Maestro Curtis, also known as Maestro Brian, is an American musician, composer, producer, arranger and music executive.

Biography

Curtis was born into a family of musicians. His mother, Lucille Wong Curtis Robinson ( Lucille Wong; 1937–1998), was a jazz and gospel singer who had performed across the

Louisiana Louisiana , group=pronunciation (French: ''La Louisiane'') is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It is the 20th-smallest by area and the 25th most populous of the 50 U.S. states. Louisiana is borde ...

bayou and the

San Francisco Bay Area The San Francisco Bay Area, often referred to as simply the Bay Area, is a populous region surrounding the San Francisco, San Pablo, and Suisun Bay estuaries in Northern California. The Bay Area is defined by the Association of Bay Area Go ...

. Her twin brother, Emile "Cy" Wong (1937–2019), was also a singer and songwriter, the latter of which connected to

Nat King Cole Nathaniel Adams Coles (March 17, 1919 – February 15, 1965), known professionally as Nat King Cole, was an American singer, jazz pianist, and actor. Cole's music career began after he dropped out of school at the age of 15, and continued f ...

's independent record label, K-C Records (1962–1963). Maestro eventually earned a scholarship to

Grambling State University Grambling State University (GSU, Grambling, or Grambling State) is a public historically black university in Grambling, Louisiana. Grambling State is home of the Eddie G. Robinson Museum and is listed on the Louisiana African American Heritage ...

. While there he played in the

Duke Ellington Edward Kennedy "Duke" Ellington (April 29, 1899 – May 24, 1974) was an American jazz pianist, composer, and leader of his eponymous jazz orchestra from 1923 through the rest of his life. Born and raised in Washington, D.C., Ellington was based ...

and

Count Basie William James "Count" Basie (; August 21, 1904 – April 26, 1984) was an American jazz pianist, organist, bandleader, and composer. In 1935, he formed the Count Basie Orchestra, and in 1936 took them to Chicago for a long engagement and the ...

Orchestras. At Grambling State he went on to attain bachelor's degrees in music (piano and voice), speech and theatre, and radio and television production with a minor in English and foreign languages.

is home of the Grambling Tiger Marching Band under the direction of Conrad Hutchinson Jr. While matriculating at Grambling's music department, Maestro was a student of world-renowned classical organist and pianist Curtis Mayo and pianist Delmar Wykoff, whose students were such notables as

Joe Sample Joseph Leslie Sample (February 1, 1939 – September 12, 2014) was an American keyboardist and composer. He was one of the founding members of The Jazz Crusaders in 1960, the band which shortened its name to "The Crusaders" in 1971. He remained ...

and Ronnie Laws just to name a few. During his undergraduate studies, Maestro was a member of a gospel group, "The Father's Children", who traveled with the president of Grambling, Joseph B. Johnson, as ambassadors for the university. It was during this two-year period that he sang and performed with Reverend

James Cleveland James Edward Cleveland (December 5, 1931 – February 9, 1991) was an American gospel singer, musician, and composer. Known as the King of Gospel, Cleveland was a driving force behind the creation of the modern gospel sound by incorporating trad ...

, Bobby Jones,

Edwin Hawkins Edwin Reuben Hawkins (August 19, 1943 – January 15, 2018) was an American gospel musician, pianist, choir master, composer, and arranger. He was one of the originators of the urban contemporary gospel sound. He (as leader of the Edwin Hawkins S ...

Walter Hawkins Walter Lee Hawkins (May 18, 1949 – July 11, 2010) was an American gospel singer, songwriter, composer, and pastor. An influential figure in urban contemporary gospel music, his career spanned more than four decades. He was consecrated to the ...

, Reverend

Daryl Coley Daryl Lynn Coley (October 30, 1955 – March 15, 2016) was an American Christian singer. At 14, Coley was a member of the ensemble "Helen Stephens and the Voices of Christ". He began performing with Edwin Hawkins in the Edwin Hawkins Singers and ...

Carlton Pearson Carlton D'metrius Pearson (born March 19, 1953) is an American minister and gospel music artist. At one time, he was the pastor of the Higher Dimensions Evangelistic Center Incorporated, later named the Higher Dimensions Family Church, which was ...

Andraé Crouch Andraé Edward Crouch (July 1, 1942 – January 8, 2015) was an American gospel singer, songwriter, arranger, record producer and pastor. Referred to as "the father of modern gospel music" by contemporary Christian and gospel music profess ...

, and

The Staple Singers The Staple Singers were an American gospel, soul, and R&B singing group. Roebuck "Pops" Staples (December 28, 1914 – December 19, 2000), the patriarch of the family, formed the group with his children Cleotha (April 11, 1934 – February 21 ...

. Shortly after leaving, "The Father's Children", he scored the music for two off-Broadway plays, Laid to Rest I and II a dramatic musical comedy collaboration with writer Gary Flannigan that utilized all of his original Dixie and big-band compositions, which earned him the Louisiana Governor's Award. During this time at

he was appointed the vocalist, pianist, and band leader for the University's jazz band (and a member of

Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia Fraternity of America (colloquially known as Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia, Phi Mu Alpha, or simply Sinfonia) () is an American collegiate social fraternity for men with a special interest in music. The fraternity is open to men "w ...

), affording him the opportunities to play with such jazz masters as Joe Williams,

Ella Fitzgerald Ella Jane Fitzgerald (April 25, 1917June 15, 1996) was an American jazz singer, sometimes referred to as the "First Lady of Song", "Queen of Jazz", and "Lady Ella". She was noted for her purity of tone, impeccable diction, phrasing, timing, in ...

Sarah Vaughan Sarah Lois Vaughan (March 27, 1924 – April 3, 1990) was an American jazz singer. Nicknamed "Sassy" and "Jazz royalty, The Divine One", she won two Grammy Awards, including the Lifetime Achievement Award, and was nominated for a total of nine ...

Carmen McRae Carmen Mercedes McRae (April 8, 1920 – November 10, 1994) was an American jazz singer. She is considered one of the most influential jazz vocalists of the 20th century and is remembered for her behind-the-beat phrasing and ironic interpre ...

Dizzy Gillespie John Birks "Dizzy" Gillespie (; October 21, 1917 – January 6, 1993) was an American jazz trumpeter, bandleader, composer, educator and singer. He was a trumpet virtuoso and improviser, building on the virtuosic style of Roy Eldridge but addi ...

, (all of whom appeared at black institutions such as Grambling State University, to teach, perform, and share their knowledge with young up and coming musicians carrying on the jazz legacy and tradition) and was one of the youngest pianists ever to play with the Count Basie Orchestra under Dr. Frank Foster. After completing his bachelor's degrees, Maestro earned his Master's degrees in orchestration & arrangement, and philosophy, and remained at the university 5 years after as a part of the teaching staff. Curtis went on to play with musicians such as

Phyllis Hyman Phyllis Linda Hyman (July 6, 1949 – June 30, 1995) was an American singer, songwriter, and actress. Hyman is best known for her music during the late 1970s through the early 1990s, some of her most notable songs were "You Know How to Love Me" ...

Will Downing Wilfred "Will" Downing (born November 29, 1963) is an American singer and songwriter. He is married to singer Audrey Wheeler, who was a member of the R&B group Unlimited Touch. Biography Downing enrolled in Erasmus Hall High School in Brooklyn, ...

Lenny Williams Leonard Charles Williams (born February 16, 1945)"Biography by Alex Henderson"
AllMus ...

George Benson George Washington Benson (born March 22, 1943) is an American guitarist, singer, and songwriter. He began his professional career at the age of 19 as a jazz guitarist. A former child prodigy, Benson first came to prominence in the 1960s, pla ...

and the

O'Jays The O'Jays are an American R&B group from Canton, Ohio, formed in 1958 and originally consisting of Eddie Levert, Walter Lee Williams, William Powell, Bobby Massey, and Bill Isles. The O'Jays made their first chart appearance with the minor hi ...

and has produced with music producers such as

Maurice White Maurice White (December 19, 1941 – February 4, 2016) was an American singer, musician, songwriter, and record producer. He was best known as the founder, leader, main songwriter, and producer of the band Earth, Wind & Fire, and served as the ...

(Earth, Wind & Fire founder) and

Hubert Eaves III Hubert Eaves III is a keyboardist, songwriter and record producer. In the early 1980s, he worked on hits by the dance act D-Train. He also did session work with Mtume. Biography Eaves was born in St. Paul, Minnesota, where he was taught piano ...

(the other half of the hit-making duo D-Train).

Musical career

Maestro Curtis and his group, Xpression, was eventually signed to

Earth, Wind & Fire Earth, Wind & Fire (EW&F or EWF) is an American band whose music spans the genres of jazz, R&B, soul, funk, disco, pop, big band, Latin, and Afro pop. They are among the best-selling bands of all time, with sales of over 90 million re ...

's record label, Kalimba Records. With White serving as executive producer the group's debut album, ''Power'', was released in June 2000 upon Kalimba.Xpression album credits, "Power" liner notes. Kalimba Records, 2000. Within the album's liner notes White exclaimed that:

The band is named Xpression because when all five members of the band come together to play it is a true expression of their musical cohesion. The music on this record is the result of the collaboration between very accomplished musicians, it is rooted in classic R&B with jazz undercurrents tailored for commercial appeal. It covers all the bases, it's energetic, sincere and sensitive. I hope you like it as much as I have enjoyed helping with its creation.

As well Curtis sits on the executive board of Hitman Records as the vice president of A&R. Hitman is an independent record label whose roster of artists span throughout the US. Along with the company's CEO C. Michael Brae he was featured in the magazine

Black Enterprise ''Black Enterprise'' is a black-owned multimedia company. Since the 1970s, its flagship product ''Black Enterprise'' magazine has covered African-American businesses with a readership of 3.7 million. The company was founded in 1970 by Earl G ...

. This came in a 2005 article entitled "Topping The Charts" which entailed the varying means of navigating the music industry. As well the piece went on to illustrate techniques used by independent record labels to develop and establish new artistes. Maestro as well holds private teaching sessions, workshops, and business classes based upon music and the music industry. He has also served as a panelist upon several music business conferences altogether. Maestro, his wife Nola, and their five children perform as a family band, "The Curtis Family C-Notes". The band competed on

America's Got Talent ''America's Got Talent'' (often abbreviated as ''AGT'') is a televised American talent show competition, and is part of the global ''Got Talent'' franchise created by Simon Cowell. The program is produced by Fremantle (as well as distribut ...

in 2021.

Author

Maestro Curtis and David Gibson are coauthors of the best selling book ''The Art of Producing'' published by Artist Pro. The book guides the reader through step-by-step processes on producing a record, utilizing various techniques, and most importantly, remaining technologically relevant.

Film

Maestro also starred in an independent Scifi feature film, "Origin", where he plays dual roles. The film was released in episodes upon YouTube during 2010.

Sound Healer

Maestro Curtis is an integral figure of the Sound Healing Community in North America. In addition to his private sound healing practice, he also teaches at one of the foremost sound healing institutes in the world, The Sound and Consciousness Institute, located in San Francisco. In 2007, the World Sound Healing Conference held in San Francisco, CA, he was one of the keynote speakers and musicians, amongst the leaders and pioneers in Sound Healing. During the final concert of the conference Maestro performed with legendary guitarist

Stanley Jordan Stanley Jordan (born July 31, 1959) is an American jazz guitarist noted for his playing technique, which involves tapping his fingers on the fretboard of the guitar with both hands. Music career Jordan was born in Chicago, Illinois, United St ...

. Maestro infuses his music with sound healing techniques, in fact, the Nutri Energetics System (NES), uses the music that he created alongside David Gibson in a project called, "Body Field Sound Healing", which is referred to as "Imprinted Music", that is "encoded with information to enhance your well-being." The music that Maestro contributed is used in conjunction with the

homeopathic Homeopathy or homoeopathy is a pseudoscientific system of alternative medicine. It was conceived in 1796 by the German physician Samuel Hahnemann. Its practitioners, called homeopaths, believe that a substance that causes symptoms of a dise ...

, natural and non-invasive healing techniques that NES specializes in.

References

External links

Maestro Curtis YouTube Channel

Maestro Curtis website

Curtis Family Cnotes web page
{{DEFAULTSORT:Curtis, Maestro 1956 births Living people Grambling State University alumni Place of birth missing (living people)