Jo Alexis

On this performer's full-length "Connection", she wisely lets her airy, diaphonous vocals take the lead instead of smothering them with instrumentation. "Kiss Of An Angel" si the hookiest number and she sings it with skill and confidence. "How Did I get Lucky" vaguely recalls Mazzy Star's Hope Sandoval, while the gentle "Mercy" recalls Judy Collins' folk/pop vibe. Fans of Dido and Sarah McLachlan will feel this artist's work nicely. - Music Connection

“Terror on the Colorado- Real-life tragedy and the long road to recovery for musician Jo Bronstein (aka Jo Alexis): Presenting - The Jo Alexis Story.”
From Anodyne Magazine. By Scott D. Lewis

Jo Bronstein’s story has all the makings of a TV movie-of-the-week. “It really does,” concurs the amiable, patient 27-year-old with sight smile, a mixture of wonder and disbelief in her calm blue eyes. “People have asked if I’m going to sell my story…”
The drama would begin in Philadelphia, where Bronstein was born and raised. Cut to Brown University, where she studied classical, jazz and improvisational voice. She took up guitar while a junior. “ Because I was in a duo with another woman and we needed to accompany ourselves somehow. It was kind of one chord here and one chord there, it was pretty vague. I never thought, ‘One day I’ll stop singing and just play guitar. ‘It was always, ‘I need to support this voice and I want to be able to write songs.’ And besides, it’s a lot harder to try and carry a piano around,” she muses through warm laughter.
A graduate, our sympathetic character takes the lead of a college friend, and heads to Portland where she immediately begins performing. “Within a week I was doing open-mic night. Then I started regularly performing at coffee shops. I would have a monthly gig where I would really try to get people to come. I started playing around more and got a drummer [Dan Reid] after my second year of being here.” Desiring a name that conveyed her subject matter and appreciation of “the type of beauty hat can make you cry,” the duo was christened Sweet ‘n’ Low. When bassist Sean Flora entered the mix (and it was discovered that rap/hip-hop group had beaten them to the trademark), Sweet Baby Onion sprouted up.
The trio built a following and a reputation for churning out mesmerizing, progressive folk. And there was that voice, Bronstein’s well-tempered, nimble cords carry a wealth of emotion, experience, and character; they go down as smoothly as warm honey. In the Summer of ’95, Sweet Baby Onion went into Blue dog Studios and came out with an alternately haunting, heartbreaking, and playful baker’s-dozen tunes that introduced a talented, mature musical powerhouse. Bronstein was rightfully optimistic; all the pieces were coming together, including the addition of guitarist john Wyatt, who filled out the live sound.
Having taught children music all year in addition to putting out her debut, our star is in need of a vacation. One week after Sweet Baby Onion’s CD release party Bronstein was living out a long-time dream. “I was really psyched. I’d always wanted to go rafting sown the Colorado River.” Endorphins pumping, tragedy strikes. “On the first day of the trip, I got knocked off the boat by a bog rapid, pulled under by the current, and chopped up by the boat’s propeller. I thought that I was going to drown, “ she details with a healthy sense of distance. “I remember thinking, ‘I’m under the boat…I haven’t had a breath in a long time…Uh Oh.” When she came up, Bronstein executed a standard emergency procedure, pulling down on the front of her lifejacket to raise the jacket’s back and support her head.
“It was then that I noticed that my arm was basically gone,” she continues. “It was dangling on by a tendon. I couldn’t move my [left] arm or [right] leg at all. I was sending signals to them and they just wouldn’t go. That was the worst feeling that I’ve ever had. I thought,’ I’m going to lose my arm and then I’m going to die.’” But our hero is strong.
“They got me out of the water within a few minutes. I was screaming. I don’t remember screaming, I remember talking very calmly,” she observes with a light laugh...”I remember saying’Please, don’t lose my arm’ but apparently is was like, ‘DON’T LOSE MY ARM!!!’ Luckily, the water was a bout 50 degrees so I didn’t lose a lot of blood. They wrapped my up accordingly and put me back in the boat. Then we rode downstream to a spot where a helicopter could pick me up. I stayed on the boat, on my back for the next 16 hours. They had to keep me up all night, so that I would not go into a coma. Help finally arrived at about 7:30 in the morning. I was flown to a hospital, had surgery and spend about a week there. My elbow was broken in four places and nerves were cut. My knee was also dislocated, chopped-up and broken.”
Returned to the comfort her southeast Portland home, Bronstein continues down recovery’s road. “I spent about five hours or more a day working on my arm,” she explains. “Between the nerve regeneration, the strengthening and stretch work, it pretty much consumes my life, “she states with resolve. “I have been trying to take more time to write more…to feel. I forgot to do those types of things for a while.”
Our movie’s gripping, inspirational conclusion would surely be the scene of Bronstein’s painfully limping across Key Largo’s stage to take her place behind the mic as she and her band enthrall an overflowing NXNW c - Anodyne Magazine

Reviews of Jo Alexis:

“…underneath the sexy sweet sunbathing vocals of what no doubt is a tantalizing tortured angel in love. your sound reminds me of texas and mazzy star- but with relaxed production- and a real sweet and emotional sincerity…wow. “
Reviewed by: blueradio from Honolulu, Hawaii


“She makes me want to care about her feelings, what she is singing about. Her opening line almost reminds me of Bjork meets Natalie Merchant. It is rare these days to hear a woman's voice so gripping.This song has broken angel's wings “
Reviewed by: Wondernaut from Oklahoma City, Oklahoma


“I want to run away into the sun with the singer, I now know what true love really feels like. Please darling..... MARRY ME! I do not think I can live another day with out hearing your perfect singing over & over again. I have found the woman I have been looking for my whole life. “
Reviewed by Sean: Smellyfuzz from Amityville, New York


“That clear, sweet, somehow lonely voice...rings out over that guitar track...it's captivating,mesmerizing...calming to take in...introspective... lovely.... “
Reviewed by: gruntsky from Elwyn, Pennsylvania


“Again, the vocal melody and performance are very sugary and poppy sweet...and I mean that in a GOOD way. Without even having a visual image, I have a crush on this voice: cute yet dangerous and knows how to groove. great hook, sweet vocals.
-lanceKC- http://www.mp3.com/zygoteproductions
Reviewed by: lanceKC from Brooklyn, New York


“The best”
Reviewed by: giorgioge from Torino, Italy



- garageband.com

“Independent artists like…Jo Alexis…take heart and inspiration from musicians who have stayed on the map. Alexis sites Alanis Morissette, Sarah McLachlan and Sinead O’Connor as influences. Maintaining a…confident autonomy is songstress Jo Alexis, who is currently making her mark in Los Angeles by way of Philadelphia, Providence and Portland. Alexis, who recovered from a devastating accident in 1996 to resume her recording and performing career, takes the concern of pop tartlets lightly. With educative stops at grunge and country en route to her current style, she’s the type who would be making music no matter what the flavor of the month.”
By Joseph McCombs
- Ear Magazine