Amikaeyla Gaston

Amikaeyla Proudfoot Gaston has been guest performing with KIVA for many years and she went to England with us. Ami's musical career began at age four, studying classical piano, flute and vocals for over 20 years. As a trained vocalist, her musical techniques include classical choral opera, a cappella madrigals, jazz, blues, rock, funk, and international styles from West Africa and South India. She has performed at the Kennedy Center and with the Lisner Symphony; Yasmeen from Sweet Honey in the Rock; the Gaston Jazz Quartet; Dahjay West African Pop Band; Imani A Cappella; Bottomland; Bloodroot A Cappella Duo; Fire & Earth Folk and American Folklore troupe; Caravan, South Indian Healing Music Ensemble; Mama Muti Healing Drums and Music; and Rhythm Alive Dance and Drum Assembly. Other performances include off-Broadway productions of Jesus Christ Superstar as Mary Magdalene, and Lady Sings the Blues as Billie Holliday.
        Amikaeyla is the lead singer and one of the co-founders of Bottomland, a jazz/blues/worldbeat band, and the group she can most often be seen performing with. Check Ami's Web site for more information on her solo CD, "Mosaic", winner of 5 Wammy Awards for 2004 -- best jazz vocalist, best urban contemporary vocalist, best jazz recording, best world music recording, & best debut album!

Check out these links for more about Amikaeyla:
Myspace Songbird Tribute Album

Video links for Amikaeyla
IVAP Team Interviews

Jazz singer,Amikaeyla Gaston traveled to Jordan, Lebanon and Syria to meet with Iraqi refugees as part of a delegation of creative artists seeking to gain a better understanding of the crisis in that region.

Amikaeyla! Live at the Berkeley Jazz School

Amikaeyla at the Milennium Stage at the Kennedy Center

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Eve Jones

Eve has recently moved to NYC to pursue her happiness and has become a satellite member of KIVA. Eve grew up in a musical family -- she started taking piano lessons when she was 7 years old and flute when she was 10 while also taking ballet and drama. When it became clear that she was a mesomorph and wouldn't have the classical ballet body she moved into the modern dance style. In her early 20's Eve started taking drum lessons with Glenn Weber in the Latin/Caribbean styles of percussion as well as every drum workshop she could get into which added African percussion styles to her repertoire. As you can hear on the albums with KIVA she has done very well with those lessons.

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Revision Date: June 12, 2010