Jazz Singer/Composer Donates Part of CD Sales to Benefit Community
“Helping people in Haiti and other faraway places is important, but there are neighbors in need of food, shelter, and other assistance right here at home,” said Downie Hailstone, a jazz vocalist and recording artist who lives in Spring Lake. Hailstone will donate 10 percent of the sales of her new CD “Just Ask Me” to Greater Ottawa County United Way to benefit more than 60 nonprofit programs in Ottawa County.
Hailstone began performing classical, pop and jazz music in her teens, then went on to study vocal performance at Brigham Young University. When her husband’s job with Shape Corp. moved their family to Japan, she performed at Tokyo’s Four Seasons Hotel, Astro Hall, The Cotton Club, Birdland, Sheraton Bay View Lounge, Jazz Melody Line, and B Flat. Since moving back to Spring Lake in 2007, she has performed at select venues (most recently as Scott Vander Werf’s guest on his November 17, 2009 live studio jazz show on WGVU-FM) and wrote all the compositions for her latest CD, “Just Ask Me.”
The CD features six original compositions sung by Hailstone, accompanied by jazz musicians from Michigan who’ve gone on to make musical names for themselves worldwide. Three—keyboardist Darius Pimpleton, bassist Joe Ayoub, and drummer Jared Hunter—now live in California and are in demand as performers and studio musicians. Pimpleton, who grew up in Muskegon and graduated from Western Michigan University School of Music, has played with Manhattan Transfer and Bobby McFerrin. Ayoub grew up in Grand Rapids, graduated from WMU, and has recorded and performed with Liz Phair, Nikka Costa, Colbie Caillat, Sam Sparrow, Shantelle and others. Hunter hails from Detroit, studied at WMU, and has recorded and performed with Lauryn Hill, Darmon Meader, Charles Laster, and Liz Mikel, among others.
To hear a selection from the CD or download the entire CD for $5.49, visit www.downiehailstone.com. To purchase a hard copy of the new CD for $5.49, email This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it . To hear more about Downie Hailstone and her new CD, go to http://www.wgvu.org/wgvunews/index.cfm?id=middetail&sty=6258 for a recent interview with Scott VanderWerf on WGVU-FM.
Hailstone is working with campaign volunteers and staff at Greater Ottawa County United Way to plan a benefit concert that will reunite “the boys in the band” with whom she recorded her CD. Concert and ticket information will be available at www.ottawaunitedway.org.
