New York, NY (Top40 Charts/ Jacqui Naylor Official Website) Today, jazz vocalist and songwriter, Jacqui Naylor, will make her film debut with the national release of the film "Lucky Girl - A Portrait of Jacqui Naylor." The DVD is produced by ARTiDOCs (www.artidocs.com) and arrives in stores nationwide with distribution through eOne/Koch.
The ARTiDOCs crew followed Naylor and her band for two years on the road and in the studio while they prepared new music for her eighth album, also titled Lucky Girl. The relationship was born after the Bay Area film making duo produced the video for Naylor's single, "Celebrate Early & Often". The portrait chronicles Naylor on tour to several jazz clubs including Seattle's Jazz Alley, San Francisco's Rrazz Room, and the Istanbul Jazz Center in Turkey. Replete with performances, songwriting sessions, and behind- the-scene moments, the film transports the viewer through a series of musical montages and local flavors. Interviews with long-time band members and others close to Naylor give an intimate look at the life of this respected jazz artist who is also a practicing Buddhist and long-time San Francisco resident.
"Jacqui's primary goal is to provide unity and community and this message is clearly delivered throughout the duration of Lucky Girl," says producer Jules Kobelin. From the opening scene of chanting with fellow Buddhists in their home to the recording of a pledge drive song for NPR, the film shows how Naylor and pianist and husband, Art Khu, use their music to bring people and ideas together.
The couple's original song "Dreamin' Prayin' Wishin' was recently picked up by Two Degrees for use in their marketing to end world hunger and "
Rise Up" featured on the Obama-Biden Website.
It is her ability to mix genres from different generations that Naylor is perhaps best known for with the arranging technique she calls "acoustic smashing." "Jacqui Naylor has brought new twists to the notion of melding jazz and pop tunes - without high-tech assistance," claims NPR's California Report. "Naylor has the chops and sensitivity to pull it off," chimes New York Magazine. The film includes "My Funny Valentine" from Rodgers and Hart sung over the groove of AC/DC's "Back In Black," "
Black Coffee" from Webster and Burke atop Led Zeppelin's "Moby Dick," and "The Surrey With The Fringe On Top" from Rodgers and Hammerstein over
George Benson's "Breezin'."
You can watch the trailer for the film here: https://www.jacquinaylor.com/lucky-girl-trailer.html
And listen to Jacqui's music here: https://jacquinaylor.com/music.html
To celebrate the film's release, Naylor performed at the Florence Gould Theater at the Legion of Honor in San Francisco on June 16th at 7pm. The event included a "Lucky Girl - A Portrait of Jacqui Naylor" screening as well as a concert featuring Art Khu (piano), Jon Evans (bass) and Josh Jones (drums).
San Francisco based, Jazz singer/songwriter, Jacqui Naylor has a unique style all her own.
Born and raised in Saratoga, CA, Naylor initially entered college to study marketing, but after hearing the album
Sarah Vaughan Sings
George Gershwin in a music appreciation class, Naylor became seriously interested in vocal jazz. Naylor recorded her self-titled debut in 1998 and released it on her own independent label, Ruby Star Records, the following year. She went on to record several more Ruby Star releases in the 2000s, which have been praised by the likes of Vogue, Wall Street Journal and New York Magazine, for her signature "acoustic smashing" technique, singing jazz standards over rock classics. Naylor tours regularly in the US,
Europe and Asia at esteemed venues including Yoshi's San Francisco, Ronnie Scott's London, Birdland New York, Monterey Jazz Festival, San Francisco Jazz Festival and the Blue Note Clubs in New York, Milan and Japan.
Bay Area film making duo, Marcelina Cravat and Jules Kobelin, both of whom are graduates of The
Berkeley Digital Film Institute, create aesthetic high definition ARTiDOCs that explore the unique journey and spirit of artists and creative concepts. These portrait style documentaries promote a deeper understanding of how we are all artfully connected. Producer Jules Kobelin has owned The Kobelin Company for over 18 years and was a recipient of the Earthwatch Arts Fellowship Award from The Chelsea College of Art and Design in London.
Director Marcelina Cravat is now on her third documentary with the company. Upon completion of her latest work,
Angel Azul, Marcy intends to direct Fish Can't Scream, a narrative feature film which deals with complex social issues - a work that she wrote while studying at The Art Center College of Design in Pasadena.
The company also offers ARTiPROMOs, short doc-ads to help promote businesses or ideas for when photographs are not enough.
