The Ladies
Gail Jhonson Brooke Alford Tomoka Nomura-Jarvis
Born and raised in the city of Philadelphia, Gail Denise Jhonson began piano lessons in elementary school at age 10. Proving to be a gifted student she advanced quickly and at age 14, played her first gigs on the organ with numerous local Funk and R&B bands. By the time she was 18, her musical pursuit led her to enroll into Berklee College of Music where she received a B.A. in Composition. Returning home, as a jazz pianist, Gail performed with several jazz bands, and other popular Philadelphia artists. She left Germantown in 1985, with her keyboard strapped on and landed an audition with Morris Day (of The TIME). She eventually moved to Los Angeles to make her dream career come true!
By 2004, Keep The Music Playing, Gail Jhonson's highly acclaimed debut contemporary jazz CD on her own (Philly The Kid Records), brought her into the international recording spotlight. Led by the hit singles "Heaven" and "Just For Kicks" the CD received strong support from the music industry.
Gail stays quite busy as the music director, keyboardist and vocalist for smooth jazz super star guitarist and vocalist Norman Brown.
Brooke Alford, The Artist of the violin
Originally from Gifu, Japan, Tomoka Nomura-Jarvis earned a Bachelor of Arts (Cum Laude) from Buffalo State College and a Masters in Music from the State University of New York at Buffalo in saxophone performance.
She has appeared on ABC’s "Jimmy Kimmel Live" with Fat Joe, Remy Ma and Ty Dalla $ign, appeared in a recently released music video by renowned Armenian singer Arman Hovhannisyan, and has toured in Japan and the United states with legendary Japanese blues singer Kenichi Mikawa (美川憲一). She is a member of all female jazz group Jazz in Pink and all female sax quartet The Saxations.
Tomoka has performed for numerous music festivals including the Playboy Jazz Festival at the Hollywood Bowl (2019), Seabreeze Jazz Festival in Panama City FL (2019) , the Catalina Jazz Trax festival (2017), and the Long Beach Jazz Festival (2017, 2019). Upcoming shows includes Cancun Jazz Festival (Mexico), and Gardena Jazz Festival.
Josie Aliello Stewart Tatiana Tate Yakira Ketchens
Josie Aiello is recognized internationally as an award-winning singer, BMI songwriter, performer, vocal arranger, and worship leader with four album releases under her belt. Josie began singing at the age of nine at her parents’ Sicilian restaurant in Chicago, and soon developed a reputation for her powerful vocals and ability to command an audience. After relocating to L.A, she quickly became highly sought after for session work by some of the top hit music producers, including the late Phil Ramone.
Eventually, her hard work and tenacity paid off when she captured the attention of Quincy Jones, who personally signed Josie to his Record and Publishing label with Warner Bros. Since then, Josie’s been called to record for J Lo, Cher, Jessie J, Enrique Iglesias, Andra Day, Kenny Loggins, Brenda Russell, Placido Domingo, and Bebe Winans just to name a few. She’s featured on major soundtracks such as That Thing You Do, The Out Of Towners, South Park, Dinosaur, The Guardian, and Hairspray. National TV commercials (McDonalds, Big Lots and Eckrich) love her voice as well. Josie has toured with Don Henley, Kenny Loggins and currently touring as a featured artist with the world renowned, all female, all-star jazz and R&B band “Jazz in Pink”.
Turn on your computer, your television, or your radio. Open a magazine or go to a concert. Go to the theatre to see a play. Whether it be the Tonight Show with Jay Leno or Live in Europe with Luciano Pavarotti, chances are you’ll see the face and hear the sounds of Darlene Moreno
From the time of her move to Los Angeles this lady guitarist has been seen and heard with the likes of Gerald Albright, Montell Jordan, Paul Taylor, and many more
She came onto L.A.’s music scene in 1995 as lead and rhythm guitarist for the Maestro of Love, Barry White. At the time he was touring the U.S. and abroad with his hot new CD release “The Icon Is Love”. Mr. White was celebrating his huge hit single “Practice What You Preach”, and also his hit with El DeBarge entitled “Secret Garden” by the great Quincy Jones. Darlene became a seasoned veteran with the double Grammy winning artist and his Love Unlimited Orchestra, touring with him internationally for more than 7 years and doing radio and television shows like Ally McBeal, Arby’s restaurant commercials, and many other spots
While continuing to work with Mr. White she also had the opportunity to work with some of the hottest platinum, double platinum, and Grammy winning artists and producers in pop and urban music such as vocalists Mya and Tevin Campbell just to name a few.
Born in New Orleans, La., raised in Los Angeles, California. Yakira have been singing since the tender age of 5 years old. Born into a musical family, Yakira was easily influenced by her Dad and uncle who sang and played the piano. Her grandfather also played piano while her grandmother would sing at every house party and family gathering. Later on, her grandmother appeared on the TV Show “Sanford and Son’s.” Yakira has trained as a classical pianist when she was in grammar school. Later on, she became one of Atlanta’s most desired “Vocal Instructor.” Worked with such artist as: Bobby Valentino, Mista, Sam Salter, Usher, A Few Good Men, Virgo and Blaque, just to name a few. Yakira has performed and been on tour with various artist such as: Tom Browne, Ronnie Laws, Elouise Laws, The Brother’s Johnson, Cherrelle, Jean Carn, Randy Crawford, Michael Henderson, Switch, Marion Meadows, Midnight Starr, Heatwave, Ohio Players, Cameo, Brick, Slave, Morris Day, Debbie Allen and many more. She is the cousin of the Multi-Platinum Grammy Artist, “The Brothers Johnson.”
She later recorded a Duet with “Aaron Neville” in 1998, which was Produced by “Marc Nelson” a former member of the recording Group “Az Yet,” and former member of the Group “Boyz To Men.” This album was joined with other Artist such as Linda Rodstad, Roberta Flack, Tony Rich and Producer Kenny "Baby Face" Edmonds. She also recorded with the famous Country Singer, “Garth Brooks” on his “World Peace Song.”
