New England Morning by Darryl Tookes and Joseph Joubert

So many people tell Darryl, "When I listen to New England Morning, the music transports me to a place I want to be."

Darryl's father, the legendary Florida A&M golf and football coach Hansel Tookes, isn't surprised by such comments. He will tell you Darryl's been composing beautiful, upbeat songs since he was eight. No wonder! Music flows in his genes. Darryl's grandmother Benveneta Washington was a star on Broadway, signed to Warner Brothers for films, and a vocal soloist with the Hall Johnson Choir, while his mother Leona Washington was a classical, jazz and sacred song chanteuse, who left the stage for her family.

Born in the Bronx, but growing up in Tallahassee, Darryl as a young boy would compose songs at his piano and then go out into the world and connect with people- doing well at whatever he did--making friends, excelling at school and sports, and performing his music. At Florida State University High School he had a band, Devotion. His friend Jim Smith, acting as driver, would load the band up in his pick up truck and off they went, wherever people wanted to hear Darryl Tookes. After graduating from Florida A&M magna cum laude in physics, Darryl was accepted at MIT and at medical school, but the siren call of the Muses to sing and compose triumphed.

He moved to New York City to make his way in the music world and stay true to his inner voice-and has remained for over two decades the person his friends and fans know and love, a loyal friend, an accomplished musician who extends a helping hand, a fun person with an easy way about him, and a deep thinker who believes that the spiritual and the secular coexist on the same natural plane. He is a devoted husband and father to his wife and four children with whom he lives in Connecticut.

The journey continues and what a road it's been so far. Blessed with a four-octave range, perfect pitch, and a voice that can do almost anything, Darryl's composed, sung and performed across the musical spectrum. He's performed at the White House, toured with Sting, sung on two Grammy award winning West Side Story albums, worked with about every major performing and recording artist in the business, and is also an award winning composer and performer of vocal solos for thousands of commercial spots on radio and TV.

All along he has continued to compose, arrange and perform music in the tradition of his heroes, the grand masters Leonard Bernstein, Aaron Copland, Michel LeGrand, Henry Mancini, Burt Bacharach and Duke Ellington. His discography includes five solo albums on both major and independent labels. It takes an accomplished virtuoso and craftsman to make it sound so effortless. Ambient Recording's Mark Conese, says, "Darryl Tookes and Joseph Joubert are about as talented as any two humans get!" Listen and discover for yourself.

JOSEPH JOUBERT Accompanist and Orchestrator

Joseph Joubert began playing the piano at the age of eight. Study with Dora Zaslavsky commenced at age fifteen. Within one year he made his Town Hall debut with full orchestra. After advanced study and graduation from the Manhattan School of Music with Bachelor of Music and Master of Music degrees, Joseph won the National Association of Negro Musicians award. Success in other competitions resulted in performances of concerti with full orchestra and participation in master classes offered by such virtuosos as Andre Watts, John Browning, and Eugene Istomin.

The original conductor for the Three Mo' Tenors tour, he is the arranger/ conductor of the Three Mo' Tenors recording. He was nominated for a Grammy in 2000 as producer/ arranger/ keyboardist for the Centurymen's Beautiful Star CD in the category of Best Classical Cross-Over Album. Mr. Joubert has appeared in Carnegie Hall, Avery Fisher Hall, and Alice Tully Hall and performed with the Manhattan Symphony, the Bronx Arts Ensemble, theNew Philharmonia. For two seasons he served as staff pianist for the Metropolitan Opera Company's revivial of Porgy and Bess and the company opened featuring him as pianist "Jasbo Brown."

Mr. Joubert has enjoyed success in musical direction. For five years (1988-1993) he was Musical Director for Judy Collins. Together they performed with the London Symphony and in the United States with the symphony orchestras of Atlanta, Charleston, Chicago, Dallas, Dayton, Houston, Kansas City, Louisville, Milwaukee, Pittsburgh, and Portland, Oregon. Joseph Joubert served as Assistant Musical Director of the Broadway show Five Guys Named Moe and was assistant conductor/pianist for the award-winning Big River.

He is credited as conductor and pianist on the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre's Revelations CD. As a soloist he played Duke Ellington's "New World A-Comin'" and Gershwin's "I Got Rhythm Variations" with the Marin Symphony. Lauded by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel for his "brawny orchestrations," Mr. Joubert orchestrated "Sisters of Freedom," a 40-minute work premiered by the Milwaukee Symphony and which featured the Harlem Spiritual Ensemble.

As an accompanist, critics have hailed Mr. Joubert's "sensitive and supportive" perform-ances as well as the "uncommon tonal beauty" of his playing. He has collaborated with Kathleen Battle, Florence Quivar, Wilhelmenia Fernandez, Marvis Martin, Simon Estes, Hilda Harris, William Brown, Esther Hinds and Barbara Conrad, to name a few. With Ms. Battle he appeared in concert at the White House for President Bill Clinton and President Boris Yeltsin. At that performance, Mr. Joubert performed his arrangement of "Amazing Grace." Afterwards President Yeltsin requested the sheet music to take back with him to Russia.

Mr. Joubert is also a record producer and arranger/ orchestrator. He has successfully produced and arranged for Sony Records Tremaine Hawkins' CD To A Higher Place and The Promised Land. He provided specialized arrangements and orchestrations for the huge CD collection entitled The Music Connection, released by Silver Burdett Ginn.

Joseph Joubert resides in New Jersey with his wife, the opera singer Renay Peters Joubert.

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