Entertainment, Free News Articles

Atlanta Native Singer Tony Hightower Kicks Off the New Jazz Concert Season at Friday Jazz at The High Museum in Atlanta Friday, June 17

ATLANTA, Ga. -- At a time when Jazz music could truly use a boost in listenership, singer Tony Hightower is on a mission to be the bridge to help a younger generation of appreciators crossover. With his sophomore album LEGACY entering the marketplace in June 2022, all-around singer/entertainer Hightower - a protégé of the late Freddy Cole - is leveraging his R&B and Hip-Hop roots to entice more young people to dig jazz.

RESPECTED HIP-HOP / R&B DRUMMER FOR OUTKAST - JIMMY JAM & TERRY LEWIS - LIONEL RITCHIE, GOODIE MOB AND OTHERS

"I want young people to know that Jazz is not old - Jazz is cool as a mug," Hightower enthuses! "So many of your childhood memories from the movies, television, and cartoons to some of the music you listen to on the radio - especially Hip Hop of the `90s were full of jazz or influenced by it - and you may not have even known it.

"Good melody and grooves are good melodies and grooves no matter what genre. Growing up in the Hip Hop and R&B generation myself, I was still listening to Jazz - real jazz. You are hearing more of it in my new record than ever before. I intend to merge the two worlds - retaining the integrity, of course, but allowing the appeal to expand. The audience can't all be older or of a certain demographic. I believe that if artists such as myself and Jazzmeia Horn can persuade listeners to dig us, they may reach back to appreciate the singers that influenced us. That will be beneficial to them and Jazz itself."

HIGHTOWER HAS PERFORMED IN VARIOUS TYLER PERRY MOVIES TV SHOWS & STAGE PRODUCTIONS

"I didn't have a choice about doing this music," Hightower confesses. "My mother, Theresa Hightower, lived her life onstage. She was a fiery and versatile vocal pro by age 16 and had me when she was 19. So, you could say I've been performing since the womb." Growing up under a local legend mother - a Funk-Rocker who could sing anything and mentored many singers coming behind her - Tony learned music first-hand from Bobby Blue Bland and the Platters to Mother's Finest.

Tony Hightower Docuseries https://youtu.be/zHl_04mPlP0

TONY HIGHTOWER'S NEW RECORDING -- LEGACY -- DEBUTS FRIDAY, JUNE 24TH

https://www.thetonyhightower.com/

SINGER TONY HIGHTOWER IN CONCERT

FRIDAY, JUNE 17, 2022

Friday Jazz @ The High Museum of Art

1280 Peachtree Street, NE

Atlanta, GA 30309

Showtimes: 6pm - 10pm ET

Members: Free

Non-members: $25

https://high.org/Program/friday-jazz/

For more information on Tony Hightower, contact:

J'ai StLaurent-Smyth

Inque Public Relations & Marketing - 917.627.9161

inquepublicity.pr@gmail.com

KEEP UP WITH TONY BY VISITING:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/tonyhightowerstandard

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/TonyHightowerStandard/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/tony_hightower

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC4bieJ1z_Yx__leYAZTFZgA/videos.

VIDEO (YouTube): https://youtu.be/zHl_04mPlP0

Related link: https://www.facebook.com/tony.tower

This news story was published by the Neotrope® News Network - all rights reserved. ID:NEO2022

Entertainment, Free News Articles

Singer Tony Hightower Brings Real Jazz to The Young Generation on ‘Legacy’ Sophomore Project Richly Inspired by His Jazz Singer Mother Theresa Hightower

ATLANTA, Ga. -- Singer/Songwriter Tony Hightower is taking up the mantle to be a bridge that ushers R&B audiences into Jazz - Real Jazz. With years of experience as a singer, drummer, and actor (easily recognizable from his work in Tyler Perry movies/TV/stage productions), Atlanta-native Hightower is still just getting started.

His sophomore project, "Legacy," finds Hightower moving assuredly from original compositions such as the soulful scat-laced "All to the Good," the seductive Brazilian bossa nova "Rendezvous" and the tender Al Jarreau-esque love beg "I Need You" to swingin' covers of Earth, Wind & Fire's classic "Can't Hide Love," a mean shuffle boogie through Al Green's "Love and Happiness" and a smoldering tiptoe through the 1929 Andy Razaf standard "Gee, Baby, Ain't I Good To You" made further famous in 1944 by

Tony's greatest vocal hero, Nat "King" Cole.

"I didn't have a choice about doing this music," Hightower confesses. "My mother, Theresa Hightower, lived her life onstage. She was a fiery and versatile vocal pro by age 16 and had me when she was 19. So, you could say I've been performing since the womb." Growing up under a local legend mother - a Funk-Rocker who could sing anything and mentored many singers coming behind her - Tony learned music first-hand from Bobby Blue Bland and the Platters to Mother's Finest. And as mother Theresa evolved as a first-class singer - shifting her focus to Jazz that resulted in her historic residency at the Ritz Carlton Hotel in once fiercely segregated Buckhead. GA - so, too, did Tony's taste begin to broaden.

"When my mom followed Freddy Cole at The Ritz Carlton, he became a fan and then they became friends. Later, Mr. Cole called to ask me to accompany him on drums. By then, he was more like family. One day, he told me in earnest, 'You need to start writing your own songs. We need new songs!' I hesitated but by his nudging and God's, I started on some songs that worked. My hope was to create The New Standard, thus the title/concept of my debut CD."

A man of the Hip Hop/R&B generation, Tony is known for singing with Soul luminaries such as Gerald Levert, Lionel Richie, Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis and OutKast. However, the last 7 years have found him totally devoted to jazz, on a mission into bring the real deal to fresh young audiences in memory of his mother and Mr. Freddy Cole, at whose funeral he tearfully blessed in song. "I worked hard on my first record to ensure that my tone was tight and that my songwriting mirrored the timeless songs of yesterday. On Legacy, my sound is evolving into something that's more uniquely soulful and 'me' that I believe the pure jazz world will respect but that can also play in the soul-pop world like Al Jarreau was able to do."

No statement could be truer with one listen to Hightower's divinely varied latest offering, Legacy, so titled as a tribute to the memory of his mother who was honored with a proclamation from the city of Atlanta and October 29 being declared 'Theresa Hightower Day' upon her passing. "My mother was my best friend," Tony says softly. "We used to always have this one debate. I'd say music is about melody. She insisted it was all about the lyrics."

At a recent intimate performance during the Candlelight Series at Piedmont Park, Hightower sang a repertoire of all Ellington music show. Onstage, he spied a pair of pretty ladies who could not have been older than 22. His heart was gladdened. "When I say these things, I really mean it. My influences stretch from Mel Torme' and Marvin Gaye to Charlie Wilson (lead singer of The GAP Band) and Aaron Hall (lead singer of Guy)," Hightower concludes. "I'm finding ways to sing that makes all of that appropriate. That's what makes me unique as a Jazz singer."

"LEGACY" CD debuts November 5, 2021

For more information, contact:
J'ai StLaurent-Smyth
Inque Public Relations - 917.627.9161
Inquepublicity.pr@gmail.com

Keep up with Tony by visiting:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/tony.towerz

Instagram: @thetonyhightower

Instagram Business: @tonyhightowerstandard

Twitter: @tony_hightower

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC4bieJ1z_Yx__leYAZTFZgA

VIDEO: https://youtu.be/1AKAbId-dZs

Related link: https://www.facebook.com/tony.tower

This news story was published by the Neotrope® News Network - all rights reserved.