Candid Jazz and Conversations©

JAZZ.........I LOVE IT! Often times I think hmmmm, in another life, I may have been a Jazz Artist. My true love for Jazz is what led me to create Candid Jazz and Conversations© and The Candid JAZZBLAST Jazz email marketing tool. Here’s my story.................

Radio has been my life. I grew up around it. My mom’s brother is a radio legend in Philadelphia. Cody Anderson, my uncle, was the VP/General manager of the legendary R & B station WDAS for over 40 years. It’s no wonder radio is in my veins. I’ve been a pretty successful Radio and TV announcer in Chicago myself for over 20 years. I was the afternoon air personality at various top ten radio and tv stations in the windy city. However, when I hit Jazz radio, well...my life would soon change forever. Little did I know that I would have such a deep love and appreciation for the artists and their music.

I began my Jazz career at WNUA radio where by accident I coined the phrase Smooth Jazz. WNUA was called "Music For A New Age" at that time in 1988. Who knew that while I was only trying to generate some creativity for my radio show, by adding one word " Smooth" to my music backsell (a backsell is where a radio announcer names all the songs they just played) that I would create a whole new music genre. AMAZING!!!! Another great jazz radio opportunity came along 2 years ago, Miles Ahead jazz radio network. My long time friend and and former WNUA co-worker Mark Ruffin brought me to that straight ahead jazz network. We had a ball. Mark is now a big time executive at XM radio doing his Jazz thing! I’m sooo proud of him. Yes, I’ve thought about going back into radio, and I’ve received numerous offers, but this time I’m focusing on National Syndication. When the right offer comes along.
Now, that was the radio side of me. However, in 1995 yet another creative side began to emerge... an entertainment publicist? Yep, that’s me, Again "by accident". I never ever thought of doing this. I just wanted to help the artist I loved get additional media. Of all clients my first client was Bernie Mac, can u believe it! Since Bernie, I’ve gone on to become the publicist for HBO, Paramount Pictures, Billy Dee Williams, The Food Network, Lauren Hutton, Al Roker, Blue Note Records, A440 Records, The Temptations, Lorenz Tate, Richard Simmons, and The Harlem Globetrotters to name a few. phew!!!!!

With such a busy career, my love for Jazz is what kept me going. I would work to it, groove to it, make major decisions by it. Jazz, led me down a deeper road. I felt a deep yearning in my heart...A pulling, to use all of my industry contacts to help as many jazz artists as I could. But how could I do this, I would ask myself? And the answer.........

Candid Jazz and Conversations and The Candid JAZZBLAST. Candid Jazz and Conversations is my National Touring Entertainment Series. I designed this series to bring National artists together with their fans in an intimate setting. And boy is it working. I’ve featured everyone from Jonathan Butler to Hugh Masekela. WOW!!!!!! Who knew!!! And the Candid JAZZBLAST, this is my jazz email marketing tool. I created this email blast for National and Indy artists as an innovative way to promote your Cd or website directly to the email addresses of over 30,000 International jazz fans, Industry executives, media etc. ....I’m sooo excited about the results artists are receiving from this JAZZBLAST. From endorsement offers, to festival bookings, media bookings etc. It’s a SUPER SIZED SUCCESS!

This year it’s Next Level! I look forward to helping as many artists, labels, festivals and entertainment groups and organizations worldwide in getting their word out. PUBLICITY, ARTIST BRAND DEVELOPMENT and MARKETING are my specialties! Also, If you’d like to recieve my Candid JAZZBLASTS, and discover new music, from National and Indy Jazz artists, Jazz festival and Jazz conference announcements etc. send me your email address. You can either leave it here on my space or send it to [email protected].

Keep it Jazzy, Denise