The Music That Makes Me Dance

My husband John Rodby and I believe that nothing can compare with the sound of gifted musicians sitting down and playing together on acoustical instruments.  We fear that there may come a time in the not too distant future when that tradition may all but disappear and a younger generation might not even know what has been lost.
Therefore, last and by no means least our sincerest thanks to all of the 33 gifted musicians who lent their talent and expertise to this project.  We are so grateful for their friendship and support.

Arranged and Conducted by –John Rodby,  Produced by- John Rodby, Wayne Cook and Talya Ferro  Recorded at Wayne Cook Sound

John Rodby - Piano/Synths
Mark Z. Stevens - Drums/Latin Perc.
Harvey Newmark - Bass
Barry Zweig - Guitar
Walfredo Reyes Jr. - Congas/Latin Perc.
Bob O'Donnel, Bob Findley, Ramone Flores, Jack Feierman - Trumpets
Randy Aldcroft, Bob Payne, Wendell Kelly - Trombones
Lanny Morgan, Rusty Higgins, Terry Harrington, Tom Peterson, John Mitchell - Saxes
Jay Rosen(Concertmaster), Horia Moroaica, Nicole Bush, Don Palmer, Margret Wooten, Yutong Sharp, Marina Manukian, Chris Reutinger, Leslie Woodbury, Jean Sudbury - Violins
Jimbo Ross, Karie Prescott, Karen Elaine Bukunin - Violas
Marston Smith, Nancy Stein-Ross, Chris Ermacoff - Celli
Bobby Rivas – Coro, additional vocals on “It’s Alright With Me”. Flugel Horn solo on “A Fool In Love” by Warren Luening.

Out now on CD Baby

Harlem Haunts My Mind

I was born in Harlem Hospital and although I left Harlem at 9 months old, for some reason, I seem always to have had a love affair with the Harlem of my mother's generation.  A singer-actress, she was in the WPA production of "The Swing Mikado."  As a child she would enchant me with stories of the period (her "heyday") and her friends, especially "Pops"(Louie Armstrong), whom she adored.  I knew all the songs, dances and movements and at family gatherings could always be counted on.  Later, when we moved to California, we lived in a grand old house next door to Louise Beavers in "Sugar Hill," a genteel area of Los Angeles now demolished by the #10 freeway.  There, I met Ethel Waters, Billie Holiday and other displaced New Yorkers.  Shortly after starting my singing career, I learned that my father, one of the period's new "Angry Young Negro Writers," ("The Pecking Order") had, at one time, been a successful photographer.  In partnership with Calvin Bailey, The impressionist, my father had plied his trade at The Cotton Club and other Harlem venues.  For all I know he may still hang out at that literary bastion in The Village... The White Horse.

The literature, history and especially the music of the Harlem Renaissance... music born out of the juke joints, speakeasies and elegant supper clubs during prohibition and the gang wars of the depression era... music that launched the great American Jazz Era the world over haunts my mind.  Immortal Harlem, they say it was something!  I always wanted to be a part of it somehow, and now, somehow I am.  So perhaps there is a reason after all for this Harlem love affair of mine.

Produced, Arranged and Conducted by John Rodby at Wayne Cook Sound
John Rodby - piano and Synths
Harvey Newman - Bass
Mark Stevens - Drums
John Chiodini - Guitar

Albert Aarons, Robert Findley, Robert O'Donnell - Trumpets
Lanny Morgan, Rusty Higgings - Alto Sax
Herman Riley - Tenor SaxJohn Mitchell Bariton Sax
Randall Aldcroft - Trombone
Wendell Kelly - Bass Trombone

Margot Aldcroft, Bobby Bruce, Yvette Devereaux,Don Palmer - Violins
Marston Smith – Cello

Tenor Solos by Plaz Johnson

Piano solos by John Rodby

Additional Vocals - Patty Brooks, Billie Barnum, Monalisa Young

Out now on CD Baby

Look At Me

You can listen at YouTube

Though Talya Ferro has made no albums before, the authority and experience you hear in her sound are the product of a show business heritage and extensive professional experience…

…Miss Ferro’s vocal scope and beguiling timber are well represented in this tasteful assortment of tunes encompassing many moods-with an occasional bossa nova touch, although there are no Brazilian songs.  There is more than a hint of Talya’s potential pop appeal in We Could Learn together,…

Talya’s versatility can be immediately discerned by comparing this performance with a random sampling of the others.  There is Cuando Caliente El Sol… the unusual concept of speaking the lyrics - in a literal English translation - before singing them in Spanish.  There is the sensitive interpretation, accompanied simply by Al Viola on guitar, of Buffy St. Marie’s Until It’s Time For You To Go... and her tender, believable reading of Oscar Hammerstein’s lyrics in Something Wonderful …

No less effecting are the two French songs, Jacques Brel’s If You Go Away… and Yves Gilbert’s The Magic Door from the film “The Red Ballon”…

…She is not, one can happily report, another sock-it-to-you singer.  Often restrained yet always confident, she sings with a clean understanding of the lyrics and brings you her message with good taste and innate musicianship.  Given these qualities added to her visual charm and fawn-like grace, it is hard to imagine how Talya Ferro can miss.  Prediction: she won’t.  

LEONARD FEATHER (Iconic Jazz Critic)