PJ Parker

In Memory of
Coleman Mellett

Coleman Mellett, my wonderful guitarist on “Dreams Are Meant For Two,” tragically lost his life in the Continental Express plane crash outside of Buffalo, N.Y. on Thursday, February 12, 2009. Please visit the “Dreams” band's tribute to Coleman on my website, pjparker.net.

PJ Partners with the SPCA:

PJ will donate half of her proceeds from the 99-cent download of her single “Dreams Are Meant For Two” to the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty To Animals. This is a great way for jazz and animal lovers to show their support for great music and a very worthwhile organization. Purchases can be made from the Store link at PJ's Web site: www.pjparker.net, or from the CD's page at Amazon.com's MP3 store.

PJ Parker’s third release, Dreams Are Meant For Two, is an emotional collection of original and classic standards, including her own title track, plus “Black Coffee,” “Moonglow,” “Angel Eyes,” her own “So What Do You Say?” and “Love’s A Logistical Thing,” plus nine others.

Jazz fans across the United States and in far-flung places such as South Africa are enjoying “Dreams” on their local jazz stations, and the collection has earned early praise.

JazzPolice.com called the title track, which was penned by PJ to music written by her late father, “stunning.”

“With Dreams Are Meant for Two, PJ Parker has issued a definitive statement of intent: to challenge the heart, to unlock memories, to reinvent the familiar, to entertain. And to do so on her own terms, with her own voice,” Jazz Police writes.

Jazz Police says PJ's original songs “suggest PJ Parker has the potential to be a significant songwriter.”

And All About Jazz says the CD “never grows old or tiresome because Parker is always awake at the wheel, always in step with her top-flight backing musicians and respectful to the songwriters and performers she is paying tribute to here.”

“PJ Parker has one voice but several personalities on Dreams Are Meant for Two, and each of them lights the dynamite which leaves every track on the album shaken and stirred,” All About Jazz writes.

“Dreams Are Meant For Two” Track Listing:

1. Moonglow
2. Angel Eyes
3. Long Ago (And Far Away)
4. Then I'll Be Tired Of You
5. Black Coffee
6. Old Devil Moon
7. So What Do You Say?
8. Let's Fall In Love
9. Until It's Time For You To Go/If You Go Away
10. Love Me Or Leave Me
11. The Song Is You
12. In Passing Years
13. In The Wee Small Hours
14. Love's A Logistical Thing
15. Dreams Are Meant For Two

Dreams Are Meant For Two, as a melody, remained virtually undiscovered for over 50 years until two weeks prior to this recording.

According to PJ, “I was somehow drawn to a lone manuscript, nestled amongst my Dad’s beloved sheet music, carefully stored in his piano bench. He had signed it, labeled it ‘PIANO’ and composed it entirely in pencil. There were no lyrics.” She brought it to her pianist, Vinnie Ruggieri. After an emotional rendering of this lovely melody, they both agreed that if PJ could write lyrics, the song should be included in this recording. She did so, somehow sensing that her father had written the melody for her mother, before they were married, which indeed turned out to be true.

“The lyrics seemed to write themselves; a simple love song written by a man who had finally found the love of his life.” And when PJ and Vinnie recorded it, just piano and voice, the last song of the session, it was in the wee small hour of June 17, the anniversary of the wedding of Thomas and Gloria Parker. In their honor and celebration the collection is entitled, Dreams Are Meant For Two.

Parts of the original manuscript page have been reproduced on the actual compact disc and background tray.

Featured with PJ on Dreams Are Meant For Two are the stellar musicians Vinnie Ruggieri on piano; Earl Sauls on bass, Tim Horner on drums, Coleman Mellett on guitar and Joel Frahm Joel Frahm

sax, tenor on tenor and soprano saxophone.

A native New Yorker, PJ Parker has been performing live since she was five years old. After graduating from New York University, PJ toured with various show bands throughout the US and Caribbean.

She has performed in concerts, dinner theater, summer stock, regional theater and musical revues, and has also been the featured vocalist with orchestras and bands from Atlantic City to New York City. As a jazz vocalist, PJ has performed with such artists as Jerry Bruno, Roy Cumming, Steve Gilmore, Harry Leahy, Keith MacDonald, Gary Mazzaroppi, Geary Moore, Rich Reiter and Radam Schwartz. She has also been the featured vocalist for opening act bands for John Pizzarelli John Pizzarelli
b.1960
guitar and Harry Connick, Jr. Harry Connick, Jr.
b.1967
piano , and appeared in the annual Philadelphia Variety Club Telethon with Ben Vereen and Maureen McGovern.

PJ’s first CD, Intimate, features her unique renditions of selections from the Great American Songbook and her It's Christmas CD debuted her own “Not Beneath the Tree” amid a mix of traditional and contemporary Christmas songs.

Both CDs received airplay on radio stations across the country.

Reviewers throughout the U.S. and Europe have embraced PJ. Scott Yanow of L.A. Jazz Scene writes, “PJ has a very musical voice and her singing is full of honest emotions and subtle improvising.”

Larry Taylor of JazzReview.com writes, “...[Parker] is in command, slowly drawing the listener in with an attitude of majestic surrender.”

Andrea Canter of JazzPolice.com said PJ Parker “rises above the sea of promising vocalists as a true jazz singer who warrants serious attention.... PJ makes every note and phrase a personal experiment.”

Michel Bedin of Jazz Hot, Paris, France, writes, “Intimate is a beautiful example of real jazz in the United States.”

And Carol Swanson of ChristmasReviews.com said PJ “brings considerable craft and color to each word and tone, making it a pleasure to absorb the emotional highs and lows.”

Awards:

JazzInk.com listed "Dreams Are Meant For Two" as a co-CD of the month for Oct.-Nov. 2008.

WICR, University of Indianapolis' Jazz station, listed "Dreams Are Meant For Two" in its Top 30 list every week from Sept. 8 through Oct. 27.

Jazz Hot Magazine, Paris, France, listed "Intimate" as a "discovery" in March, 2007.