DocFest 2015 Highlights
DocFest 2016 with Jason Moran
Jason Moran invites 2013 scholarship recipient, Sterling Overshown, to the stage.
Named “Rising Star – Drums” by Downbeat magazine and a “Drummer Whose Time is Now” by the New York Times, Kendrick Scott is a premier drummer and composer of his generation. Born in Houston, Texas, Scott garnered his music education from Houston’s renowned High School for the Performing and Visual Arts and Berklee College of Music in Boston. As a performer, Scott has toured worldwide and recorded with a wide array of artists including Herbie Hancock, Terence Blanchard, Marcus Miller, Charles Lloyd, Wayne Shorter, Philip Bailey, Angelique Kidjo, The Crusaders, Joshua Redman, Robert Glasper, Kurt Rosenwinkel, Dianne Reeves, Kurt Elling, Gretchen Parlato, Blue Note All Stars and the SFJAZZ Collective.
As a composer, Kendrick’s pieces have been included on Grammy winning records and he won a 2017 Chamber Music of America New Works Grant, funded by the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation. NPR calls his works, “Sprawling, cinematic compositions.” Releasing six albums as a bandleader, including four with his band Oracle, The Source (2007), Reverence (2011), Conviction (2013), We Are The Drum (2015), A Wall Becomes A Bridge (2019), Scott lives in New York where he is on faculty at the Manhattan School Of Music.
Originally from Houston, Texas, Mike Moreno began studying music formally at the Houston High School for Performing and Visual Arts, a school renowned for its musical alumni including Jason Moran, Robert Glasper, Kendrick Scott, Eric Harland, and James Francies, amongst many others. After graduating he moved to New York to attend the New School University on scholarship.
Over the years Moreno has built a name as one of the leading voices on his instrument, touring the world performing with bands led by Joshua Redman, Stefon Harris, Lizz Wright, Nicholas Payton, Me’Shell N’Degeocello, Jason Moran, James Francies, Robert Glasper, Gretchen Parlato, Aaron Parks, and Terence Blanchard.
With his own projects, Moreno has toured and recorded his original music with high critical acclaim. Nate Chinen in Jazz Times magazine describes “There are many other guitarists out there pushing towards a modern ideal, but none with the precise coordinates that Mike Moreno has charted.”
In 2007, Moreno released his debut recording as a leader, Between The Lines, which Nate Chinen deemed in The New York Times as one of his Top 10 Jazz albums of 2007. He recorded his second and third albums, Third Wish (2008) and First In Mind (2011) for iconic European jazz label, Criss-Cross. Mike returned to producing his records on his own for Another Way (2012), which was chosen by iTunes for the Best of 2012 list, and Lotus (2016) was next. Moreno returned to Criss Cross Records for a trio recording in 2018, 3 for 3, and again for his most recent album, Standards From Film (2022).
Standards From Film is a quartet album with its roots in a project Moreno started on Instagram, before Covid lockdowns, that turned into a 14 week online Zoom course. Its first two editions were presented during summer lockdowns in 2020. Each class focused on one iconic jazz standard from a Hollywood film. The album features 10 of those songs spanning 30 years, 1932-1962, giving a tip of the hat to the original feeling of the films they were in.
Besides touring and recording albums, Moreno has been a part of two major soundtracks for film and Netflix. The 2015 Don Cheadle-directed Miles Davis film with music by Robert Glasper, Miles Ahead, and most recently, Netflix’s 2022 Series, Mo, with music produced by legendary Rap artist, Common. Mo is the self-portrayed life story of Houston comedian, Mo Amer, loosely based on real life events of Amer’s immigration to the United States, living in Houston as a refugee of the Kuwait Gulf War.
As an educator, Moreno is currently a faculty member at New York’s prestigious Manhattan School Of Music as well as Temple University in Philadelphia, PA.
In 1980, MELISSA MANCHESTER became the first recording artist in the history of the Academy Awards to have two nominated movie themes in a single year, “Through The Eyes Of Love” from Ice Castles and “I’ll Never Say Goodbye” from The Promise, and to perform them both on the Oscar telecast. MELISSA starred in the national tours of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Music Of The Night and Song And Dance, and created the role of Maddy, the title character’s mother, on the NBC hit TV series Blossom. Nominated for a Grammy in 1980 for “Don’t Cry Out Loud,” she won the Grammy Award for best female vocalist in 1982 singing “You Should Hear How She Talks About You.” MELISSA has composed music for the animated features The Great Mouse Detective and Lady And The Tramp II, the sequel to the Disney classic. In addition to composing the scores for the theatrical musicals I Sent A Letter To My Love and Sweet Potato Queens, MELISSA also co-wrote the radio mainstays “Midnight Blue”, “Come In From The Rain” and “Whenever I Call You Friend.”MELISSA celebrated her nearly-five-decade career with the release of her 21st album, The Fellas, a tribute to the iconic male singers who set the platinum standard for pop music. In November 2021, MELISSA was inducted into the Great American Songbook Foundation’s Hall of Fame and in December 2021, she had the pleasure of saluting her longtime colleague, Bette Midler, on The Kennedy Center Honors awards telecast.
MELISSA’s new album, RE:VIEW, due out in 2022, features previously unreleased songs as well as fresh takes on several of her enduring classic hits.
In 1980, MELISSA MANCHESTER became the first recording artist in the history of the Academy Awards to have two nominated movie themes in a single year, “Through The Eyes Of Love” from Ice Castles and “I’ll Never Say Goodbye” from The Promise, and to perform them both on the Oscar telecast. MELISSA starred in the national tours of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Music Of The Night and Song And Dance, and created the role of Maddy, the title character’s mother, on the NBC hit TV series Blossom.
Nominated for a Grammy in 1980 for “Don’t Cry Out Loud,” she won the Grammy Award for best female vocalist in 1982 singing “You Should Hear How She Talks About You.”
MELISSA has composed music for the animated features The Great Mouse Detective and Lady And The Tramp II, the sequel to the Disney classic. In addition to composing the scores for the theatrical musicals I Sent A Letter To My Love and Sweet Potato Queens, MELISSA also co-wrote the radio mainstays “Midnight Blue”, “Come In From The Rain” and “Whenever I Call You Friend.”
MELISSA celebrated her nearly-five-decade career with the release of her 21st album, The Fellas, a tribute to the iconic male singers who set the platinum standard for pop music. In November 2021, MELISSA was inducted into the Great American Songbook Foundation’s Hall of Fame and in December 2021, she had the pleasure of saluting her longtime colleague, Bette Midler, on The Kennedy Center Honors awards telecast.
MELISSA’s new album, RE:VIEW, due out in 2022, features previously unreleased songs as well as fresh takes on several of her enduring classic hits.
Upon the opening of New York’s New School for Jazz and Contemporary Music (NS/J) in 1986, there was an immediate bond between NS/J and Houston’s High School for Performing and Visual Arts (HSPVA), thanks to the outreach of NS/J’s founding artistic director, Arnie Lawrence (1938 – 2005). Largely due to Mr. Lawrence’s efforts, HSPVA bassist Chris Walker was a member of NS/J’s very first student body, having been heavily “recruited” by Arnie. In the subsequent years, many of HSPVA’s best jazz students have enrolled at NS/J, virtually all with substantial scholarship support from the university.
Robert “Doc” Morgan retired in 1999 after a twenty-three year career as Director of Jazz Studies at HSPVA. To commemorate his career and the invaluable opportunities afforded HSPVA graduates by NS/J, in August, 1999, Doc and Helen Morgan, in partnership with the SBC Foundation, endowed the “Helen and Bob Morgan Jazz Scholarship” at the New School. One “Morgan Scholar” is chosen each year, with he/she receiving a substantial tuition credit from the endowment fund. The student must be a graduate of HSPVA, and, once awarded, the scholarship may be renewed to same student for a total of four years (assuming he/she remains in good standing, etc.).
Recipients of the Helen and Bob Morgan Jazz Scholarship to date include:
2000: Alan Hampton (bass/singer/songwriter)
2003: Chase Jordan (vibraphone)
2007: Corey King (trombone)
2008: Cory Cox (drums)
2011: Brenton Johnson (piano)
2013: Sterling Overshown (piano)
2017: Bryant Troy Hunter (drums
2018: Elijah Micheaux (trumpet)
2019: Thomas Swindell (guitar)
2022: Phineas Davenport (piano)
Congratulations to the 2022 scholarship recipient, Phineas Davenport, Kinder HSPVA class of 2019!
Thus far, DocFest has contributed over $200,000 to the Helen and Bob Morgan Jazz Scholarship.
As a prominent component of DocFest, Inc., the Board of Directors voted unanimously in 2014 to establish the HSPVA JAZZ HALL OF FAME, members to be highly successful and prominent alumni of the HSPVA jazz program, as selected by the Board. Recipients will be inducted annually at DocFest, and, in most cases, will headline their respective DocFest concerts.
About BASSIST, Keith Vivens
HSPVA ’80
photo taken by David DeHoyos
Keith was voted “Best Bass Player in Houston,” 1998, by the critics poll in Public News Magazine. He co-leads the two-time Houston Press award-winning Funk Horn Band TKOh.
Keith is currently working on his second jazz fusion CD with the group Solar Wind. His first recording with the band will be available for sale at the concert with his original composition “Kemah Rita” on it. For the past few years, he has been hosting his steady gig every Monday evening at Eddie V’s restaurant West location on Kirby. He also has been hosting Friday and Saturday evenings at Ciro’s Italian restaurant on I-10 and Bunker Hill.
Keith is a devoted husband and father to wife Liz and kids Thalia and Matthew.
He has performed and recorded with artists Phil Woods, Wayne Bergeron, Enders Bergcrantz, Vincent Hearing, Anita Moore, Yolanda Adams, Yvonne Washington, Donny McCaslin, Shelly Berg, Bernd Konrad, Vincent Gardner, Chris Dave, Tom Garling, Dave Taylor, Mark Soskins, Dennis Montgomery, Victor Lewis, Dave Catney, Fritz Renold, Valero Ponomarev, Howard Hewitt, Shelly Carol, Bobby Lyle, Rayford Griffin, Peabo Bryson, Ricky Lawson, Paul Jackson, Jr., Everette Harp, Page Cavanaugh,Kirk Whalum, Mindi Abair, Branford Marsalis, The Duke Ellington Orchestra, Randy & Michael Brecker, Joe Henderson, George Coleman, Joe Lovano, Hubert Laws, Ronnie Laws, Michael Manson, Joe Sample, Grammy Award winning “La Mafia”, Scott Gertner Band, The Franchise, Stanley Turlentine, Kyle Turner, Les McCaan, Above the Rim, Horace Alexander Young, Carl Fontana, Ben Vereen, Project KDK band, Dwight Sills, V. Michael McKay, Little Joe Hernandez, Archie Bell, Mickey Gilley, and Roy Head, just to name a few.
Keith is the first electric bassist to ever play and record with the Duke Ellington Orchestra, and is currently in the recording studio working on his first CD of all original compositions.
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