaineclamor.com

After a memorable career blowing the roof of Broadway theaters (in shows like "Inner City," "Me and Bessie," and "Black and Blue"), at age 81, New Orleans native Linda Hopkins was honored with a lifetime achievement star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame -- in front of the Pantages Theater, next to Bette Davis!

The first black performer to have a one-woman show on Broadway, Linda Hopkins owns the all-time record for appearances on "The Tonight Show, with Johnny Carson." She sang on the fabled program 78 times!

Time to retire? Not for the lady they call "the Kid."

At age 82, she proudly releases a new album, recorded live in Hollywood.

Website:
www.global-mojo.comspecialsitehopkins

Michael Konik is an author, singer, painter, improvisational comedian, and television personality. He was raised in Fox Point, Wisconsin, where his schoolteacher mother, Renice, and his autodidact father, Eugene, taught him at an early age how to read, how to think critically, and how to appreciate the blessed planet we inhabit. His parents encouraged him to become a "Renaissance Man," particularly one that had utterly no talent for science or calculus.

Michael attended Nicolet High School, in Glendale, Wisconsin, where one of his classmates was the jazz singer Tierney Sutton (Telarc Records). Performing with the blossoming chanteuse in the school's annual variety show affected Michael deeply; it was then he realized that a musical realm of imagination and sentiment existed beyond the horizons of teenaged angst. Nonetheless, Michael spent the year after high school graduation doing unspeakable damage to his vocal chords performing and recording with the seminal 1980's punk rock band The Clitboys, whose rebellious anthem "We Don't Play the Game" (Feedback Records) remains a favorite with angry adolescents around the world.

At New York University's School of the Arts, Michael attended the Lee Strasberg Theater Institute, where he primarily slumped in metal chairs, moaned evocatively, and was berated by sadistic instructors. (He also performed in countless plays and musicals with a number of people who are today very famous.) At NYU, Michael studied art history, constitutional law and began his writing career. By the time he earned his BFA in Drama, he had already become a working essayist and cultural critic, and since he had proved himself incapable of being hired for a traditional job, Michael dedicated himself to making a life as an ink-stained wretch.

For nearly 15 years Michael Konik's writing appeared in hundreds of newspapers and magazines on every continent, including the New York Times, Travel & Leisure, Sports Illustrated, and virtually every special interest publication extant. For more than five years he was the gambling columnist for Cigar Aficionado, where he earned the honorific "Dean of the World's Gambling Writers," and for more than ten years he penned the golf column for the Delta Air Lines in-flight magazine, SKY.

After the publication of several critically acclaimed books, including "The Man With the $100,000 Breasts" (1999; Huntington Press/Broadway Books) and "Telling Lies and Getting Paid" (2001; Huntington Press/ The Lyons Press), Michael revisited his performance roots, joining the Los Angeles-based improvisational comedy troupe, The Los Hombres, and the vocal jazz quintet CRESCENDO (Devon Records). In 2003 he recorded two albums: Crescendo's latest collection and a solo project with his own jazz trio, the Tasty Band, a collection of standards called "There'll Be Some Changes Made."

His three latest books are "In Search of Burningbush: A Story of Golf, Friendship and the Meaning of Irons" (2004; McGraw-Hill), and "Ella in Europe: An American Dog's International Adventures" (2005; Bantam/Dell), and "The Smart Money: How the World's Best Sports Bettors Beat the Bookies out of Millions" (2007; Simon & Schuster). He's also completed "Becoming Bobby," a novel.

Michael lives in Hollywood, California, where he appears on two television shows.

Videos:
Michael Konik - Blues Jam (with Charmaine Clamor and Mon David)
Michael Konik - Centerpiece (with Zaxariades!)

Website:
www.michaelkonik.com

Zaxariades -- formerly known as Bruce Scott -- has enjoyed several incarnations in the entertainment industry. As a boy in New York City, he sang at the Metropolitan Opera. As a teenager he appeared in numerous films, including "Hang 'em High," with Clint Eastwood. As a young man he appeared on Broadway in many hit shows, including the original cast of "Jesus Christ Superstar." As an adult, he starred in "The Lion in Winter," on Broadway. And as a mature musical artist he toured the world for six years with the legendary master of vocalese, Jon Hendricks. Indeed, Zaxariades is the only other singer beside the late Dave Lambert to have performed onstage (at New York's Blue Note Jazz Club, in 1986) with Hendricks and Annie Ross.

An electrifying live performer, Zaxariades sings in five languages, plays six instruments, and is generally recognized at the reigning master of bebop vocalizing.

His album, "Mr. Z," features five original compositions, as well as a seldom heard Jon Hendricks song, "Tell Me the Truth."

Videos:
Zaxariades - Airegin
Zaxariades - Caravan
Zaxariades - Moody's Mood For Love