If your hips are swaying, fingers are snapping and heart is skipping, don’t call the doctor just yet—It might be the Maurice Brown Effect. Feeling good has become symptomatic of audiences from the banks of the Mississippi to the streets of New York, courtesy of soulful jazz trumpeter Maurice “Mobetta” Brown.

Exciting the ears of bebop enthusiasts and hip-hoppers alike, Maurice’s passionate and improvisational rhythms have been electrifying the music industry. Innovation is the key to Maurice’s soulful melodies, which have graced both legend Aretha Franklin and urban legend Talib Kweli’s versatile recordings. The response from both old and new schoolers pushed Maurice’s 2004 debut album, Hip to Bop, onto top ten charts across the country.

Maurice is an unpretentious, cultured soul with a strong musical backbone. Raised in south Chicago, Maurice was awarded a full music scholarship to Northern Illinois University upon graduating from Hillcrest High School. After winning first place in the esteemed National Miles Davis Trumpet Competition, Maurice found new flavor in the heart of Louisiana, where he continued his studies at Southern University—and captivated audiences weekly, headlining at New Orleans’ premiere jazz club, Snug Harbor.

Maurice currently resides in New York where he is finishing his sophomore album, Hip to Bop II, while immersed in a grittier urban settingxpectations are high for the release, which will showcase Maurice’s talents as a trumpeter, composer, and bandleader as well as the fierce, down-home melodies we love him for. Like legendary trumpeter, Clark Terry said, "Brownie is the young trumpeter to watch for sure. I see young cats all over the world and Maurice has it.” And we want it.

An echo can soothe, and an echo can haunt. In Roman myth, Echo is the beautiful nymph with the musical voice forever calling after a boy in love. Critically-acclaimed Jazz vocalist/Singer-Songwriter Alyssa Graham's new CD, the aptly-titled Echo, is a musical travelogue that traces the arc of a modern-day love affair and infuses it with a mélange of Jazz, Folk and Brazilian rhythms, bound together by the unforgettable timbre of Graham's extraordinary voice. Its eleven tracks reveal musical influences from around the globe, all while maintaining the thematic feel of a deeply personal, well-told and eternal love story. With seven original compositions, four classic songs round out the album, including a delicately yearning version of Paul Simon's "America" that speaks to journeys closer to home. Echo was produced by Jon Cowherd ( The Brian Blade Fellowship, Lizz Wright) and was released July 29th on Sunnyside Records.

A recent Critics' Choice CD selection in the New York Times which hails Graham as "The right voice... a sumptuous and flexible croon" , praise for Echo has been unanimously supportive with JazzTimes applauding the CD as "Stunning... one of those rare hybrids whose jazz, pop and folk-rock roots, when entwined, equal far more than the sum of their parts." the Washington Post proclaiming, "The honey-voiced chanteuse... smokes!" and The New Yorker exclaiming "Lovely and haunting." Alyssa began laying the foundations for Echo in January of 2006. It was more than a two year-long process, influenced by Alyssa's travels throughout Brazil, India, Africa and Europe, as well as her long-time love affair with guitarist and lyricist Douglas Graham. "Echo is like a fairy tale," says Alyssa, "It reveals the different complexities of an alluring lover, equally at home with flirtation and passion and knowing the precise distance between the two. A love story that is true and rare. Doug and I have been together since we were kids and this record is a tribute to our unique love story and to many of the places we have traveled together - emotionally and geographically."

From a love song written in the aftermath of an argument and the pull of honeyed love that almost conceals a fear of loss ("Butterflies") to a song about escaping the world together ("Pictures of You") to the Latin surrealism of the title song (inspired by the last five minutes of the classic Italian film "La Notte") Echo is a mythical blend of magical originals and familiar melodies filled with the musical unexpected. But one of the most notable tracks on the album has to be "Involved Again," a tune that might have become one of Billie Holiday's greatest hits had the jazz legend lived to record it. When Holiday passed away in 1959, "Involved Again" was slated for release on her next album. Saddened at the loss of the singer and her extraordinary voice, the tune's composer, Jack Reardon ("The Good Life"), shelved it and moved on, certain that no one "could do it justice afterward." Nearly 50 years later, though, Reardon heard a voice so sweet, so sensuous, that he knew the song could finally come to life the way he had once envisioned it. That voice belonged to Alyssa Graham. This unheard musical gem was recorded by Alyssa and Jon Cowherd and is a song integral to the mood and sultry stylization of Echo.

Featured on Echo are renowned players Romero Lubambo on guitar, Jeff Haynes on percussion, Jon Cowherd on piano, French horn and organ, Doug Weiss on bass, Obed Calvaire on drums, Douglas Graham on guitar, Sachi Patitucci on cello, Lawrence Dutton on viola, Laura Seaton and Elizabeth Lim Dutton on violin, and Gregoire Maret on chromatic harmonica.

Alyssa's creative resolve, passion for storytelling and vocal eloquence are the products of her enduring artistic exposure. Growing-up just outside of New York City, Alyssa's father took his daughter to see many of the musical greats as a child - Ella Fitzgerald, Dizzy Gillespie, Nancy Wilson, The Temptations, Neil Young, Bob Dylan - and after studying piano, saxophone and guitar, Alyssa attended both Ithaca College and The New England Conservatory of Music where she studied Jazz Voice and Contemporary Improvisation. After music school Alyssa went on to develop her unique artistic style, playing on her fresh, breezy phrases and lilting Brazilian rhythms that hypnotize the senses.

In 2005, Alyssa launched her solo career with her critically-lauded debut CD, What Love Is, chosen by All About Jazz as one of the "Best New Recordings of 2005" and JazzIz's Annual "Women In Jazz" issue. The All Music Guide recently bestowed 3.5 stars on Echo saying, "Graham conveys powerful emotions and silky charm... and makes us all realize, thankfully, that the spirit of innovative legendary vocalists like Lady Day is a alive and well in new artists like Alyssa Graham."

In the words of Jazz.com Alyssa sings with "total honesty and directness...She's not a star yet but just wait and see."