MIAMI GARDENS – The Jazz in the Gardens lineup received a boost of momentum with scheduled participants Mary J. Blige, Melanie Fiona, Boyz II Men, Bryan-Michael Cox and Johnny Nunez celebrating top honors this year.
Melanie Fiona secured her first Grammy nod with a nomination for Best Female R&B Performance. A Toronto native, her song “It Kills Me” is enjoying its second week at the top spot on the Billboard R&B Chart. While expressing her enthusiasm about the nomination on YouTube Fiona was emotionally moved.
Mary J. Blige, scheduled to perform March 20th, received decade end honors from Billboard Magazine alongside Jazz in the Garden’s DJ, Grammy Award winning songwriter/producer Bryan-Michael Cox. “Be Without You,” a ballad co-written by Cox and Blige and produced by Cox, was named the number one R&B Song of the Decade by Billboard Magazine. In conjunction, B. Cox was just recently inducted into the Georgia Music Hall of Fame along with being named Billboard’s number eight producer of the decade.
Boyz II Men announced last week plans to celebrate the group’s 20th anniversary that will include returning to the studio to work on a new album. “We have always wanted to play the ‘Jazz in the Gardens’ event, we love coming to Miami Gardens. Add in music, great performers and a few drinks… we can’t wait!” says one Boyz II Men member.
In addition to the performing artists, famed celebrity photographer Johnny Nunez, who has been tapped to document Jazz in the Gardens for the past 3 years, is also enjoying monumental achievements. “Shooting Stars,” a documentary profiling Nunez’s life and career, won The Best Documentary at the San Diego Black Film Festival. Nunez also partnered with New Era Caps in 2009 and released a line of baseball caps called Hip Hop Royalty.
Jazz in the Gardens, a two-day weekend festival is now in its fifth year and has grown to be one of the top cultural events in America. The jazz festival delivers a diverse mix of music genres that range from jazz, R&B, Caribbean and African sounds. Having something to offer all music aficionados at an affordable price, the 4th Annual Jazz in the Gardens shattered expected ticket sales, enjoying an attendance of almost 40,000, which was more than double the sales of the 2008 festival. In 2009, the Jazz in the Gardens crowd enjoyed the hip hop flavor of Common, the beautiful neo-soul melodies of Erykah Badu, the smooth R&B of Kenneth ‘Babyface’ Edmonds and the crowd-stopping soul of Maze featuring Frankie Beverly, among other a-list artists.
