Joyce Cooling is an American jazz guitarist, vocalist, and songwriter. She has performed with

Joe Henderson Joe Henderson (April 24, 1937 – June 30, 2001) was an American jazz tenor saxophonist. In a career spanning more than four decades, Henderson played with many of the leading American players of his day and recorded for several prominent l ...

Stan Getz Stanley Getz (February 2, 1927 – June 6, 1991) was an American jazz saxophonist. Playing primarily the tenor saxophone, Getz was known as "The Sound" because of his warm, lyrical tone, with his prime influence being the wispy, mellow timbre of ...

, Mark Murphy,

Al Jarreau Alwin Lopez Jarreau (March 12, 1940 – February 12, 2017) was an American singer and musician. His 1981 album '' Breakin' Away'' spent two years on the ''Billboard'' 200 and is considered one of the finest examples of the Los Angeles pop and R ...

, and

Charlie Byrd Charlie Lee Byrd (September 16, 1925 – December 2, 1999) was an American jazz guitarist. Byrd was best known for his association with Brazilian music, especially bossa nova. In 1962, he collaborated with Stan Getz on the album '' Jazz Samba' ...

Music career

Cooling was born into a musical family. Her mother, a music teacher, was a classical music aficionado. After moving to California from New York in the early 1980s, Cooling began sitting in on the percussion classes of Ghanaian drummer C. K. Ladzekpo. Integrating the polyrhythms of West African music with her passion for melody and harmony, Cooling focused her attention on guitar and taught herself to play by ear. She met keyboardist Jay Wagner on San Francisco's Brazilian jazz circuit. Wagner was an original member of the San Francisco-based group Viva Brasil. She joined Viva Brasil part-time in 1988 as a guitarist and background vocalist. Cooling's and Wagner's chemistry and passion for songwriting resulted in their first collaboration, ''Cameo'' (1989), recorded with members of Viva Brasil. Cooling and Wagner formed a band in 1990, performing and recording for the next six years. By 1996 they had completed their second self-produced album, ''Person2Person''. The album came to the attention of

Heads Up International Heads Up International is a jazz record label that was formed in Cleveland, Ohio. It was bought by the Concord Music Group in 2005. History The label got its name from a jazz group that Dave Love formed while attending North Texas State Universi ...

, which signed the duo to a two-record deal. They added four additional tracks and renamed the album ''Playing It Cool''. The album was released internationally in the fall of 1997. Cooling's second Heads Up album, ''Keeping Cool'', was released in the spring of 1999. In 2000, Cooling and Wagner signed with GRP/Verve Music Group and released their fourth album, ''Third Wish'', on September 11, 2001. In October 2001, Cooling recorded "The Christmas Song" with

Lee Ritenour Lee Mack Ritenour ( ; born January 11, 1952) is an American jazz guitarist who has been active since the late 1960s. Biography Ritenour was born on January 11, 1952, in Los Angeles, California, United States. At the age of eight he started play ...

for the 2001 GRP holiday compilation ''Making Spirits Bright''. Cooling and Wagner's fifth album, ''This Girl's Got to Play'', was released by

Narada Narada ( sa, नारद, ), or Narada Muni, is a sage divinity, famous in Hindu traditions as a travelling musician and storyteller, who carries news and enlightening wisdom. He is one of mind-created children of Brahma, the creator god. He ...

. Cooling's sixth album, ''Revolving Door'', was released by Narada Jazz when it merged with

Blue Note In jazz and blues, a blue note is a note that—for expressive purposes—is sung or played at a slightly different pitch from standard. Typically the alteration is between a quartertone and a semitone, but this varies depending on the musical co ...

in 2006. Although Cooling had been a member of the

National Alliance on Mental Illness The National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) is a United States-based nonprofit organization originally founded as a grassroots group by family members of people diagnosed with mental illness. NAMI identifies its mission as "providing advoca ...

(NAMI), she became a national advocate for the organization with ''Revolving Door''. She has performed at NAMI national and regional events across the country. She and Wagner donate a portion of the proceeds from the sale of their albums to NAMI. They released their song "It's Feeling Like Christmas" in 2008 with an accompanying music video produced by Progressive Pulse.

Discography

* ''Cameo'' (Nucleus, 1989) * ''Playing It Cool'' ( Heads Up, 1997) * ''Keeping Cool'' (Heads Up, 1999) * ''Third Wish'' ( GRP, 2001) * ''This Girl's Got to Play'' ( Narada Jazz, 2004) * ''Revolving Door'' (Narada Jazz, 2006) * "It's Feeling Like Christmas" igital single(Group 2, 2008) * ''Global Cooling'' (Group 2, 2009) * "The Holiday's On" igital single(Group 2, 2014) * ''Living Out Loud'' igital 5-song EP(Group 2, 2019)

References

External links

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Audio interview
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cooling, Joyce 1969 births Living people 20th-century American guitarists American jazz guitarists Women jazz guitarists Heads Up International artists Narada Productions artists Smooth jazz guitarists 20th-century American women guitarists 21st-century American women