Holiday Smooth Jazz with Will Donato, Tony Exum, Jr., and Monty Seward LIVE at Mediterraneans'
Will Donato is one of music’s most dynamic performers, gifted with the ability to bond and connect with his audiences. In recent concert events, Will has headlined or shared the stage as a special guest at the Blue Note-NYC, The Sea Breeze Jazz Festival, The Algarve Groove International Jazz Festival-Portugal, The Rehoboth Beach Jazz Festival, Humphrey's By The Bay, The Capital Jazz Cruise, Rick Braun's New Year's Eve, The Low Country Land & Sea Festival, Manitoba, Canada Summer Concerts. He has also worked outside the groove jazz genre as well, most notably with Gerald Levert, Toni Childs, and pop star Richard Marx. Will can also be heard as on the soundtracks from several movie scores including “Thelma and Louise,” “The Wedding Planner,” “Under the Boardwalk,” and “No Man’s Land.”
Watch for Will's upcoming summer 2017 release, SUPERSONIC, featuring some of the best musical artists in Groove Music and Contemporary Jazz. Will Donato was quoted by NewJazz.com as “…A Must See Show!”
Will Donato's stellar list of
credits and movie sountracks to his name including Smooth Jazz stars - Steve
Oliver, Steve Reid (Rippingtons)and Greg Karukas; Pop Stars-Toni Childs, Gerald
Levert and Richard Marx. Will's soundtrack credits include the movie hit,
"Thelma and Louise", "The Wedding Planner" (starring
Jennifer Lopez), and other hits on Warner Brothers Studios, Orion Pictures and
New World Pictures. Will's debut CD release, "Will Power" reflects
his signature-style sound and energy as evidenced in his live shows and concert
venues. The "Will Power" CD reflects the romantic spirit and melodic
voice of Will's horns.
Tony
Exum, Jr., National Recording Artist’s saxophone style brings to mind
the sultriness of Grover Washington, Jr., the soulfulness of David Sanborn, the
silky smoothness of George Howard, and the tender passion of Ronnie Laws.
Thomas “Tony” Exum, Jr. was born in Colorado Springs, CO. He spent much of his
childhood travelling from Germany, to Mississippi, to New Orleans, and back,
due to his military upbringing. As a child, as early as age 3, Tony’s interest
in “grown up” music was extensive. For Christmas, at the age of 6, Tony received
Parliament-Funkadelic albums, but by then, he was already a huge fan of Slave,
the Jacksons, S.O.S. Band, RUN DMC, LL COOL J, and of course, New Edition. He
not only could recite the words to his favorite tunes, but could also identify
any instrument! At the age of 11, Tony picked up a saxophone given to him by
his uncle Larry, a U.S. Army musician for Fort Carson, for the first time and
soon developed a love for it. He later developed a passion for the sounds he
could create with the saxophone, even being asthmatic; and this is where his
journey began. “I knew I would be a musician of some sort. The saxophone
intrigued me and quickly became the way my heart wanted to express itself
musically.” says Tony Exum, Jr. Tony Exum, Jr. attended the highly-acclaimed,
prestigious Lamont School of Music, University of Denver, and believes that
this is truly where his career began.
By
the mid 80’s, Monty developed into a multi-faceted, producer, keyboardist,
songwriter and vocalist and was soon noticed by the legendary Quincy Jones who
signed him a staff songwriter exposing him to great writing and producing
opportunities. He temporarily placed his aspirations as a solo artist on the
back burner to pursue those opportunities which lead him to write, produce or perform
with such notables as Kelly Clarkson, Tyrese Gibson, Oleta Adams, James Ingram,
El DeBarge, Ingram, Lakeside, Deniece Williams, Diana Ross, Michael Bolton,
Kashif, Randy Travis, The Jacksons, New Kids On The Block as well smooth jazz
legends Hiroshima, Paul Jackson Jr., George Duke, Stanley Clarke, Gerald
Albright and many more. Amongst the many singles of Monty’s to hit the
billboard charts is the classic soulful gospel tune “Say Amen”, sung and
co-written by his long-time writing partner, Howard Hewett. He recently shared
the stage with Larry Graham at the Cancun Jazz Festival and with Adam Hawley
who happens to be featured on his cd. His talents as a music producer and
songwriter have awarded him many top ten singles and tens of millions of cd’s sold
with many awards to follow including an Emmy nomination, ASCAP awards, Annie
nominations and many film and television credits as a writer and producer.