Rising Star and Hometown Girl Alexandra Jackson Relaunches Lush Brazilian Bossa Nova, Jazz and Pop at Atlanta Jazz Fest

U.S. launch of "Alexandra Jackson: Legacy & Alchemy", a star-studded tribute to the enduring power and beauty of the Brazilian-African American connection.

May 25 marks a turning point, and a return. It is the debut of a singular project that directly targets the re-launch of classic Brazilian music on the world stage. "Alexandra Jackson: Legacy & Alchemy", featuring knockout American singer Alexandra Jackson will open this year’s Atlanta Jazz Festival, on the weekend the album releases in the U.S., in the year that is the 60th anniversary of Bossa Nova’s seduction of the world pop scene, in the city that is both Jackson’s home and Rio de Janeiro’s sister city.

Alexandra Jackson will perform several songs from the Legacy & Alchemy album in tribute to Miles Davis, Antonio Carlos Jobim, Al Jarreau, and Oscar Castro-Neves, including "Corcovado", featuring Miles and Jobim with Ivan Lins, and “All One,” featuring Al Jarreau dueting in his last studio recording, and Oscar Castro-Neves' vocals from his own last studio recording in 2006. The sleek jazz trio format to be utilized at the festival, with Legacy & Alchemy co-Producer Larry Williams on piano, shows the sheer power of the project, which on the album harnesses the beauty of Brazilian songwriting and sensibilities and the strength of American jazz, funk, and R&B, with orchestral lushness.

Jackson and the Williams-led trio will perform on May 26th at noon, kicking off the festival. There will also be a press event before the performance.

Jackson hails from Atlanta and is continuing a family tradition of leadership, creativity, and global connection. Her father Maynard H. Jackson, Jr., the legendary former mayor, launched the Atlanta Jazz Festival in 1977, helped bring the 1996 Olympics to the city, and also forged Atlanta’s bonds to Rio de Janeiro when he created the sister-city relationship. Alexandra is pushing this legacy forward in her own way, as an artist who dedicated extensive time to perfecting her Portuguese and immersing herself in Brazilian sounds.

“There are so many connections, so much richness that binds African American music and Brazilian music, as well as Atlanta and Rio,” explains the driving force behind the project, producer Robert Hebert. “We knew this was the place to launch our project and relaunch Brazilian music for American music lovers.”

“This moment brings so many things full circle,” Jackson reflects. “I am bringing this project forward, which involves so many high-level, high-caliber performers from Brazil and the U.S., and ties together so much of the music I love, to my hometown and to America for the first time.”  With that in-mind, Jackson will also perform the jazz standard "My One and Only Love," which she sings at the end of the upcoming documentary "MAYNARD" about her late father.

"Alexandra Jackson: Legacy & Alchemy," with its respectful embrace of elder legends, pop and jazz greats, and old and new samba stars, wowed critics and the public at its recent Brazilian premiere on this year's April 30 International Jazz Day. It has the support of a constellation of American musicians and the guardians of their legacies. “This is a project so extensive, it could only work if we got as many of the people responsible for making Brazilian music a worldwide phenomenon, plus the American musicians that admired them--or were admired by them, like Miles Davis and Al Jarreau,” says Hebert.  "Alexandra is the right artist -- at the right time -- in the right project to bring all this forward.