Delores Major

She started playing the violin at the age of seven, and began stroking the ebonies and ivories at the tender age of ten. Her musical background has consumed her since she can remember, with lasting images of her father clamoring about as if harmony were the batteries that kept him going, and going, and going…
After graduating from Spelman College with a degree in music, Delores Major continued her edification at Georgia State University, claiming a Master’s Degree in music education. Soon after, she put God’s handiwork on display, sharing her musical wealth rigorously and unremittingly in the classroom. Her teaching exploits have ironically given her the opportunity to acquire more skills, granting her the versatility and nimbleness of a martial arts expert. “I taught, and I learned to play the other instruments that I taught,” she says candidly. Among those instruments are the viola, cello, upright bass, electric bass, the flute, and the organ. In doing so, Major has constructed a sound that fuses jazz improvisation with R&B, Blues, Latin, pop, rock, and gospel.
“If you wanted to classify me first, you would say I am a jazz artist, “she allows. However, you’ve got to remember that I do all those types of music, but I fuse jazz with it.”
Major is in the process of delivering her fourth solo endeavor (UP CLOSE), enriched with the depth of sound that is exclusively hers, coated with enough soul, style, and sanction to allow her the luxury of dictating her route of pleasure. “I occasionally do,” with unyielding enthusiasm. Although her first and second efforts, D STYLIN’ and SHOUT respectively, sold out a combined five times, Major insists that she has matured, so has her sound. “They’re on a higher level, a much higher level,” she says with respect to her third and fourth projects.
After tackling the monstrous feat of shopping her own product, Major verifies that the manifestation of a distribution deal is the only reasonable solution to continued growth and preservation of her sanity.”[They’re] flying off the shelf at church!” she exclaims. “I can’t keep it on the shelf. So that’s the signal to me that I need to move forward, up and out. Distribution, I can’t handle it by myself. It’s time to move up and out.”
Major’s love for the violin is as authentic as the waves that crash against the banks of the Pacific Ocean. It is where her passion lies, and her dynamism begins. Although she is professionally trained on the traditionally violin, her forte is the electric violin. While the conventional instrument has an acoustic sound that could fill a concert hall, the newer sleeker version has a digital apparatus that, depending on the dexterity of the user, can provide a plethora of majestic tunes. “You just don’t make sounds,” she says firmly. “It all depends on the song that you want to express.”


- Rolling Out Magazine

Underneath the coat of a contagious electric violin that she plays oh so well, Delores Major whispers softly and passionately, sharing her love for the Creator, effectively spreading the word along with a collective of credible cohorts. Though her forte, the electric violin is the strength of her fourth effort ALL IS GOOD, a spiritual quest beset in a trunk of creative medley. The oddity of this album, a music in general, is its propensity to make shoulders sway and heads bob back and forth and up and down to the beat. Artistical Major and Co. fall nothing short of satisfying the realm of listening pundits and fans alike. “Oh Mary, arguably the climax of a project with no low points, fuses Major’s classical tone, congruent to the exclusive vocals of Adrion Bell, to produce a soulfully rich blues niche, which goes over well for an album that walks a distinct and righteous path. With the help of Anthony Cunningham (electric bass) and Warren Lankford (keyboard, drum programming), Major delivers a number of soul stirring performances, which include “Fountain,” “Glorify His Name,” and “Jesus Jesus,” a faithful testament of fortitude and strength, both soothing to the ear and clearing to the soul. This album kicks into overdrive on the funky title track “Dance,” offering the complete realm of dexterity that Major possesses in her pose as a worldly performer. The latter (remix), to further validate her penchant for passionate hymns, is drenched in guitar sounding synths, which are disguisedly the product of Major’s ingenuity and sparkling ability to manipulate her instrument. Her range is incomparable, and her dedication is obviously matchless. Delores Major is a concert waiting to happen, and marked a gloriously enchanting sermon in disguise. -- N. Ali Early - Rolling Out Magazine