STORYWRAPS: Jazzy Ash "Swing Set"

Jazzy Ash Releases Four Family Music Album

(Featuring Fresh Versions of African American Rhymes and Songs)

"SWING SET"

Unwrapping some info for you...

Multiple award-winning and nationally touring artist Jazzy Ash is back with her fourth album for all ages, Swing Set. Arranged and enhanced for a new generation, these 14 classic songs, rhythms and rhymes represent and celebrate a tradition handed down by African-American children, adults, and musicians from the mid-19th century to the early jazz era.

After years of deep research, Jazzy Ash gathers up these time-tested tunes, polishes them up, and presents them to new audience. The songs on Swing Set are interspersed with percussive playground rhymes. Each track is at least 90 years old. Produced by Chris Schlarb at his completely analog studio Big Ego, these tracks vary from sassy clapping playground rhymes, to soulful lullabies and classic New Orleans melodies, all presented in style by Jazzy Ash, her band, with children’s voices sprinkled in to invite listener engagement. Swing Set also features Washington DC based artist Uncle Devin on “Hambone,” and tap dancer Sarah Reich (Postmodern Jukebox) on “Ballin’ the Jack.”

“The history behind these songs and rhymes is so rich ,” explains Jazzy Ash. “As I was researching these and sharing my arrangements with my students and teachers in my workshops, I realized how many generations of people have been personally impacted by these traditional tunes. Many of these songs and games were largely carried along by little girls on the playground throughout time, and it’s not often that we celebrate the work of women. I wanted to convey the grit and soul of that grassroots heritage with these recordings.”

About Jazzy Ash...

Jazzy Ash grew up with her mother from New Orleans and her father from Trinidad. Music infused her home life every day, from jazz to Caribbean rhythms to the lively children’s music which was playing all the time for the kids in her mother’s home day care. She often spent summers in New Orleans with her aunts and grandparents, enjoying the culture and music that permeated their West Bank neighborhood.

Later on, after becoming mom to two sons, she earned a degree in early childhood development and embarked on her music education program, Leaping Lizards Music.

Jazzy Ash's NOLA visits, expecially during Mardi Gras, reaffirmed the importance of exploring this part of her heritage.

Ash and her band, Jazzy Ash and the Leaping Lizards, have had the pleasure of performing at Lincoln Center and Symphony Space in New York, Getty Center in California, and World Cafe Live in Philadelphia, Wolf Trap National Park for the Performing Arts, and Ann Arbor Summer Festival, among other prestigious venues.

Additionally, Jazzy Ash continues to focus on education, regularly teaching performing arts to children and music education to educators. Most recently, Jazzy Ash has hosted workshops for National HeadStart, NAEYC, and MaxFunCon.

Her music has been featured by LA Times and NPR, and continues to top the Children's Music Charts. Her fourth album, Swing Set, will be released in July 2017.

Find out more about her at:

www.jazzyash.com

Track List for "Swing Set"

*Li'l Liza Jane