Tiffany Austin vocal | David Udolf piano | Ron Belcher bass | Michael O'Neill saxophone and bandleader
DISCOGRAPHY
Unbroken (2018 Album, 4-Star Best New Album Category, DownBeat, June 2018)
Nothing But Soul (2015 Album)
Tiffany Austin website is https://www.tiffanyaustin.com/
Born and raised in South Los Angeles, Tiffany Austin grew up in a house filled with music. Her parents listened to soul and pop masters like Donny Hathaway and Stevie Wonder, while her Louisiana Creole grandmother introduced her to jazz.
Her older brother John Austin IV was also a profound influence. A celebrated emcee and rapper, he’s best known as Ras Kass. “He got signed to a record label at 17,” she recalls. “I watched him pursue his music, for better or worse, He never had a day job, and sustained himself from music. I’d sneak in his room and riffle through his records. He sampled lots of great music, and he’s responsible for my obsession with Ella scatting over the break in ‘A Night in Tunisia.’”
Austin took a very different path. She graduated from the vaunted Los Angeles High School of the Arts. At Cal State Northridge, she majored in creative writing, while studying classical voice. During the year she spent studying in the U.K., she started sitting in at jazz sessions around London. After graduating in 2004, Austin set out for Tokyo with the plan that she’d look for work as a singer and spend a year in Japan. After finding regular work as an R&B chanteuse Austin ended up staying in Tokyo through 2009 and only returned because UC Berkeley’s School of Law made her a scholarship offer she couldn’t refuse.
Austin submerged herself in law school and left music behind. After the first year, she realized that she desperately needed a musical outlet. She began performing with bassist, composer, and bandleader Marcus Shelby on numerous projects, including a title role in Harriet’s Spirit, an opera about Harriet Tubman. “There was such a stark contrast between what I was doing in law school and what I wanted to do. I don’t regret going through the program—it made me understand what is truly important to me.”
With a series of prestigious gigs and residencies, Austin quickly gained attention as the most exciting new voice in the region. Performing a program of songs associated with Hoagy Carmichael led to her 2015 debut Nothing But Soul, the album that catapulted her into national prominence. With the album, Unbroken, Austin makes it clear that she’s far more than a beautiful voice. Claiming her cultural birthright, she’s an artist drawing nourishment from all of jazz’s roots.
Born in Manhasset, New York, pianist David Udolf moved to the Bay Area in early 1991. A sought after sideman, he has played with Terri Bryant of the Fifth Dimension, saxophonist Herb Geller, R&B legend Bo Diddley, and toured nationally for six years with San Francisco’s own legendary New Pickle Circus. Local artists he has worked or recorded with include: Jules Broussard, vocalists Opie Bellas (with whom he did a concert tour of South Africa), Sherri Roberts, Clairdee, Jennifer Lee, Lavay Smith, Diane Witherspoon and Kenny Washington, the Chuck Metcalf Quartet, Hal Stein, trumpeter Warren Gale and the Joe Henderson Memorial Big Band, The Jules Rowell Group, Pete Yellin, Donald Bailey, the Mark Stock Trio, Noel Jewkes and a host of other rich talent. He has worked extensively with vocalist Mary Stallings, performing at international festivals and concert venues in Switzerland, Prague, Melbourne, and Tel Aviv as her accompanist and music director. In the fall of 2013 he appeared with Mary at the esteemed Monterey Jazz Festival; and in 2016 they were joined by saxophonist Ernie Watts for a Dr. Martin Luther King Jazz Tribute concert presented by the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Society and broadcast live on WWOZ. David has studied piano privately with Hal Galper and Kenny Werner among others. He has his own ongoing practice teaching piano privately and at College of San Mateo. He received an MSC in Philosophy from the University of Edinburgh, Scotland, and is a certified teacher of the Alexander Technique.
Bassist Ron Belcher travels the world bringing his rhythmically buoyant, emotionally uplifting style to the stage for a wide diversity of jazz artists. Ron has performed or recorded with Branford Marsalis, Regina Carter, Rodney Franklin, John Handy, and Pete Escovedo, as well as a literal “who’s who” of the San Francisco jazz scene. A passionate teacher and advocate for children’s education, Ron has served on the faculty of the University of California, Berkeley and has contributed to several seasons for the San Francisco Symphony’s Adventures In Music outreach program. Ron‘s own studies include jazz improvisation and acoustic bass at several Bay Area colleges, culminating in a degree from Texas College, where he had the honor of membership in the East Texas All-Stars.
Michael O’Neill, a San Diego native, began studying clarinet at an early age. His first mentor was his neighbor, the great jazz and studio drummer, John Guerin. After the usual involvement with school bands and orchestras, Michael did a stint in the Air Force Band. In college, while majoring in Biology, he minored in music studying composition and arranging as well as jazz performance. After a brief career in science, Michael returned to music full time, studying saxophone with the great Joe Henderson while playing in dance bands, salsa bands and doing local jazz gigs. During this time Michael became interested in composition and formed groups to perform his original material, a trend that is ongoing today. Besides jazz composition, Michael’s interests have taken him into orchestral and ethnic musical forms. In the 1980's he began writing music for documentaries and television for which he now has a long list of credits. Jazz performance residencies as leader include 13 years at the Ritz Carlton Half Moon bay, 7 years at Cetrella Half Moon Bay and 6 years at the Hotel Sofitel in Redwood Shores. Michael has performed and/or recorded with Idris Muhammad, Joe Locke, Michael Wolff, Giacomo Gates, Geoffrey Keezer, Maria Muldaur, Eddie Fisher, Rodney Jones, Kim Nalley, Jackie Ryan, Tony Lindsay, Margie Baker, Faye Carol, Brenda Boykin, Jeff Chambers, Rob Schneiderman, Mark Levine, Frank Jackson, and many others.The Michael O'Neill Quintet featuring the great vocalist, Kenny Washington, has headlined the Monterey Jazz Festival, San Jose Jazz Festival, the Mid-Atlantic Jazz Festival, SF Jazz, the Blue Note in Napa, Jazz at Pearl’s, Oakland and San Francisco Yoshi’s, Anna’s Jazz Island, the Jazz on the Hill Festival, the Oakland Art and Soul Festival, the San Jose Jazz Society Concert Series and many others.
Photo Credits: Austin (Bill Reitzel), Udolf (Bob Barry 2012), Belcher (John Spragens, Jr.), O'Neill (Dave Lepori)