Laurin Talese

Laurin Talese has been captivating audiences with her pure tone and poignant lyrics since childhood. A Cleveland, Ohio native, Laurin was classically trained at the Cleveland Institute of Music and later studied classical and jazz voice at the University of the Arts where she received a bachelor’s degree in Vocal Performance. Her debut album, Gorgeous Chaos, released in 2016, features a stellar line up of musicians and was met with wide acclaim.

Ms. Talese’s talents have allowed her to travel around the globe, performing in a host of internationally renowned venues including the Newport Jazz Festival, Jazz at Lincoln Center Shanghai, Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, and the New Jersey Performing Arts Center in 2018 when Laurin won the seventh annual Sarah Vaughan International Jazz Vocal Competition.

In 2019, Laurin Talese represented the United States as a cultural ambassador with American Music Abroad – an initiative of the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs and implemented by the Association of American Voices. Following in the footsteps of former Ambassadors Louis Armstrong, Dizzy Gillespie, Duke Ellington, and Dave Brubeck, Laurin Talese and a Novel Idea embarked on a three-week tour of eastern Europe. Traveling through Montenegro, Ukraine, and Poland, she performed for audiences and led educational workshops to bring jazz to new populations.

Vivian Green

Longevity relies on progression. A lasting catalog evolves with its creator, growing, changing, and expanding in tandem to the artist. Once again, platinum-selling and critically acclaimed singer, songwriter, actress, and activist Vivian Green continues to progress six albums into her illustrious career on the aptly titled, VGVI [Make Noise/Caroline]—pronounced “vee-gee-six.”

Driven by the show-stopping voice that enchanted millions upon her emergence with 2002’s gold-certified debut A Love Story, the record sees the songstress tread new territory yet again. “I wanted to do something brighter and more upbeat,” she reveals. “If a song was sad, it needed to have a certain attitude, energy, and life to it. I’ve done sad songs. I love them, of course. However, I wanted to evolve.”

That evolution began with the release of 2015’s Vivid. Going Top 10, the album earned her highest chart entry in over a decade on the Billboard Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums Chart, garnered acclaim from Vibe and YouKnowIGotSoul, and yielded a bona fide hit in the form of “Get Right Back To My Baby.” While she cumulatively averaged over 110K Spotify streams monthly, the single quickly approached the 2-million mark. As she wrapped up the triumphant tour cycle for Vivid, Vivian wasted no time getting right back into the studio to record what would become VGVI with producer Kwamé.

Amber Navran