Joy Mover, Singer/Songwriter

The journey from a deeply held dream to its realization is never easy, seldom rapid. After many years of writing, producing and recording the music that is so very much a part of her DNA, singer /songwriter Joy Mover is taking her first giant step toward actualizing her lifelong vision with the 2012 release of her self-titled debut, Joy Mover.

To say that Joy’s roots are steeped in music is an understatement. Beginning with her great- grandfather, through her maternal and paternal grandparents and uncles, followed by her parents, brother and cousin, Joy’s family has long been populated with professional musicians and singers. Her father, Jimmy, like his father before him, is a trumpeter. He played with several big band greats of his era including Tommy Dorsey, Charlie Spivak, Horace Heidt, Ina Ray Hutton and Jerry Wald and has appeared on a number of national television shows playing his theremin, including “The Tonight Show,” “Ernie Kovaks Show” and “The Daily Show with Jon Stewart.” He also played the theremin background music for the horror classic “Lights Out” radio show hosted by Robert Stack. Joy’s mother, Barbara, a vocalist and actress in NYC at the time, was singing with Al Donahue’s big band when her parents first met.

Joy’s older brother, Bob Mover, a widely acclaimed saxophonist who has performed and/or toured with such jazz luminaries as Chet Baker, Charles Mingus, Jaki Bayard, Art Farmer, Kenny Barron and recently with Esperanza Spalding, has maintained a highly successful career as a solo performing artist and bandleader. Bob’s daughter, Emilie, is a singer/songwriter whose music has been featured on such popular TV shows as “Grey’s Anatomy,” “Ugly Betty” and “Ghost Whisperer.” Joy’s cousin, drummer Jonathan Mover, Editor-in-Chief, “Drumhead Magazine.com,” has toured and appeared on over 300 recordings with such renowned artists as Joe Satriani, Alice Cooper, Aretha Franklin, Steve Howe, Sting, Fuel and The Tubes.

Emerging from such a creative familial environment, Joy is forging her own distinctive path on a journey to fulfilling her creative destiny. While honing her musical identity, Joy toiled in the corporate world, working in her spare time to develop her songwriting and maintain her vocal chops. As her business career progressed to greater challenges and responsibilities, Joy realized that the demands of the “day job,” which consumed significant amounts of time and extensive travel, would make it impossible to dedicate the attention necessary to manifest her primary passion as a songwriter/vocalist.

“I understood that performing/writing couldn’t be my primary pursuit if I wanted to support myself and the production/recording of my music in the studio.” Joy’s efforts gave her personal and creative autonomy unparalleled at this level. It allowed her to both express herself vocally while maintaining the integrity of her songwriting. Most of the songs on Joy Mover were created while Joy traveled for business, recording into a cassette while en route. “Music creation is a mysterious process. It’s fluid like an undercurrent running through an inner space where imagination, sound and rational thought connect and converge to ultimately become one in song.”

Joy has added a new dimension to her family’s musical legacy by revealing her own magical ability to craft and interpret her original songs, six of which see the light of day on Joy Mover. Those originals share space on the CD with her distinctive, inimitable take on such classic tunes as “Nature Boy,” “Till There Was You,” “Corcovado,” “Fever” and “Dream A Little Dream of Me.”

“My music reflects a strong respect and appreciation for great musicianship regardless of genre,” she says. “Although my jazz roots run deep, there are also threads of Latin, folk, soul and blues woven into the mix, creating a tapestry that may be considered ‘outside the norm’ in the traditional jazz world.”

Joy’s creative energy was so sparked when working on the material for this CD that she also composed a verse and updated some time-worn lyrics for the sultry “Fever” and wrote rap lyrics to introduce her funked-up rendition of “Till There Was You,” layering a thoroughly modern attitude harmoniously atop the romantic standard with no trace of discord.

That ability to transcend eras and interpretive styles is certainly one of the key elements that sets Joy apart from the multitude of talented vocalists working today. Another is her capacity for attracting incredible musical talent to assist in realizing her vision. The legendary trumpeter, flautist, saxophonist, flugelhornist and multi-Grammy© recognized Ira Sullivan (who has known Joy since her childhood) emerged to add his distinctive stylings on trumpet, alto flute and tenor sax to four tracks. Joy’s brother, Bob Mover, provides strong tenor sax support on two songs, offering up a stellar solo on “Till There Was You” and romping through “Nature Boy.”

Joy tapped the local music scene of her current hometown near Boston for several of the other players joining her on the CD. Guitarist/arranger John Paul, winner of a Billboard Song Achievement Award, New England Music Company’s Best Guitarist Award, and a spot among Jazziz Magazine’s “International Top Ten Guitarists,” takes on guitar, bass, synth and vocal duties throughout the project. Paul also arranged several tracks and co-wrote Joy’s instrumental chorus on the original “Have You Ever Loved?” Another New Englander, drummer Vinny Damaio, who has worked with such popular artists as Adam Ant, Jody Watley, Wilson Phillips and Dianna Krall, provides rhythmic support on Joy’s utterly gorgeous rendition of Antonio Carlos Jobim’s “Corcovado”/”Quiet Nights of Quiet Stars,” as arranged by John Paul.

Hearkening back to her days at the University of Miami’s Jazz Vocal department, Joy also makes use of a strong cadre of musicians from the South Florida musical arena, including pianist/arranger Mike Levine (Jaco Pastorious Big Band, Ed Calle); bassists Jamie Ousley (upright) and Javier Carrion (electric); saxophonist and flautist Billy Ross (James Brown, Julio Iglesias, Frank Sinatra, Mel Torme); and drummers Sammy Levine and Lee Levin (who has performed with Ricky Martin, Julio Iglesias, the Bee Gees and Jon Secada, and played on more than one thousand recordings for artists such as Christina Aguilera, Pink, Nelly Furtado, Enrique Iglesias and Kelly Clarkson). Guitarist Dan Warner (Celine Dion, Justin Timberlake, Shakira, Gloria Estefan and Enrique Iglesias) and percussionist Richard Bravo, whose work on over 800 recordings, including Ricky Martin’s MTV Unplugged and Shakira’s multi-platinum Hips Don’t Lie, has resulted in seventeen Grammy Award© Achievement Certificates, round out the stellar southeast contingent.

Joy’s decisions to combine her own striking original songs with distinctive interpretations of familiar material, and to surround herself with an assortment of players that both challenge and support her prodigious vocal talents is proof that while this eponymous CD may be her recording debut, she is an artist with a boundless career ahead of her. Joy Mover is, as veteran producer Vinnie Zummo (who is already on-board collaborating with Joy on her follow-up CD) says, “a voice to be reckoned with.”