About the artist. . .

This Sagittarian from New York City has a B.A. in Communications and Music from LaSalle University, (Philadelphia) and a Master’s in Communications from Florida Atlantic University. Joan studied piano, composition and theory with pianist Gerald Price, and harp with Caliope Proios. She also studied ballet and modern dance with Bernice Johnson and Lavern Porter, and African dance with Dinizulu.

Cartwright has performed on television, radio and on stage at CJW Clubs (Shanghai), Blue Note (NYC), The "A" Train and Erny’s (Delray Beach), O’Hara’s, Promenade and Riverwalk Sunday Jazz Brunch (Fort Lauderdale), Ellington's (Hollywood and Sanibel Island, FL), JAZID (Miami Beach) in the U.S. and in Europe. Her research paper, The Sign of The Blues, was published in the 1993 IAJE Research Papers Journal. She offers lectures around the country and at Broward Community College (FL) on:

  1. Women in Jazz
  2. Jazzmen
  3. The Sign of The Blues
  4. Jazz: The Unmasked Rhetoric
  5. The Cultural Politics of Commercial Jazz
  6. The Business of Music:
    So, You Want To Be A Singer?

Joan's original music is published by Fuzz Goodbuddy Publications (BMI). She is the recipient of a 1999 SEAS Grant from the School Board of Broward County for a five-day lecture and concert series with Dr. Lonnie Smith in area schools on Women in Jazz.

 March 1998, Joan produced the First Annual Gaiafest, "A celebration of Mother Earth with Women in Jazz" featuring legendary vocalists

Dakota Staton and Ruth "Silky" Waters, and the Gaia All-Stars with Kim Clark (b), Bertha Hope (p), Bernice Brooks (d) and Pamela Williams (sax). In September 1998 and 1999, Gaiafest was produced in the Bronx, New York, and in 2000, it will be held there, again. Ultimately, Gaiafest will travel around the world.

Writer

  • As Inside Europe columnist for
    African American Travel, the nation’s premier magazine for black travelers, she's covered Italy, Switzerland, England, Germany and Barcelona.
  • She writes feature stories for
    IN FOCUS Magazine and Pick Up & GO, an environmental newsletter.
  • FYI Communications, Inc. is a clearinghouse for these and other publications and fine art.
  • Columns for Entertainment News & Views, include Dr. Billy Taylor, Wynton Marsalis, Bobby McFerrin, Lonnie Liston Smith and Sun Ra. She interviewed Quincy Jones and Abby Lincoln.
  • POPULAR MUSIC - a screenplay in progress

Joan has written several grant proposals and develops programs for arts programs, Gaiafest and The Children’s Coalition, Inc., in West Palm Beach. She designs websites for various clients, including entrepreneurs, artists, musicians and authors. 

MOTHERLAND BRIDGE GALLERY opened in Fort Lauderdale, in February 2002, to display the art of Joan's clients and the sculpture and batiks she procures from West and South Africa. In 2004, she relocated to Atlanta, GA. where she operates her home-based business.

ORIGINAL COMPOSITIONS
A Sweet Lovin’ Man
Jazz Hotline Talkin’ That Jazz
The Luxury of Love
The Glory Road
Treat Me Right No More Tears
Champagne Blues Bright Moments
Like A Sunrise Makin’ Love To You
Where's The Magic?
Tell The Blues Bye, Bye
Not Just Your Lover
A New Way of Singing The Blues

RECORDED

Loneliblue
Dreamin'
Nobody’s Husband
No Love
Sweet Return
Talkin' That Jazz
The Census Blues*

*Commissioned in May 2000
by the U.S. Census Bureau

LYRICS TO:
Night In Tunisia (Dizzy Gillespie)
Blue Bossa (Kenny Dorham)
Tune Up (Miles Davis)
Bessie’s Blues (John Coltrane)
And What If I Don’t (Herbie Hancock)
Blues For Val (Gerald Price)
Love For Our Children (Gerald Price)
Wandering Through (Gerald Price)
Soul (Giovanni Mazzarino)
Name and Surname (Mazzarino)

PERFORMANCES WITH
Dr. Lonnie Smith, Oliver Jackson, Sam Rivers
Cecil McBee, Freddie Hubbard, Duffy Jackson
Sandy Patton, Dorothy Donegan, Shirley Scott
"Philly" Joe Jones, Gerald Price, Tyrone Brown
Bobby Durham, Pete Minger, Billy Marcus
Robin Kenyatta, Francesco Bearzatti, Franco
Cerri, Gianni Basso, Giovanni Mazzarino

AFFILIATIONS

  • CAU Guild, Atlanta, GA
  • United Nations Association of the
    United States of America - Broward (V.P.)
  • H.O.M.E.S., Inc. (Board Member)
  • Broward County MLK Tribute Committee
    (Program Chair 1998-2000)

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