Tecora Rogers was lead singer in her local church choir when she was six years old. Thus became the journey of a versatile, articulate and extremely talented artist finding her way home. Her many years within the church wedded her to gospel but she began to feel drawn to jazz. Considered sinful by many of the gospel greats, including Mahalia Jackson, Tecora nevertheless could appreciate Jazz having grown out of work songs and being a part of American folk music, roots steeped deep in Africa , and she liked it. On business for her company in Singapore , she was offered an opportunity to sing at the Regency and then Harry’s Jazz Club there. She has not looked back ever since.
Combining the low guttural gospel chest notes with the high scat-like head notes of jazz gives Tecora a cross-the-board strength which makes room for her to explore all directions of the spectrum – extending melody lines and improvisationally bringing multi-layers of aesthetic understanding to the pieces she smoothly belts forth.
Years of performance in Singapore , Bangkok , Thailand , Shanghai , France , Italy and Switzerland came to an unfortunate end due to unforeseen circumstances in Chicago , Illinois . It was then she realized it was time to return to her place of birth. Chicago has prospered from the lemonade made from that lemon. In addition to the number of musical compositions Tecora has recorded, she also produces a weekly television show which airs every Monday on Channel 19 in Chicago which has featured notables such as Melba Moore, singer and actress; Nick Colionne, Jazz Guitarist; and the cast of the award winning musical Show Boat. The show is designed to provide Chicago ’s audience with entertaining, stimulating, and useful information regarding what is happening in and around Chicago “today”.
Tecora’s presence is also experienced on the theatrical stage. She has performed in a number of plays, including the part of Regina from “The Little Foxes” in the Hidden Talent Monologues, which can be seen on her website.
Tecora’s blog made its launching at the beginning of April and promises to be just as versatile and robust as the singer is in life. It will relay her thoughts on jazz and the music scene in Chicago and explore some of the opportunities and venues being offered forth in that great city.
Tecora Rogers’ blog resides at http://tecorarogers.blogspot.com where more
information regarding her music and a link to her website can be found. Iya
Ifalola Omobola is a consultant for unique product creation and can be found
at http://conscious-products.blogspot.com .
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