LEX SMOOTH JAZZ CONCERT SERIES: Upcoming 3rd Season Artists

New York based sax player/vocalist and songwriter Paula Atherton has shared the stage with such contemporary jazz notables as The Rippingtons, Nick Colionne, Chuck Loeb, Cindy Bradley, Brian Simpson, Althea Renee, Four80East, David Sanborn, Bob James, Marc Antoine, Hiroshima, Gerald Albright and Chieli Minucci. Paula has also worked in the traditional jazz field; one of the notable performances being a week long engagement at the Blue Note NYC with pianist and jazz legend, Hank Jones. Paula also performed with Grammy award winning singer Dee Dee Bridgewater at the Annenberg Theater, for the Palm Springs Women’s Jazz Festival.

Some tour dates include The Bishop Arts Theater in Dallas, The Empire Theater in San Antonio, The John Ruffin Theater in Chicago, Jazz in the Park in Birmingham, AL, Smooth Jazz Festival in Atlanta, Palm Springs Women’s Jazz Fest in CA, Las Vegas Jazz Festival, Capital Jazz fest and Low Country Jazz fest with Jazz in Pink, Smooth Jazz at Sunset in MI (opening for Marc Antoine), Southern Tier Jazz festival in Elmira (opening for Rick Braun), the 3rdannual Women’s Jazz festival in Huntsville, AL, Lake Arbor Jazz Festival in MD, the Hub City Fest in NJ (4 years in a row) and the Pensacola Jazz Festival.

Paula performed at the Hot Smooth Jazz festival in Madrid, Spain, in April2019 at Maria Guerrero theater. Other 2019 performances include Jacksonville Beach Jazz series, Dauphin County Jazz Fest, Potomac Jazz Festival, Brass City, Grand Rapids, and Legacy Jazz Festival(s). Paula just released the 1ST single from her forthcoming 6TH release, entitled “Can You Feel It.” It was produced by Greg Manning, and written by Paula and Greg. As of April 4, 2020, “Can You Feel It”, was #1 on Mediabase, #1 on the Smooth
Jazz Network, (for 4 weeks) and as of May 2ND of the same year was #1 on the Billboard Smooth Jazz chart for three (3) weeks.

Preceding “Can You Feel It,” Atherton has enjoyed five (5) Billboard Top 30 charting singles, “Sassy Strut,” “Herbie,” “Between You & Me,” “My Song For You,” and “Into the Night.” Atherton was also featured on Cindy Bradley’s single, “Girl Talk,” which hit #2 on
the Billboard Smooth Jazz chart.

Atherton’s sixth release, Can You Feel It includes music from a few different producers. Including Greg Manning, Paul Brown, Nate Mitchell, Matt Godina, Schuyler Deale (who produced “Herbie” and “Low Rider” on previous releases), and Lou Gimenez, who has produced the majority of Atherton’s music.

Greg Manning is a Berklee College of Music alum and an amalgam of cultures. He was born in Nigeria and raised in Switzerland.

Greg moved to Los Angeles in 2002 and has had an incredible career. He is a three-time certified platinum producer for Universal Music Switzerland and has had several Swiss Chart toppers since 1996.

Greg is the former keyboardist and music director for GRAMMY Award-nominated artist Jonathan Butler...  and keyboardist for Mindi Abair, Gerald Albright, Will Downing, Richard Elliot, Brian McKnight, Chante Moore, and Kirk Whalum, just to mention a few. After touring extensively for ten years throughout the U.S., Europe, South Africa, and the U.K., Greg made a conscious decision to come off the road. Not too long thereafter, he started composing music for film and television.

As an artist, his own music is the union of jazz, soul, and funk... and has been described as “Soul-Jazz at its best”...  which can be heard on his album “Sugar and Spice,” which was released on Kalimba Records. The title track went on to spend 20 weeks on the charts rising to #5 on Billboard. Most recently his chart topping single “Top Down” was celebrated as Billboard’s 2019 Smooth Jazz Song of the Year. Greg was off to an incredible start in 2020, as his latest single, “Twinkle” a cover of Earl Klugh’s 1981 classic, debuted at #29 on the Billboard charts.

Visit https://www.gregmanningmusic.com for more information.