Welcome. We appreciate you being here! Thank you for listening.
All shows are now cancelled or postponed due to the Coronavirus.
We will be updating weekly to bring you the latest.
Please be safe, stay well, stay home, and keep the faith!
"After two very enjoyable CDs of music from the 1920s-30s, Roberta Donnay and her Prohibition Mob Band continue their exploration of early jazz and swing with a tribute to one of the most influential figures in all of jazz. Donnay is possibly the first female singer to record a full-length project devoted exclusively to Louis Armstrong.
For My Heart Belongs To Satchmo, Roberta Donnay & the Prohibition Mob Band revive 15 songs from Armstrong's career. Avoiding the obvious hits, Donnay performs both superior obscurities and personal favorites.
"'My Heart Belongs To Satchmo' is such a joyful project for me," adds Donnay, "I wanted to capture the heart of Satchmo and the love that we have of his music." Ms. Donnay, her arrangers, and the musicians of the Prohibition Mob Band succeed at paying a loving tribute to the great Satchmo."
- Scott Yanow, jazz journalist/historian
Check out this..
CD "My Heart Belongs To Satchmo" released 2018, on Blujazz. Produced by Roberta Donnay, Sam Bevan, Matt Wong. Arranged by Matt Wong, Sam Bevan, Roberta Donnay, except for Pennies From Heaven: Instruments arranged by Sam Bevan, Vocal Arrangement by Roberta Donnay, Annie Stocking, and Dan Hicks (with new and additional lyrics by Dan Hicks).
Prohibition Mob Band: Roberta Donnay-vocals, John R. Burr-piano, Sam Bevan-bass, Deszon Claiborne-drums, Rich Armstrong-cornet / trumpet, Mike Rinta-trombone, Sheldon Brown-clarinet, Matt Baxter-guitar
Featured July 2018 Issue of DownBeat Magazine:
http://downbeat.com/news/detail/roberta-donnay-takes-satchmo-to-heart
To purchase music:
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Belongs-Satchmo-Roberta-Donnay-Prohibition/dp/B079T7N615
iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/my-heart-belongs-to-satchmo/1348706264
CDBaby: https://store.cdbaby.com/cd/myheartbelongstosatchmo
http://robertadonnay.com/music/
Please contact rainforest@robertadonnay.com for info and Bookings.
Please contact Rainforest Productions for PR and advertising: rainforest@robertadonnay.com
BOB DOROUGH ~ ROBERTA DONNAY
- New Jazz Recording to be released (we don't have a release date) -
Here's the back story:
We're so very excited to announce this
Previously Unreleased Recording
Bob Dorough & Roberta Donnay's version of "Baby, It's Cold Outside" hit radio airwaves over the 2018 Holiday Season. Even with the banning of this song in certain markets, the song still got a lot of play on jazz & public radio across the US.
Upcoming EP features Bob Dorough’s compositions, some never heard, along with a few reimagined numbers formerly recorded by Bob Dorough and Blossom Dearie.
Bob Dorough first met Roberta Donnay backstage at The Hooker’s Ball in San Francisco many years ago, where they both performed. Bob told her he dug her singing. Donnay asked him “What’s YOUR name?” “Bob Dorough” and she replied “THE Bob Dorough?” And he replied,“You mean you know who I am?
Donnay recorded two Bob Dorough songs “Devil May Care” and “Small Day Tomorrow” on her “What’s Your Story”
CD, produced by Jazz Master Orrin Keepnews featuring Eric Reed Trio (2008, Pacific Coast Jazz) .
Keepnews phoned Donnay one day and told her Bob said he played Donnay's version of “Small Day Tomorrow”
3 times a day every day in his car, and that it was his favorite version ever recorded.
Bob did some shows touring with “Dan Hicks & The Hot Licks” and came to hear them when they were near his hometown. Dan and Bob were big fans of one another. Donnay sang with Dan’s group 2005-2016.
One day Richard Connolly, Producer, Circumstancial Productions, came backstage and told Donnay he wanted to do a recording with Bob and her.
In January 2011, Donnay flew to NJ, rented a car, drove to rural Pennsylvania to Bob’s house, and rehearsed for the recording. The following nite after rehearsal, they performed together at The Deer Head Inn, local jazz club, and the day after that they were at a studio in NY, recording live.
Bob told Donnay that his wish was for them to tour together.
The recording sat for all these many (8) years.
We're sad to say our amazing friend Bob Dorough passed on April 23, 2018.
We hope you enjoy this!
In 2019 Bob Dorough received the NEA Jazz Masters Awards.
Bob Dorough NEA Jazz Masters Award link: https://www.arts.gov/honors/jazz/bob-dorough
Check out the video on the new video page!
****
Video: "My Heart Belongs To Satchmo":
ROBERTA DONNAY & The PROHIBITION MOB BAND are available for Performing Arts Centers, Festivals, special events, tours and house concerts. Ms. Donnay is available for recording sessions, production, songwriting, music supervision, workshops, coaching, and consultations. For bookings, please contact: rainforest@robertadonnay.com or Management Eddy Bee: eddybee@pacbell.net
To see more videos, please go to our Video page here or search YouTube.com - Roberta Donnay
Contact us if you'd like to host a house concert for the touring group: rainforest@robertadonnay.com
Please add your name to our email list to receive bi-monthly newsletters & special insider events notices.
"[Roberta Donnay's] engagement with the lyrics,
her supple sense of time and her soulful, little-girl timbre remind you of Billie Holiday."
-Mike Zwerin, International Herald Tribune.
"Roberta Donnay & the Prohibition Mob Band present a modern
take of the hot swingin' jazz and sultry blues of the 1920s and 30s that
will make you want to dance all night!" - Verdi Club
"With her singularly enticing sound, few contemporary vocalists are
as well suited to dustily vintage material as jazz-blues stylist Roberta Donnay.."
- JAZZ TIMES
"Roberta Donnay is a Jazz Age preservationist, guardian of Depression-era sounds, and extender of traditions...." – All About Jazz
Donnay's voice could make any classic material sound wondrous and timeless, but the fact that she digs so
deep into American musical history -- and works with some of the Bay Area's top jazz musicians (under the
guise of the Prohibition Mob Band) -- makes A Little Sugar not only sweet, but a recording that will stand the
test of time. - All Music Guide
Vocalist Roberta Donnay turned the swank Bel Air nightclub into a Roaring 20s speakeasy as she brought back
the music and moxie from the Golden Age of jazz with her Prohibition Mob. As she’s displayed on her two
albums, Ms Donnay’s allegiance is to the easy and accessible two beat swing of Tin Pan Alley, the kind that Al
Capone might have enjoyed after a night of going out with the boys. - Jazz Weekly
Musicians can take on the role of anthropologist, curious about what came before in music and how musicians
reflected their world around them. Award-winning vocalist and songwriter Roberta Donnay is that rare species
of musician who almost lives in another time, as she and her Prohibition Mob Band exist to revive the Jazz Age
of America. – Motema
All photos by Eddy Bee Images: http://www.eddybeeimages.com/