English – Spanish – French – Portuguese

I'm an Oakland jazz salsa singer-songwriter, fluent in a few languages thanks to my itinerant childhood. Since 2004 I've done more than a dozen studio recordings for my own & other bands. In 2010, I sang on the Grammy-nominated Bien! Bien! In 2011, I made a fan-funded CD, and in 2012 my singing/songwriting was on Pacific Mambo Orchestra's debut CD. In 2013, we won a Grammy!

Photos
Murals in the San Francisco Mission

Murals in the San Francisco Mission

On my way to rehearsal last Sunday at the Red Poppy Art House in the Mission, I snapped pictures of a bunch of murals. I’m always looking for inspiration to paint — I’ve always painted the walls in my house. Enjoy!
It's So Cold, We Had To...

It’s So Cold, We Had To…

…Cuddle with the cat to keep warm last night!
Photos from Bake's Place concert in Seattle

Photos from Bake’s Place concert in Seattle

Vince Mansel and I had an amazing time in Seattle. After I’d spent a day working on writing business and sight-seeing in balmy weather, Vince texted me the morning of the gig to tell me he’d missed his flight, but was sure he’d catch the next one and be at my hotel in time for...
San Jose Jazz Fest Concert Photos

San Jose Jazz Fest Concert Photos

Here are some great pictures from the San Jose Jazz Festival of my gigs with Pacific Mambo Orchestra on Friday and my own band on Saturday.   Love these two by Tom Ehrlich! Photo by Francis DeLeon:  
Pictures from Yoshi's by Patrick Hickey

Pictures from Yoshi’s by Patrick Hickey

These pictures by Patrick Hickey of our Kickstarter Victory Celebration and CD Release at Yoshi’s are worth more than 1000 words each! Thank you so much, Patrick! None of us have ever seen a photo set that was THIS gorgeous from one concert! More pictures here: http://www.idyll.com/alexa/slideshow
Film Noir

Film Noir

  It was nearly 4 a.m. She wasn’t sure how long she’d been standing there, teasing the threads of memory… Had she really pulled a gun from the folds of her burgundy satin trench coat, spun on her violet stilettos and fired a stolen taser at the sinewy alien who’d tried to implant her with...
The Rush of Real Music

The Rush of Real Music

OVERHEARD: “It was the greatest performance! They really put on a show! The whole time the band plays, there’s a painter who’s using tennis balls to create a bigger-than-life portrait of Che Guevara. The singer is a freaking contortionist. There’s a lot of really hot girls in the audience because the bass player is ripped,...
The Amazing Power of Deliberate Intent

The Amazing Power of Deliberate Intent

Painting by James Gayle

Painting by James Gayle

James Gayles is a Bay Area fine artist who wrote me early this year: “I will be staging an exhibition of my work in September 2011 titled Latin JazzMasters. I have been given a grant by the City of Oakland to do these paintings which will consist of portraits of prominent Bay Area Latin Jazz...
Pacific Mambo Orchestra

Pacific Mambo Orchestra

One of my favorite bands to work with is Pacific Mambo Orchestra, which is led by Christian Tumalan and Steffen Kuehn, boasts several of the Bay Area’s best salsa singers including Alexis Guillen and Braulio Barrera, and is frequently home to Santana players Karl Perazzo and Jeff Cressman. Pacific Mambo Orchestra has changed the San...
Never Give Up

Never Give Up

Action begets action! Look at how much you have done! Laugh at all the times you smacked against walls, fell into holes, made godawful mistakes, wandered aimlessly, said what should never be said, kissed the wrong frog, embarrassed yourself and others, acted a fool. That’s how you get wise, baby. You go balls-in! You scoff...