Press Releases
June 21, 2005
New England Morning Named Among the Latest and Hottest in Black Music in EBONY Magazine’s July 2005 Issue
“Just in time for cool summer listening,” TBM Records’ president/producer Tanya Bickley announced today that Darryl Tookes’ solo album New England Morning, featuring Joseph Joubert, is listed in the July 2005 EBONY magazine as “the latest and hottest in Black Music!”
It’s a busy month for Darryl Tookes who is one of the twelve recording artists featured in Salute! The World War II Tribute Album, which will be in stores on Tuesday, June 28th. Darryl, along with performers Crystal Gayle, Lee Greenwood, Lou Christie, and Johnny Kemp will be appearing at the June 28th Washington, D.C. Salute! Album Launch at Arlington National Cemetery. Back home in Connecticut, Darryl will be promoting Salute! at the Gramophone Shop in New Canaan, CT for a June 30th Launch party and an album signing on Saturday, July 2nd at 1:00 PM.
June 10, 2005
Darryl Tookes Joins A Star-Studded Roster in “Salute! The World War II Tribute Album” Available in Stores on Tuesday, June 28th
For further information, contact Tanya Bickley, 203-966-5216, 800-965-3347
Album Signing at Gramophone Shop, Sat, July 2, 12:30 PM
Two Connecticut men, Darryl Tookes and Rod McBrien, are closely involved with Salute! The World War II Tribute Album. Singer/songwriter Darryl Tookes of Stamford is one of the twelve recording artists who sing on the album and Executive Producer Rod McBrien, although based in New York City, also resides in Avon. As part of the album’s June 28th launch, the Gramophone Shop, 103 Main Street, New Canaan, is sponsoring an album signing by Darryl Tookes on Saturday, July 2nd at 12:30 pm.
The Tribute Album features popular songs from the World War II era performed by some of America’s leading contemporary recording artists. The mission of The Tribute Album is to provide a lasting tribute to the exceptional generation of Americans who served both in the trenches as well as on the home front through a pivotal moment of American history. A portion of the proceeds from the sale of the Album will be donated to the American Experience Foundation to benefit America’s veterans. Charles Osgood and Senator Bob Dole wrote the album’s liner notes.
Rod McBrien was inspired to produce the Tribute Album when asked to create a fundraiser for the World War II Memorial. Senator Bob Dole, while spearheading the efforts to build the Memorial, was instrumental in encouraging the production of the The Tribute Album. President Bill Clinton, who signed the law authorizing the establishment of the National World War II Memorial, also lent his support. A partnership with Mike Curb of Curb Records brought the Album to reality. Mike Curb and Rod McBrien are the Executive Producers of Salute! The World War II Tribute Album, and the CD will be released on June 28th on the Curb Records label.
Featured songs include:
- You Always Hurt the One You Love performed by Crystal Gayle
- Rum and Coca-Cola performed by Johnny Kemp
- The Nearness of You performed by Kenny Rogers
- Cow Cow Boogie performed by The Judds
- Till the End of Time performed by Lee Greenwood
- Don't Sit Under the Apple Tree performed by John Pizzarelli
- Over the Rainbow performed by Kimberley Locke
- Dance With A Dolly (With a Hole in Her Stockin') performed by Zachary Richard
- Till Then performed by Darryl Tookes
- Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy performed by Marie Osmond
- Dream performed by Lou Christie
- God Bless America performed by LeAnn Rimes
Most recently Darryl Tookes performed at a benefit for the Boston Foundation for Sight at Fenway Park on June 4th. He has worked with scores of the world’s major performing and recording artists, sung on two Grammy Award winning West Side Story albums, and performed at the White House. Darryl worked on Sting’s Brand New Day album and sang on its European tour. Mr. Tookes has also composed and performed hundreds of commercial spots for radio and TV.
Throughout his twenty-five year career, Darryl Tookes has stayed true to his inner musical voice and has continued to compose, arrange and perform soaring melodies and poetic lyrics in the tradition of his heroes, the grand masters Bernstein, Copland, LeGrand, Mancini, Bacharach, Ellington, and Jobim.
His discography includes six solo albums on both major and independent labels:
- New England Morning, 2003, TBM Records
- Babies and Balloons, 2000, Lifeguard Inc.
- Red Bird, 2000, MCA Universal, the Philippines
- Travels of An Ordinary Man, 1996, Dondido Music
- Rendezvous, 1994, Capitol Records
- Darryl Tookes, 1989, SBK Records, featuring Billboard hit “Lifeguard”
Rod McBrien is one of the premier director/producers of American music today. His company, Rod McBrien Productions, is a highly regarded, New York-based award-winning full-service music supplier specializing in creating and producing music for commercial recordings, feature films, radio and TV advertising and special events. RMP is located at 317 West 83rd Street, New York, NY 10024. For more information contact Rod McBrien Productions at 212-595-2211 or rodmcbrien@aol.com.
The World War II Tribute Album has been produced to honor the great World War II generation that served our country both in uniform and on the home front during the Second World War. A portion of the proceeds from the sale of the album will be donated to the American Experience Foundation to benefit America's veterans. An advisory committee comprised of nationally recognized leaders involved with veterans’ affairs will recommend the distribution of funds. This committee includes Senator Bob Dole, General Wilma Vaught, the Honorable Herschel Gober and Heather French Henry.
Senator Bob Dole and Abe Pollin, owner of the Washington Wizards, and Brigadier General Wilma Vaught, founder of the Women in Military Service for America Memorial, in association with PSA, are hosting the launch party for Salute! The World War II Tribute Album on June 28th from 6 – 8 p.m. at the Women’s Memorial, located at the entrance of Arlington National Cemetery. Emcee will be Bill Hanbury, president of the Washington, D.C. Convention & Tourism Corp.
November 17, 2003
New England Morning Nominated for Seven Grammy Awards
For further information, contact Tanya Bickley, 203-966-5216, 800-965-3347
New England Morning, a romantic Pop album featuring Darryl Tookes and Joseph Joubert was in the first cut for seven Grammy nominations. Released by New Canaan based, TBM Records in April 2003, the album has received recognition in the following categories: Record of the Year, Album of the Year, Song of the Year (“New England Morning”), Best Pop Duo or Group with Vocal (“Tomorrow’s Never Promised”), Best Pop Vocal Album, Best Instrumental Composition (“New England Morning” as performed by a live 65-piece orchestra), and Best Producer. Says TBM president/producer Tanya Bickley, “After all the back breaking work, choices and decisions, it was thrilling and humbling to read the Grammy ballot and see Darryl’s, Joseph’s and my work among so many talented musicians, composers, arrangers and producers. TBM has the highest hopes for the album and Darryl and Joseph’s success. Their beautiful music penetrates straight to the heart, so personal, so intimate.”
To quote Ambient Recording Company’s Mark Conese, “They are about as good as any two humans get.” When Tookes’ luminous voice and Joubert’s virtuoso piano unite in song, their melody transports listeners to “places I want to be.” Do they perform smooth jazz, romantic pop, sophisticated cabaret, love songs for orchestra, music for a mellow evening at home, music to calm the savage beast at work? All or one, it’s hard to choose. With talent and style that defy the confinement of niche, it’s more accurate to say, they are, quite simply, Tookes & Joubert.
New England Morning culminates their ten-year partnership as singer/composer and arranger/ accompanist. Arranged with the color and palette of a full orchestra in mind, the seven Tookes originals and five cover songs are expressive and conversational, vulnerable and honest, personal and intimate, each freshly painted by the Tookes/Joubert musical imagination. Darryl Tookes’ voice and Joseph Joubert’s piano pour out together, an elixir of liquid gold. The last bonus track features Tookes singing the title song, accompanied by Joubert and a 65-piece orchestra performing his lush and lyrical arrangement.
The album was recorded on Direct Stream Digital at Ambient Recording’s converted North Stamford, CT barn, whose studio’s surfaces are diffused with soft pine wood, hand painted with 15 layers of violin varnish. Mark Conese recorded Darryl Tookes with a Brauner microphone, custom designed and modified by Klaus Heyne, while Joseph Joubert performed on a Steinway D Concert Grand and was recorded using two Shure microphones. Ambient Audio Labs 1070A microphone pre-amplifiers were used exclusively throughout the recording.
For more information, go to www.newenglandmorning.com. New England Morning is available for purchase at the Gramophone Shop and Walter Stewart’s in New Canaan, The Harrel Shop in Darien, Sally’s Place in Westport, and at www.cdbaby.com and www.amazon.com.
April 3, 2003
TBM Records
New Canaan, Connecticut
TBM Records will release on April 3rd NEW ENGLAND
MORNING, a hybrid SACD album. The recording has been in the works
since November 2000 when TBM ‘s Tanya Bickley and performing
artist and composer Darryl Tookes began exploring the possibility
of creating an album of romantic and inspirational love songs. NEW
ENGLAND MORNING will be sold on www.newenglandmorning.com, the album’s
website, and initially at the Gramophone Shop and Walter Stewart’s
in New Canaan, CT, The Harrel Shop and Johnny’s in Darien,
CT, and Sally’s Place in Westport, CT. TBM plans to expand
retail distribution regionally and nationally.
Passionately committed to NEW ENGLAND MORNING, Ms.
Bickley says, “Darryl Tookes and Joseph Joubert fill a spectrum
of recorded music that is rarely heard. Romantic Pop, Romantic Chamber,
or Neo-Classical Jazz could define them. But, we believe, they defy
market niche or definition and are, quite simply, Darryl Tookes
and Joseph Joubert, performing at their prime.” Ms. Bickley
con-tinued, “Every stop sign or delay we have experienced
in the last two-and-a-half years has ended positively. Pre-release
responses to the album lead us to believe NEW ENGLAND MORNING will
captivate audiences. Listeners say they welcome the beautiful melodies
and wise, literate lyrics. They remark that Darryl Tookes’
singing has a deeply spiritual quality that makes them feel at peace.
Not unnoticed is the virtuoso quality of their work. When Ambient
Recording’s Mark Conese came to Darryl with news of Direct
Stream Digital and Hybrid SACD’s, we thought, ‘What
a bonanza to record in a format that weds the warmth of analog to
digital wizardry– and to be able to make it available to music
lovers either on standard CD players or SACD (Super Audio CD) players.’
We have been surrounded by family, friends, fans, and colleagues
who have given their very best to help us bring this beautiful,
beautiful music to the marketplace to be enjoyed by listeners everywhere.”
TBM Records was founded in 1992 by Tanya Bickley
in order to produce, manufacture and distribute the spoken-word,
audio series “Frederick Douglass’s Greatest Speeches,”
featuring Fred Morsell. The independent record company is a wholly
owned division of Tanya Bickley Enterprises, Inc., an entertainment
and speakers bureau which is located in New Canaan, Connecticut.
Between 1992 and 1995, TBM released THE MEANING OF THE FOURTH OF
JULY FOR THE NEGRO (also known as “Frederick Douglass’s
Fifth of July Speech”), THE LESSON OF THE HOUR, and WHY I
BECAME A WOMAN’S RIGHTS MAN. Ten years later, there continues
to be a call for the albums, mainly from students, teachers , and
others who admire Frederick Douglass.
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Artist Bios
Darryl Tookes • Joseph
Joubert
Darryl Tookes
Performing Artist, Composer and Arranger
Darryl Tookes composes, arranges, and performs music
in the tradition of his heroes, maestros Leonard Bernstein, Aaron
Copland, Michel LeGrand, Henry Mancini, Burt Bacharach and Duke
Ellington. He composes and sings songs about the things that matter:
love, pain, joy, and loyalty. Wrapped in soaring melody and lyrics
that go straight to the heart. Uplifting songs that make the spirit
soar, romantic songs of loyalty between a man and a woman, haunting
songs for the broken hearted, sexy songs that set the feet to dancing,
peaceful songs that reassure the spirit, and gentle songs that bring
men and women, boys and girls home to the goodness in their hearts.
With more than twenty years’ experience as
a singer, pianist, composer and arranger, Mr. Tookes worked on Sting’s
multiple Grammy award winning release Brand New Day and performed
with its Europe 2000 tour. He has also worked with Elton John, Leonard
Bernstein, Aretha Franklin, Carly Simon, Ray Charles, Michael Jackson,
Barry Manilow, Quincy Jones, Diana Ross, Roberta Flack, Vanessa
Williams, Cristina Aquilera, Dave Grusin, Natalie Cole, Peter, Paul
& Mary, George Benson, Gerry Mulligan, Nancy Wilson, Burt Bacharach,
Dave Valentin, Vaneese Thomas, Korn, Luther Vandross, Toninho Horta,
Darlene Love, Lionel Ritchie, Maya Angelou, Maxi Priest, Dionne
Warwick, Carmen McRae, Hubert Laws, Laurie Anderson, Al Jarreau,
Jewel, Teddy Pendergrass, Deniece Williams, Jennifer Holliday, and
many others.
Mr. Tookes was the pianist and musical director for
In Performance at the White House–The Singer and the Song,
a PBS Special. President Clinton personally congratulated him on
the new life his arrangement brought to George and Ira Gershwin’s
“Fascinatin’ Rhythm.” That same year, he toured
and recorded with Nile Rogers and Chic and recorded the sacred gospel
epic Revelation with Judith Jameson for the Alvin Ailey Dance Company.
Darryl has sung in Spanish with Mexico’s legendary Juan Gabriel,
in French with superstar Patricia Kaas, and in Japanese with jazz
great Katsumi Horii.
His television credits include the theme from The
Guiding Light, his duet with Diva Gray, “Hold On To Love.”
He has appeared on The David Letterman Show, Live with Regis and
Kathy Lee, Saturday Night Live, The Rosie O’Donnell Show,
and a variety of television entertainment programs. His voice is
also a favorite among Sesame Street fans. He also has the distinction
of singing on two Grammy Award winning West Side Story albums, one,
the last produced by Leonard Bernstein; the other produced by Dave
Grusin.
An award winning composer and performer of vocal
solos for ad campaigns, he has sung on literally thousands of spots
for companies including AT&T, the U.S. Army, McDonald’s,
Chrysler, Continental Airlines, Olive Garden, Miller Brewing, The
NBA, New York Mets, Major League Baseball, Mobil Oil, Waldbaum’s,
A&P, Hershey’s, Kellogg’s, and Proctor and Gamble.
Darryl Tookes’ ancestry mingles Cherokee, African
and European roots, and his musical talent comes from his maternal
side. His grandmother Benveneta Washington was a star on Broadway,
a Warner Bros. signee for film, and a vocal soloist with the Hall
Johnson Choir, while his mother Leona Washington was a classical,
jazz and sacred chanteuse, who left the stage for her family. Born
in the Bronx, Darryl and his brother Hansel moved to Tallahassee
with their parents when they were young boys. Their father, Hansel
Tookes, is the legendary Florida A&M golf and football coach.
After graduating from Florida A&M magna cum laude in physics,
Darryl forsook MIT and medical school for his musical career. Mr.
Tookes lives in Connecticut with his wife and four children.
DISCOGRAPHY:
- New England Morning, 2003, TBM Records
- Babies and Balloons, 2000, Lifeguard Inc.
- Red Bird, 2000, MCA Universal, the Philippines.
- Travels of An Ordinary Man, 1996, Dondido Music, Five Star
rated independent record.
- Rendezvous, 1994, Capitol Records.
- Darryl Tookes, 1989, SBK Records, featuring Billboard hit “Lifeguard”.
On New England Morning Darryl Tookes and Joseph Joubert perform a cornucopia of twelve love songs, including “Perfect One,” an ode to long, loyal love; the beloved hymn “The King of Love;” Sting’s “Fields of Gold;” and the Sherwin/ Maschwitz classic “A Nighingale Sang in Berkeley Square.” On the last track, Darryl performs the title song “New England Morning,” accompanied by Joseph Joubert and a 65-piece orchestra playing Mr. Joubert’s soaring arrangement.
Darryl Tookes has recorded five solo albums since
1989. As the flagship of its newly-
formed label, SBK Records released his debut album, Darryl Tookes
to critical acclaim. An instant success on the Billboard charts,
the record featured “Lifeguard,” which Darryl wrote
in dedication to his grandfather; “Rio,” visions of
Brazil; and “Mama,” a joyous remembrance of his beloved
mother. Capitol Records’ Rendezvous, released in 1994, highlights
Tookes’ smooth, jazz-oriented “Joyce, the Australian,”
“Paradise,” and “If I Could Just Hold Her Again.”
Mr. Tookes’ Five Star rated independent record
Travels of An Ordinary Man was released by Dondido Music in 1996
with musicians Omar Hakim, Howard Levy, Chuck Loeb, Mark Feldman,
Eugene Friesen, Dennis Collins, Jerry Brooks, Bashiri Johnson, and
Joseph Joubert. The album has such Tookes classics as “Back
to the Garden,” “Brighter Day,” “Nazareth,”
and “Africans in the Diaspora.” Released in 2000 by
MCA Universal in the Philippines, Red Bird features the hauntingly
beautiful title song, as well as the jaunty “Breathless, Restless,
Helpless,” and the joyous “God Blest.”
With thanks “to the One who loves us all,”
Babies and Balloons, also 2000, reflects the artistic collaboration
of Darryl Tookes, Joseph Joubert, and Frank DeMaio. The first three
tracks are the products of Darryl’s composing collaboration
with Frank Floyd’s poetic verse. Of special note, through
the wizardry of modern technology, Darryl sings a duet of “Smoke
Gets In Your Eyes” with the voice of his late mother, Leona
Washington.
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Joseph Joubert
Accompanist and Orchestrator
The original conductor for the Three Mo’ Tenors
tour, Joseph Joubert is also the arranger/ conductor of the Three
Mo’ Tenors BMG recording. He was nominated for a Grammy in
2000 as producer/ arranger/ keyboardist for the Centurymen’s
Beautiful Star CD in the category of Best Classical Cross-Over Album,
the same year he recorded Red Bird with Darryl Tookes.
Joseph Joubert was born in New York City. At the
age of eight he began playing the piano. More serious study with
Dora Zaslavsky commenced at age fifteen and within one year Mr.
Joubert made his Town Hall debut with full orchestra. After advanced
study and graduation from the Manhattan School of Music with Bachelor
of Music and Master of Music degrees, Mr. Joubert began to enjoy
wider recognition as a solo pianist. He won the nation-wide competition
of the National Association of Negro Musicians while success in
other competitions resulted in performances of concerti with full
orchestra and participation in master classes offered by such virtuosos
as Andre Watts, John Browning, and Eugene Istomin.
Joseph Joubert’s accomplishments are wide ranging
and his talent has taken him not only across the continent, but
also throughout the world. Mr. Joubert has appeared in New York
City’s major concert halls, including Carnegie Hall, Avery
Fisher Hall, and Alice Tully Hall. He has performed with the Manhattan
Symphony, the Bronx Arts Ensemble, the New Philharmonia, and the
West Palm Beach Symphony. For two seasons, he served as staff pianist
for the Metropolitan Opera Company’s revival of Porgy and
Bess. In that production, the company opened featuring Mr. Joubert
as pianist “Jasbo Brown.” Abroad, Mr. Joubert has performed
at the Pushkin Museum of Arts in Moscow, Russia and with the Hinds
Trio at the International Festival of Two Worlds in Spoleto, Italy
and in Nice, France.
He received a Drama Desk Award nomination for his
work as orchestrator for the Off-Broadway show Violet and is also
credited as conductor and pianist on the Revelations CD for the
Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre. As a soloist he also played
Duke Ellington’s “New World A-Comin’” and
Gershwin’s “I Got Rhythm Variations” with the
Marin Symphony and orchestrated “Sisters of Freedom,”
a 40-minute work which was premiered by the Milwaukee Symphony.
As an accompanist, critics have hailed Mr. Joubert’s
“sensitive and supportive” perform-ances as well as
the “uncommon tonal beauty” of his playing. He has collaborated
with
Kathleen Battle, Florence Quivar, Wilhelmenia Fernandez, Marvis
Martin, Simon Estes, Hilda Harris, William Brown, Esther Hinds and
Barbara Conrad, to name a few. With Ms. Battle he appeared in concert
at the White House for President Bill Clinton and President Boris
Yeltsin. At that performance, Mr. Joubert performed his arrangement
of “Amazing Grace.” Afterwards President Yeltsin requested
the sheet music to take back with him to Russia. Mr. Joubert has
since transcribed that performance, which is published with Hinshaw
Music.
Mr. Joubert has enjoyed success in musical direction.
For five years (1988-1993) he was Musical Director for Judy Collins.
Together they performed with the London Symphony and in the United
States with the symphony orchestras of Atlanta, Charleston, Chicago,
Dallas, Dayton, Houston, Kansas City, Louisville, Milwaukee, Pittsburgh,
and Portland, Oregon. Joseph Joubert served as Assistant Musical
Director of the Broadway show Five Guys Named Moe and was assistant
conductor/pianist for the award-winning Big River. In Kobe, Japan
he was Musical Director for the Harlem Kid Symphony. As Musical
Director for the Gala of New York’s Shakespeare Festival,
Mr. Joubert worked with Kathleen Battle, Kevin Kline, Wynton Marsalis,
Melba Moore, Mandy Patinkin, Ben Vereen, and Christopher Walken.
Mr. Joubert is also a record producer and arranger/orchestrator.
He has successfully produced and arranged for Sony Records Tremaine
Hawkins’ CD To A Higher Place and The Promised Land. His other
recording collaborations include those with Ashford and Simpson,
Diana Ross, George Benson, Patti LaBelle, Whitney Houston, Cissy
Houston, Dionne Warwick, Luther Vandross, Patti Austin, Diane Reeves,
Wintley Phipps, O.C. Smith, Chuck Jackson, Cuba Gooding, Florence
Quivar, Barbara Conrad, and the Boys Choir of Harlem. Mr. Joubert
also provided specialized arrangements and orchestrations for the
huge CD collection entitled The Music Connection, released by Silver
Burdett Ginn.
Mr. Joubert has performed Duke Ellington’s “New
World A-Comin’” and Gershwin’s “I Got Rhythm
Variations” with the Marin Symphony. Lauded by the Milwaukee
Journal Sentinel for his “brawny orchestrations,” Mr.
Joubert orchestrated in 1996 “Sisters of Freedom,” a
40-minute work which was premiered by the Milwaukee Symphony and
featured The Harlem Spiritual Ensemble.
Mr. Joubert resides in New Jersey with his wife, the
opera singer Renay Peters Joubert.
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