(Vocal Jazz,Smooth Jazz) Brenda Morie - Meant To Be - 2004, MP3, 320 kbps

Brenda Morie is Canadian born and from Edmonton, Alberta. As a child music was always important to her and by 18 she joined The Spirit River String Band, touring western Canada, playing banjo, pennywhistles and guitar. At 21, she was leading the popular jazz-rock fusion band, Terra.
Soon Brenda became known with numerous television and radio appearances and specials; these included the internationally syndicated The Tommy Banks Show, as well as the national Sun Country Show hosted by Ian Tyson. She also hosted two internationally distributed Brenda Morie CFCN television specials.
She frequently performed with guitarist Amos Garrett, known for his unique and infamous style on Maria Muldar's Midnight At The Oasis. Brenda's career soon brought her to Southern California where she found herself playing in the company of some of Los Angeles' top musicians. Co-writing, recording and performing with jazz artist and Doobie Brother's drummer; Chet McCracken, they reached the jazz chart's with After the Rain and the appropriately named Through Brenda's Eyes.
Brenda toured with Nancy Sinatra, and lent her voice to motion picture sound tracks of Homegrown with Billy Bob Thornton and Jamie Lee Curtis, Rhapsody in Bloom with Penelope Ann Miller and Ron Silver, and Going All The Way with Ben Affleck and Rose McGowan.
Family brought Brenda to the Triad in the fall of 2000. She quickly established herself in the local music scene, with the Triad's best musicians performing repeatedly for the Winston-Salem events such as the 4th St. Jazz and Blues and Trade St. Festivals, The Rowan Blues Jazz Festival in Salisbury, The Reynolda House Museum, and Tanglewood's Summer Festival with The Piedmont Wind Symphony.
Brenda released a solo jazz CD, Meant To Be highly reviewed in late 2004/2005 and is currently working on a new recording.

Meant to Be, Brenda's solo CD, features the supporting performances of friends, old and new, from her days in Los Angeles coupled with the some of NC's best. Among these are Los Angeles's drummer and recording artist, Chet McCracken and lead guitarist, Chris Pinnick, formerly of Chicago as well as Herb Alpert and John Klemmer. North Carolina's well-known and respected The Ken Rhodes Trio consisting of keyboardist Ken Rhodes, bassist Matt Kendrick, and drummer John Wilson bring their smooth warmth to the project as well as Rhodes' compositional skill with Peace Chant. Jazz trumpeter, Joe Robinson is featured on Stolen Moments and Ghost of a Chance. His bittersweet performance on Ghost of a Chance brings a rich flavor to Brenda's own interpretation, making it one of the highlights on the CD. Brazilian guitarist, Paulo Barata, contributes to Brenda's version of Djavan's Puzzle of Hearts along with Chris Pinnick's lead guitar and McCracken's drumming. Also contributing are conga percussionist Roberto Orihuela, and film composer David McHugh (Mystic Pizza & Moscow On The Hudson). Brenda's "lead guitar-like" flute performance on Liberated Brother and Chitlins Con Carne, shows the influence of her work with Garrett and Nancy Sinatra.
The CD was recorded and produced by NC School of the Arts instructorJohn Sisti, whose recent credits include Sound Supervisor on Mad About You which won two Emmys for Best Sound, and Bram Stocker's Dracula which won an Oscar for Best Sound Mixing and Best Sound Editing. Before his film work, Sisti was a recording engineer at several studios such as A&M Records and Record Plant with artist Joni Mitchell, George Harrison, Captain & Tennille (Love Can Keep Us Together), and Billy Preston (Nothing from Nothing). John taught sound and production at Berkley School of Music in the mid 80's, and now as well as teaching at in the Film School has a small studio here, Granite Sound. At Granite Sound John has mixed David McHugh's score for the Lifetime Series Strong Medicine and the soundtrack for the Gary Hawkin's award-winning documentary The Rough South of Larry Brown.