Music
The best kept secret in music
Press
"She’s created her own musical vision. Titilayo offers up a unique voice that cuts through the mass-produced, generic music we are inundated with on a daily basis.” - Ken Capobianco
“One of the areas most promising vocalists.” - Bob Blumenthal
"the ...singer who released a strong, extrtemely original debut CD last year, "Beware the Short Hair Girl" (Blue Pantry) isn't a neophyte when it comes to testing diverse waters." - Bob Young
“Titilayo has a self-released album . . . which reinvigorates a form that can suffer in the work of less talented singers.” - Jazz & Standards
"Ngwenya (Gwen-ya) has transported herself someplace else, as she does every time she steps onstage and delves iinto her unique brand of jazz, an American form of music she takes possession of and so fully infuses with herself that it sounds entirely fresh." - Sandy Coleman
Discography
Beware the Short Hair Girl (CD)
Goliath (EP)
Reinventing the Wheel (EP)
Photos
Feeling a bit camera shy
Bio
In Pursuit
Her name means “happiness forever” in Yoruba. Pursuit of that happiness has taken her on an eclectic musical journey –first emerging as a bandleader on the Boston music scene performing interpretations of jazz standards and funky, original tunes –then relocating to New York where she has been singing and songwriting for several years. She is presently writing songs that reflect her love for lyricism, folk, funk, jazz, samba, and rock.
Highlights
Highlights in her career include: an interview with Robert Segal on National Public Radio’s "All Things Considered"; feature articles in Billboard Magazine and The Boston Sunday Globe; and a nomination for best jazz vocalist in the Boston Music Awards. She is also remembered affectionately from "Sound & Spirit," the popular, nationally distributed public radio music program.
Aesthetic Influences
Titilayo’s eclectic core of aesthetic influences trace back to days studying English and African literature at Yale University. In addition to singing and touring with the gospel choir, she began writing and arranging vocal music as founder of Shades, an innovative vocal ensemble dedicated to performing traditional and contemporary spirituals, gospel, jazz, folk, and R&B. She further developed her creative methodology while earning a Master’s degree in Contemporary Improvisation at the New England Conservatory of Music. Her conservatory experience embraced music from the edge where ear training, atonal music, free improvisation, and hybrid third stream compositions were the norm.
African Heritage
Titilayo is a first generation American. Her mother is from Nigeria and her father from Mozambique. Her music is enriched with African proverb and sensibility. She continues to mine and explore this part of her cultural identity in her music.
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