Kwanzaa’s Pure Light
6-10 PRODUCTIONS, LLC presents
Yocontalie Jackson with the
Jennifer Tibbetts Singers
in
“KWANZAA’S PURE LIGHT”
Lyrics
Eileen Bluestone Sherman
Music
Gail C. Bluestone
Arranged By
Alex Otey
Keith Middleton
Yocontalie Jackson
Percussion
Keith Middleton with Yocontalie Jackson
Flugelhorn
Alex Otey
Bass
Mowgli Giannitti
Recording Engineers
Ben Arrindell & Jack Schlandt & Sean Swinney
Piano
Jacopo Mazza
Mixing Engineer
Ben Arrindell
Old Mill Road Recording Summer 2023 Interns
Benjamin Strait & Tucker Beaudoin
Recorded at Old Mill Road Recording in East Arlington, VT & Sean Swinney Recording in New York City.
Mastered by Jim Brick at Absolute Audio
Produced by
Eileen Bluestone Sherman
ebsoriginals.com
** also featured on Arise Together (Children of the World)
Honored to be Track #4
The Award-Winning Artists of "Kwanzaa's Pure Light" are proud to have their song included with the many fine artists and outstanding youth choirs from around the world.....all of whom gladly shared their talents to create this spectacular album to help children everywhere.
Learn more about this international charity at onelittlefinger.com/arise-together/
A Producer’s Note
(The Story Behind the Making of “Kwanzaa’s Pure Light”)
When I was growing up, I loved singing in the school choir. I was always eager to rehearse new, zippy arrangements and perform on stage. (OK.... missing class was a plus, too!)
Still, come the holiday season, I had a recurring complaint. The program always included a terrific selection for Christmas (classic carols and fabulous tunes from the Great American Songbook), but the one and only song for Hanukkah was “I Have a Little Dreidel,” a short ditty, toddlers learn in Nursery School. This single, very juvenile song made Hanukkah seem insignificant. That really bothered me. It’s no accident my sister, Gail, and I wrote an entire Hanukkah musical (The Odd Potato) with a Broadway-style score (eventually recorded by 20 Tony Award Winners) that now fills the airways around the world every holiday season!
But I digress. Fast-forward to December 2021, when I co-produced a holiday concert at Lincoln Center, starring award-winning artists from my international music group, The Indie Collaborative. Sure, we had Christmas and Hanukkah covered, but what about Kwanzaa? As a kid who grew up feeling “short-changed,” I surely was not going to repeat that inequity! So….Gail and I wrote a song. But that was only the beginning.
I am proud to say that the making of “Kwanzaa’s Pure Light” merged extraordinary talents from around the US and Italy. Our “KPL team” includes multi-award-winning artists whose own works come from Gospel, Jazz, R&B, Hip-Hop, Afrobeat, Spoken Word, Classical, and Musical Theater. You might ask, “How on earth can such a diverse crowd find its way to one little song?” Well, my friend, that is the magic of the international music organization known as The Indie Collaborative. Eclectic and all-inclusive, the IC was my entree to a remarkable group of music makers from different backgrounds, nationalities, races, religions, genders, and of course, musical genres.
What a thrill it was to work with this magnificent ensemble to whom I am forever grateful for contributing their unique artistry to “Kwanzaa’s Pure Light” - a song I hope will become a staple of holiday concerts everywhere. EBS
"Kwanzaa's Pure Light is a joyful, informative resource for schools that will help ensure that students of all backgrounds feel included during the holiday season.
- Tanenbaum Center for Interreligious Understanding Education Program"
The Recording Artists
Photo by Lívia Sá
Yocontalie Jackson Bio
Yocontalie Jackson is a professional singer/songwriter and is featured on a Grammy® Nominated Recording. She has toured throughout the U.S. and Europe, typically performing in “standing-room-only concerts.” She loves to share her gifts and looks forward to continuing her creative journey.
Photo by Damiano Andreotii
Keith Middleton Bio
A leading cast member in the NY sensation, Stomp, Keith (Wildchild ) Middleton traveled the globe with the show and also starred in the film, Pulse-a Stomp Odyssey.” During that same time, he was also featured in television and commercials around the world. His debut “spoken-word” album, Transitions, is a combination of his original music, funk, soul, jazz-fusion, dance, hip-hop and poetry, featuring a variety of top musicians and vocalists. LEVELS, his newest crew, is an international mix of dynamic American and Italian musical artists.
Photo by Lívia Sá
Alex Otey Bio
Singer/songwriter and multi-instrumentalist, versatile journeyman musician, Alex Otey, has worked on one Grammy® Award-winning and two Grammy® Award-nominated projects. He performs regularly at numerous venues in central NJ and PA, as well as special IC performances at Lincoln Center and Carnegie Hall. He performed at the White House Egg Roll event in 2010 with Miss Amy and has appeared at Musikfest and other festivals along the East Coast.
Jacopo Mazza Bio
Italian pianist, composer, producer, and mixing engineer Jacopo Mazza graduated from the Milan Conservatory of Music and studied with some of the most influential jazz musicians including Kevin Hays, Shi Maestro, and Jerry Bergonzi. After graduating, he studied composition with the Italian Maestro, Giorgio Colombo Taccani, and with the great American composer, Brent Fisher. Jacopo is a former member of the international band LEVELS alongside Keith Middleton (STOMP) and Aaron Marcellus (AMERICAN IDOL). Jacopo is co-founder of the L.A.-based music production company Mirai Music LLC. Recently Mirai Music has become well-known in the Cardano block-chain for writing and producing NFT-related musical projects. With Mirai Music his collaborations range from writing, producing, and mixing for artists (NSTASIA, Billy Martin, Lenii, and many others) to scoring for multimedia projects such as the Martin Lawrence NFT project and ADA Ninjaz among others. Jacopo also wrote advertising music for several companies, such as Miele, Zeiss, and many others.
Jennifer Tibbetts Bio
Jennifer Tibbetts has been a choral director in NY for almost two decades. Her highlights include Choral Director for the Urban Voices program at the Metropolitan Opera Guild, Performances at Lincoln Center including the 10th Anniversary of 911 and in concert with Hugh Jackman for the Greatest Showman. Along with conducting, Jennifer is a composer with many of her works being performed around the world. She is the Director of Junior Voices at the prestigious Hoff Barthelson Music School in Westchester, NY, and she enjoys directing musicals and choral groups for the Yonkers Public Schools.
Mowgli Giannitti Bio
Mowgli Giannitti is a bassist, composer, singer, multi-instrumentalist, and teacher based in NY and active around the Northeast and on tours across the US and the globe. As a bassist and singer, he has performed at venues like Carnegie Hall, Higher Ground, Putnam Place, and many more. He has composed for orchestras, chamber ensembles, pit orchestras, jazz ensembles, folk bands, and rock bands, and currently focuses on writing for his Jazz/Rock group Satyrdagg, releasing their debut album in the fall of 2023. He also currently plays bass and sings in The Heavy Nettles, The Reflexions, and with Ida Mae Specker.
With Special Thanks to
The Jennifer Tibbetts Singers
The Audio Engineers
Benjamin J. Arridell Bio
GRAMMY® AWARD-Winning engineer Benjamin J. Arrindell began his career in the late 1980s working in the advertising industry for Look & Co, a top NY jingle house. Within 2 years, he rose from Intern to Staff Engineer. In 1991, Benjamin went to work for Platinum Island and then Soundtrack, two major NYC studios, before starting his freelance career in 1997. Since then, Benjamin has gone on to work on dozens of albums which have sold millions of copies worldwide and received the most prestigious awards in the profession.
Benjamin landed his big break by mixing LSG’s “My Body”, which went multi-platinum worldwide. He then went on to mix Gerald Levert’s next album Love and Consequences, with mega-hits “Thinkin' Bout It” and “Taking Everything” going to No. 2 and No. 3 respectively on the Billboard Hot R&B/HipHop Singles charts. This led to opportunities to record / mix for classic R&B icons like Aretha Franklin, the OJs and The Temptations. (Benjamin contributed mixes to Ear-Resistible, which won a GRAMMY® for Best Traditional R&B Album in the year 2000.)
His understanding of a wide range of music would lead him to also mix urban tracks such as “Crazy” for K-Ci & Jo-Jo and the Busta Rhymes/Janet Jackson smash hit “What’s it Gonna Be.” Benjamin has lent his signature sound to diverse artists from Ladysmith Black Mambazo to Slick Rick, The Village People to Mary J. Blige, En Vogue to Kool & the Gang.
Benjamin earned the coveted GRAMMY® AWARD for mixing Yolanda Adams’ Soul Gospel Album The Experience. He is the in-house Engineer at Old Mill Road Recording, which received the 2020 NAMM TEC® AWARD for Best Studio Design.
Jack Schlandt Bio
Jack Schlandt is an audio engineer hailing from Tampa, FL, who strives to make the world a better place for our ears. His greatest passion is facilitating creativity and helping musicians achieve their dreams. Jack graduated from American University with a masters degree in Audio Technology, and he currently works with Old Mill Road Recording in East Arlington, VT, where he’s been heavily involved in music recording & production, musical arrangement, dialogue & voice over editing, and the production of two weekly radio shows.
Additional Credits
Lívia Sá Bio
Lívia Sá is a multimedia artist and filmmaker born in São Paulo, who has spent the past 16 years living between New York City and Brazil. She holds a Master's degree in Media Studies from The New School in NYC, where she focused on experimental cinema and documentary filmmaking. As a freelancer, Lívia collaborates with a diverse range of independent filmmakers and artists from North America and Brazil. Throughout her career, Lívia has collaborated with several clients, such as Greenpeace, The New York Times, Spray Filmes, SummerStage, LaMama, CultureHub, and others. Her work has been showcased at various galleries and festivals across the US, Europe, Asia, and North and South America, including NY MoMA, the Anthology Film Archives, Munich International Film Festival, Microscope Gallery, and the Museum of Modern Art in Rio de Janeiro.
Website: liviasa.com | Instagram: @liv.sa