•••••••••• MARI FAVORITE GOSPEL MP3 PLAYERS ••••••••••

TONEX
ISRAEL HOUGHTON & NEW BREED

Mari West

Drummer, Percussionist

In 1942, Viola Smith, a veteran drummer, sent shock waves through the readership of Down Beat by extolling the existence of “hep girls,” female jazz musicians “who could sit in any jam session and hold their own. “A firestorm of letters-to-the-editor ensued. passionately debating the topic; While this controversy may seem hopelessly outdated in an era of such commanding female jazz performers as horn players Jane Bunnett, Ingrid Jensen, and Jane Ira Bloom, and drummers Cindy Blackmen, Sheila E, Terri Lyne Carrington and Sylvia Cuenca. Its effects linger. Women who play jazz still encounter befuddled reception to their very presence. “I’ve never seen a woman do that!” or the ubiquitous. “You play good for a girl!” or “You play like a man!” Commentary about women in jazz sticks at fundamental questions; Do they exist? Are they serious? Can they play?

After listening to the dynamic and powerful drummer/percussionist Mari West, the answer is unequivocally YES! Mari has become one of the most up-and-coming percussionists today. From Osaka, Japan, and used to be based in Oakland, CA for 15 years.

Mari was the first female drummer in Osaka, Mari quickly made a name for herself and was able to learn from the many traveling American musicians. She even lived out one of her dreams of being the first female Big Band drummer in Japan. She led her own group and toured Japan extensively. But the urge to move to America and hone her skills prompted a move to New York. After playing in some groups, plus touring the East Coast with singer Margaret Wilson she decided to move to California to continue her quest to be one of the good drummers in music.

A mainstay on the West Coast, Mari has performed with many of the top funk, r&b and hip-hop groups as well as Frankye Kelly, Ricardo Scales, Yancie Taylor, Alvon Johnson and played the Drifters show, Evny Fasion show and many others. She has played Yoshi’s world jazz house, the Monterey Blues Festival, San Jose Jazz Festival and many concerts for Bay Area radio stations KKSF and KBLX. She started to play Gospel music recently and played show with choir from Cecil Williams Glide Memorial Church and The Monterey jazz Festival with the Gospel group. After that Mari was really getting into Gospel music. She used to play Kirk Franklin, John.P.Kee, Fred Hammon etc ... and got crazy about Israel Houghton & New Breed and Tonex and started study thier music.

Now, Mari decided to move back to NYC to create her skills better and she will start to play music with her funky drums soon.

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