The Idea Media, Inc - Agent

Magnificent Trio

Drums:
Mark Johnson

Native of Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He attended the Wisconsin Convservatory of Music. He moved to New York in1978, and studied drums with Art Taylor. He has toured extensively throughout North and South America, Europe, and Japan. He has worked with Abbey Lincoln, Stanley Turrentine, "Little" Jimmy Scott, Gloria Lynne, Cassandra Wilson, Steve Coleman, David Murray, and Frankie Lymon's Teenagers. He can heard on Abbey Lincoln's recording, "you gotta pay the band," and numerous other recordings including his own with his brother, Billy Johnson entitled, "Beam Me Up".

PIANO:
Donald Smith

Native of Richmond, Virginia. Donald is the son of Lonnie Liston Smith, Sr., who was a member of "Harmonizing Four," the oldest gospel music quartet in the country. Pianist, singer, and flautist, Donald has performed extensively throughout the United States, Europe, and Japan. He has worked with such jazz greats as Art Blakey, Rasahn Roland Kirk, Gloria Lynne, and of course with his brother, Lonnie Liston Smith. This extremely gifted musician can be heard on numerous recordings.

BASS:
Rachiim Ausar-Sahu

Native of Brooklyn, New York. choirmaster, composer, educator, and bassist, Rachiim was raised in Bedford Stuyvesand and studied at Brooklyn Tech, Long Island University, and Columbia University. Artist in residence for New York State, and North Carolina. He has toured and recorded both in Europe and in the United States. He has worked with Mary Lou Williams, Barry Harris, Abdullah Ibrahim, Phyllis Hyman, Onaje-Allan Gumbs, and Andrei Strobert.



Jazz Fest Brings Brilliant sounds to Lake George
Shepard Park
by Mike Curtin
"Drawing from her 1998 release. "Daughters of the Nile", which was reflective materiel of like "In the Company of You" and "Kiss the Teardrops from teh Sky", proved tailor made for her languid style. But from her deceptive simplicity arose vocal flights of astonishing strength and extension."

"Exquisite visits to playbooks of Duke Ellington, Lionel Hampton and Horace Silver gained Cumberbatch a standing ovation and a well-deserved encore of "Tis Autumn" that was graced by joyful swoops reminiscent of teh great Ella Fitzgerald."

Press

The New York Amsterdam News
April 15-April 21, 1999
By: Clarence Atkins
"While some local critics have compared her to Sarah Vaughan, Carmen McCrae, and Gloria Lynne, in my opinion she possesses her very own distinct style and musicality and will quite soon be garnering the attention within the genre warranted by her gifts."

Our Time Press
January 1999
Notes From Brooklyn
Tulivu's Nile songs and Tulivu's smotth, sultry, soulful sounds have that affect on listeners. She performs ballads, blues, swing, and jazz, and had been compared to Sarah Vaughan, Carmen McCrae, Gloria Lynne. But the Brooklyn native has her own sweet, graceful style stunning in its purity (infused by "The Holy Spirit" yet, on some songs, rich and powerful with a multiplicity of textures like the "cornrows, twists, and locks" she sings about in the CD's title song.

Straight No Chaser
Tulivu Donna Cumberbatch
Abu Muhammad: The Poetician

"Tulivu is known to imperialize her audience with an array of original as well as standards."

"Keeping thyme was percussionist Mark Johnson with a smooth snare appraoch. Rachim-Aussar Sahu strumming the strings like a Tai-Chi master balancing Yin and Yang movement"

"My Funny Valentine duly performed by the imitable Donald Smith, Acapella adn piano seasoned with romantic class. Mr. Smith blew the cucumberbands off the borthers and the necklaces off the sisters."