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Sandra has also performed at the Detroit Jazz festival, the Toronto Jazz Festival and the Michigan Jazz Festival as well as the legendary Greenmill in Chicago, Il and as well a tour of the United Kingdom.  She has also performed in the stage production of Cheek to Cheek. She has also performed with big bands led by trumpeters Gary Greenfelder and Johnny Trudell. Sandra Bomar will make your Jazz experience amazing!

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Chicago jazz singer Elaine Dame sings – and people stop and listen. Since 1996, the woman Time Out Chicago calls “a jazz dynamo” and “a gem in the city’s vocal jazz scene” has been turning heads and capturing attention at the nation’s finest clubs and venues. From her multiple appearances at the world-famous Rainbow Room, Michael Feinstein’s 54 Below, The Triad Theater and The Metropolitan Room in New York City to her monthly Chicago residency at Winter’s Jazz Club, to her performances at the 2015 and 2017 Chicago Jazz Festivals, to headlining venerable jazz clubs from coast to coast, Elaine brings her joyful, virtuosic interpretations to vintage vocal gems and modern standards alike.

It’s the joy she exudes with every note that make Elaine’s performances unforgettable. A graduate of The Theater Repertory Program at California State Northridge, Elaine worked for years in Chicago’s theater scene before turning her whole focus to jazz. She’s a singer who understands the importance of stage presence. It’s no wonder the Chicago Reader wrote, “Ms. Dame has a winning stage presence and a chameleon-like vocal flexibility.”

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Robert McCarther is a singer/songwriter whose smooth vocals and ability to “swing” is bound to set anybody’s stage on fire. A native of Detroit, Robert has performed in clubs and private venues throughout Michigan, Florida, Louisiana, Canada and Illinois. This man is no newcomer to the stage. His credits include leading roles in Ron Milner’s off Broadway acapella musical. “Seasons Reasons”, Dee Dee McNeil’s 1999 musical play “After Hours: Great Music”, a jazz play, also written by Dee Dee McNeil, and directed by Edward G Smith. “Swinging with the Spirits”, (a tribute to the historic jazz voice of Ed Love) and the 2003 Odellic group production, “Trouble In Paradise Valley”.
Robert’s father, Louis Barnett was a popular saxophonist. For a time, Robert toured as lead vocalist with his father’s sextet throughout Michigan and in Canada. He was also part of the well-respected vocalese group, “The Broadnax Voices”, who sang much of the original music of founder/songwriter Morris Broadnax.
Robert is an active member of his church, choir and praise team and a harmonic studio background vocalist. He has worked with Sonny Stitt and has been a featured vocalist with such greats as Marcus Belgrave, Ken Cox, Teddy Harris, Dwight Adams, Donald Walden, Buddy Budson, Marion Hayden, Cliff Monear and a host of other well-known musicians. He also performs as a solo act vocalizing in many Michigan clubs. Robert’s most recent appearances include the Steinway Gallery, Bakers Keyboard Lounge, Jazz in Paradise (A Private annual event).
After many years of selfless sacrifice for his family and a victorious fight with stage 4 cancer, Robert McCarther has released his 2nd highly anticipated, newly released CD “Stranger In Town.”

Editorial Reviews
Here is more evidence that Detroit is one of America’s great jazz cities – and it’s not just a historical fact – it’s living proof in vocalist Robert McCarther. McCarther’s band including Kamau Kenyatta, Vincent Bowens, Curtis Taylor, Dwight Adams, Alex Rogowski, Marion Hayden and Thaddeus Dixon are more confirmation of Detroit’s living and lively jazz power. McCarther has integrated painful and joyous life lessons into his music, his voice and most of all, his phrasing. If you are looking for a singer to take the place of Leon Thomas or Bill Henderson for your programming, look to Detroit’s Robert McCarther. And, if you’re looking for a CD with well-balanced and well-played acoustic arrangements, “Stranger In Town” is for you, your station and your listeners.

Linda Yohn, WEMU 89.1

Robert McCarther brings a fresh perspective to the jazz scene with velvet, smooth, baritone vocals and his astute ability to ‘Swing’. Accompanied by some of the best Motown jazz musicians, his second solo CD tackles compositions by Thelonius Monk to Bill Withers and Paul Williams. When I listen to the musical interpretations of Robert McCarther, I feel great joy. Here is a vocalist who consistently makes you pay attention to the lyrics. For example, on “Hi Fly,“ tastefully recorded in three-quarter waltz time, I was very familiar with this song’s melody, yet somehow I felt I was hearing the words for the very first time. The title tune, “Stranger In Town” sets the tone for McCarther’s entire recording. It features the sensational trumpet work of Curtis Taylor with complimentary horn arrangements by Kamau Kenyatta. This song exudes energy, while setting the tone for an album of straight-ahead jazz. Kamau Kenyatta also produced these sessions and is probably best known for his work with Gregory Porter’s Grammy Award winning albums. He’s also pianist on these sessions.

McCarther is no newcomer to jazz. His dad, Louie Barnett, played saxophone with the Maurice King big band. As a young man, Robert often went on ‘the road’ and sang with that historic band. McCarther was also a strong contributor to the “Broadnax Voices”, a Detroit jazz choral group that was put together by composer/arranger and Motown writer, Morris Broadnax. The group was born upon McCarther’s insistence. Robert explained, “I was over Aretha’s (Franklin) house one day and Nax (Morris Broadnax nickname) came by and (as usual) I started singing his tunes. I suggested he start a vocal group that just sang his many, jazzy compositions. Eventually, he did it. We were very popular, working in and around Detroit for several years.”

During McCarther’s six year tenure with “The Broadnax Voices,” McCarther sang harmonics in the background, as well as front-lining for the group as a solo artist. In fact, he and Broadnax have collaborated on one of these album songs as co-writers titled, “Ya’ll”, a swinging little tune about self-realization. Broadnax also contributed two more tunes to this recording project, including the title tune, co-written with myself and his self-penned, “Lately.” You will find Robert McCarther’s choice of repertoire both unique and introspective. He seems to be drawn to songs that not only have a strong melodic line, but also offer the listener prose that tickle our minds and stories of life that mirror our own. Here is a jazz vocalist who puts love and sincerity into every word he sings, while keeping the time like a master percussionist and inspiring us with his straight-ahead, musical truth.

Dee Dee McNeil/Jazz Journalist

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In honor of Billie Holiday’s birthday this April, vocalist Sky Covington will present a
career-spanning tribute  at Cliff Bells.  This concert will include Lady Day’s music from her Columbia, Commodore, Verve and Decca catalogue

Classic comositions such as What a Little Moonlight Can Do, You Don’t Know What
Love Is, Strange Fruit, Body and Soul, Don’t Explain, Loverman, Good Morning Heartache, and her signature song God Bless the Child will be performed.

Eleanor Fagan McKay, whom the world remembers best as Billie Holiday
and whom Lester Young nicknamed, “Lady Day,” was born April 7, 1915.

“Certainly no singer has been more mythologized and more misunderstood
than Billie Holiday, who helped to create much of the mystique herself.”
-Booklist

“On July 17, 1959 Billie Holiday, a musical legend still popular today,
died an untimely death at the age of 44. Her emotive voice, innovative
techniques and touching songs will forever be remembered and enjoyed.”

-Billieholiday.com

“I’m always making a comeback, but nobody ever tells me where I’ve
been” -Billie Holiday

Join us while we celebrate one of the most daring and infectious
stylists of modern times, Sky Covington singing Billie Holiday.

A native-Detroit singer/songwriter, Sky is a multi-award winning
musician, whose many distinguished honors include nominations and wins
in multiple categories of the Detroit Music Awards and Detroit Black
Music Awards. She has opened for and toured with other Detroit
notables such as Straight Ahead, Pieces of a Dream, The Original
Vandellas and Kenny “Moodymann” Dixon Jr.

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