Mahogany Digital is offering  a free download of “Detour Ahead” from its newest artist, Jeff Hall.

Vocalist Jeff Hall, Kevin Mahogany’s protégé, premiered on the radio with two singles: “Cadillac Club” and “Detour Ahead.”

Discovered by Kevin Mahogany, Jeff Hall (pic left) has the vocal prowess reminiscent of jazz legend Mark Murphy. Hall brings a new urgency and street sense to traditional jazz, as evidenced by his vocal presentation and his onstage appearance. Hall defines a new direction for vocal jazz.

“When I heard Jeff, there was a quality in his voice there was a uniqueness to his sound,” Mahogany said with regard to his decision to introduce Jeff to the public.

Habitat for Humanity of Bucks County will be hosting Lynn Riley, “Superwoman of the Sax,” at Bucks County Community College in Newtown on March 27. The Jazz in Bloom concert will benefit Habitat’s Youth United program and its goal to raise funds to build a home at the affiliate’s current homebuilding site in Perkasie.

Bucks County residents, Steve and Diane Silverhardt, stepped forward to donate their time and talents to Habitat for Humanity to help plan this amazing event. The Silverhardts are responsible for inviting the very talented Lynn Riley, who is also donating her services for the evening.

“I’ve been part of an interfaith house support group for Habitat Philadelphia and decided to refocus my community involvement with my move to Bucks County,” says Steve. “This concert is the first project of ours with Habitat Bucks and we couldn’t be more excited about it.”

Scott Hardkiss releases an EP, Come On, Come On (Part II), which features all new remixes that take the unique track into completely different sonic territories. Dean & Britta, Joaquin “Joe” Claussell, and DJ Phunkae each put their own spin on Scott Hardkiss’ original song “Come On, Come On” off his album Technicolor Dreamer.

In their gorgeous downtempo remix, NYC indie darlings Dean & Britta (formerly of Luna) reimagine the song into a psychedelic rock meets intimate electronic chill-out ballad with beats, keys, and dreamy vocals by Britta Phillips and tripped-out space guitars by Dean Wareham (Galaxie 500).

Scott Hardkiss delivers his own signature uplifting club mix in both vocal & dub versions that effortlessly shifts between breaks and 4/4 beats in an anthemic tribute to all the old school Hardkiss-heads.

Connie Lansberg is a singer/songwriter who performs original Pop-Jazz and Smooth Jazz on her latest release, High Expectations.

She is a vocal interpreter of the wonderful stories told by the American Song Book and beyond.

The indie artist uses her voice in such a way as to reveal and tease out even the most subtle of nuances that define these beautiful songs.

Reminiscent of Blossom Dearie and June Christy, but with the modern edge of Sade and Sting, Connie Lansberg creates light and shade and sings with an unselfconscious joy that is truly infectious and enfolds the listener within the melody so that each performance is a shared experience that leaves no one out.

Riding a wave of emotions and angst following yet another successful and hard fought cross-country summer tour, indie artist and self-made rock star Matthew Pop has bottled up his most aggressive collection of songs yet – on his fourth album entitled, Reinventing The Cosmos; set to drop March 2nd.

“This album gets right to the point” said Pop.

In many ways a commentary on the ups and downs that plague anyone following a dream.

“This album is a touch darker,” Pop commented. “I honestly don’t know how I have been getting up every time I’ve been knocked down over the past 12 years.”

Chad Hollister has opened for Bob Dylan, Paul Simon and Tom Petty, and in the fall of 2009 he released Chad Hollister, his fourth CD. The self-titled disc was produced by Anthony J. Resta (Elton John, Collective Soul, Shawn Mullins).

Hollister’s musical style shines original with his percussive background. His personal lyrics are appreciative of a life on Mother Earth and his music is “pure sonic alchemy,” according to Resta.

In addition to opening for Dylan, Simon and Petty, Chad Hollister has shared the stage with Warren Haynes (The Allman Brothers Band, Gov’t Mule), every PHISH member, Merl Saunders and Dave Mattacks (Jethro Tull, Paul McCartney, Fairport Convention).

The indie musician is on the rise, with “Grow,” a song from his Chad Hollister disc, having gotten midway up New Music Weekly magazine’s AC/Hot AC chart soon after its release.

“You have the option to look at your life and see the good,” says Sara Haze, explaining the title to her new album My Personal Sky. The line comes from her song “Beautiful Day” in which she states she’s “already been through the rain” and now there’s “not a cloud” in her “personal sky.” While that’s where she may have ended up, this sun-bleached blonde Southern California girl explores the whole journey through her music.

Releasing her first major album at the age of 19 has been a long time coming for this songstress; writing fan favorites like “Lovely” and “My Own Hands To Hold” years earlier. Wise beyond her age, Haze writes about growing up in the modern teenage world in a way that connects.

“When one of my songs touches someone it means the world to me,” exclaimed Haze who’s had over 30 songs placed in films and television shows.

What do you get when you combine elements of trance, steeped in a generous underlayment of rhythm with a heat-infused saxophone that is masterfully caressed by one very bad cat? You get a pass on a very trippy vibe that some might say is Out of the Box.

Produced by Four 80 East (one of the hottest bands that has existed to defy all the rules), Out of the Box (Innervision Records) is the third solo release by saxophonist Jack Prybylski. Prybylski initially caught the ear of radio with his sophomore release, Window Shopping, by garnering national praise from critics for his smooth melodic style.

“Jacks instantly appealing music and strong sound make Window Shopping one of the best independent releases this year,” declared Smooth Jazz News.

Lynn Riley has been described more than once as “Superwoman” of the sax. Born in Washington, D.C., and raised outside of Philadelphia, Pa., she received a B. A. in Ethnomusicology from the University of Hawaii. Her time spent in Hawaii was influential in developing her sensibility to, and awareness of, different musical cultures.

She continued her musical studies at the University of Missouri Kansas City, studied privately with Doris Sellers (principal flutist of the Kansas City Symphony), and immersed in its rich jazz tradition, apprenticed and performed with many of KC’s jazz legends.

She became involved with the Women’s Jazz Festival, an international festival highlighting women musicians. There she had the opportunity to play with luminaries like Carmen McRae, Marian McPartland, Shirley Scott, Emily Remner and Blossom Dearie. After 5 years on the Board of Directors, she headed back east.

Indie artist, Gilloni Green a.k.a. Coogi Dollas, has recently taken his act to the next level with his latest mixtape, One Last Try. Signed to Certified Music Group, the young rapper is focused on his goal.

Coogi Dollas began rapping at the age of 14, but not taking it very seriously inspired by his cousin. Not labeling himself as a rapper, he saw himself moving more towards sports.

As time passed Coogi Dollas became more familiar with the pen and pad and soon figured out that the music he was making was catching a lot of attention from his listeners.

Releases Dear Lover at Indie Music Stores

The indie artist talks about his latest release Dear Lover, the music industry and performs the title track. Ryan has released his album at a indie music store near you. Check out the list of stores here.

Te Vaka is a group of musicians and dancers from Tokelau, Tuvalu, Samoa, Cook Islands and New Zealand brought together under the inspired leadership of Opetaia Foa’i. Te Vaka has been enchanting the world with their own brand of South Pacific Fusion since 1997. Using the rhythms of the log drum (”pate”), combined with traditional and contemporary instruments, Opetaia Foa’i and the band deliver a kaleidoscopic array of Pacific flavors in a genre all of it’s own.

Te Vaka has performed in the USA and toured the UK, Europe & other parts of the world extensively over the last 13 years, performing in such prestigious venues as London’s Royal Festival Hall and Ronnie Scott’s nightclub.

The group has headlined music festivals throughout Europe and been favourites at WOMAD festivals around the world including the WOMAD Festival in Seattle, USA. They are in demand for many important world events and have represented New Zealand and the South Pacific with performances for the America’s cup events in Auckland, the Commonwealth games in Melbourne, the Rugby World Cup in Paris and the Olympic Games in Beijing.

When I first meet with artists I often ask this simple question: What did you do for your career today? Because I’m well aware that by the time they talk to me, many feel overwhelmed and have already retreated into a mindset of excuses–I only have so much time so it’s not worth it or it’s already late or I’m burnt out. But excuses don’t help you at all.

That’s not to say feeling overwhelmed is unreasonable. The music business is intimidating once you begin to look at the business aspects and everything that you need to do to become self sufficient as well as effective and productive, but there’s a little secret people don’t know: the little stuff can be just as important as the big stuff. It’s about forward motion, and forward motion can take place in the smallest snatches of free time. Whether you’re waiting for someone else to do vocals on a recording before you mix or you’re waiting on a tech guy or girl to set up your website, there’s always stuff that can be done.

A simple checklist can include:

Updating a networking site.

Adding friends to a networking site.

Researching new venues or contacting a new venue.

Researching new review sites or magazines and/or sending to them.

Researching booking agents and/or contacting them.

Researching new management companies and/or contacting them.

Researching hotels or places to stay for tours and adding them to your database.