Marie Bosarge, President of the Board of Directors
Marie is President of MusicDoingGood LLC, a non-profit organization devoted to philanthropy through music. MusicDoingGood’s primary purpose is to use music to put on benefit concerts to help outstanding non-profits, our Spotlight Partners, working on health, education, music and children’s causes. Marie is currently working closely with Delfeayo Marsalis for MusicDoingGood "Jazz Series” . Marie is both a Singer and an Actress. She stars as Marilyn Monroe in “Marilyn! Baby Doll Reflects” which recently debuted in Houston, and has played in venues in Michigan and Maine. She also co-produced and co-starred in the “Piaf and Monroe Affair” which ran in a Hollywood live production in 2003.
Dr. David Eagleman
David Eagleman, Ph.D., is a neuroscientist at Baylor College of Medicine and the founder and director of BCM's Initiative on Neuroscience and Law. He is the author of four upcoming neuroscience books: The Secret Life of the Unconscious Brain (Pantheon Books), Wednesday is Indigo Blue: Discovering the Brain of Synesthesia (MIT Press), The Dynamically Reorganizing Brain (Oxford University Press), and Cognitive Neuroscience (Oxford University Press). He earned his undergraduate degree in British and American Literature at Rice University, and his Ph.D. in Neuroscience at Baylor College of Medicine in 1998. His scientific discoveries have been published in the top journals in the field, and have been featured on the Discovery Channel, History Channel, BBC, ABC and PBS, as well as in Discover Magazine, Scientific American, Seed Magazine and New Scientist. He is additionally the author of a book of literary fiction, SUM, debuting in February 2009 (Pantheon Books).
Dr. Daniel Karp
Dr. Dan Karp has been playing piano professionally since 1963. He grew up in Boston and is a graduate of the Boston Latin School and Harvard College where he started out thinking he might major in music but switched to psychology and pre-med. He graduated from Duke Medical School and now serves as Professor at M.D. Anderson Cancer Center as well as the Clinical Translation Research Center – the unit specializing in the development of new cancer drugs. Dr. Karp has been known for over a decade as an exemplary medical professional. Women's Magazine named him the Best Doctor for Lung Cancer. He is also the foremost Cancer Doctor in the State of Texas. His mother was his first music teacher. At age seven, he first began playing with a local instructor. He built a lasting relationship with Mr. Phil Saltman, a Boston radio and television personality until the time of his passing at age 90. Dr. Dan has arranged music for Rhonda Liss, educator and singer known in the United States, Canada, and Europe. He started a jazz trio patterning themselves after the work of Bill Evans. He began a close relationship with the Bill & Bo Winiker Orchestra with whom he performed for more than 35 years. On moving to Houston, he has been a featured performer at Cezanne, known as one of the top American jazz clubs, and at the 9th Annual Kemah Jazz festival. He has released three CD's: "Songs for My Father", his Houston debut live CD, "Standard Fare" (from Little Apple Records) with Dr. Wayne Goins at the Municipal Arts Center - Kansas State University at Manhattan, Kansas and "My Days in the Sun," an Andrew Lloyd Webber tribute CD released by Diva's World Productions. He actively pursues performance and music innovation in Houston.
Anita Kruse
Pianist/Composer Anita Kruse is described as “a rare blend of visionary artist and powerfully inspired performer.” A classically trained pianist, Anita began writing her own music while completing a Master’s Degree in Piano Performance with Theodore Lettvin at the University of Michigan.
Inspired by the musical talents of her mother and grandmother, Anita has worked as a soloist and accompanist, performing in both popular and classical venues throughout the United States and internationally.
Throughout her professional career, Anita’s artistry and philanthropic nature has been evident in every project she has touched and position she has held. She worked as Artist in Residence at Houston’s Poe Elementary School, where she directed children’s original musical productions. She also served as Composer in Residence for Worship Weavers, a group of Houston’s women clergy, and has presented concerts at Bard College in New York as the Anna Jones Fellowship visiting artist.
After arranging and producing her first two CDs, “All We Have is Now” and “Light”, Anita recorded five more CDs with her husband, arranger/producer Robbie Parrish: “Creation Flight”, “Christmas Light”, “Lullabies from Home”, “If We Can Fly to the Moon” and “Dreaming Out to Sea”. “Creation Flight” is a women’s musical storybook that guides the listener through the unfolding tales of life, love and friendship. “Lullabies from Home” is a touching compilation of twelve original lullabies. “If We Can Fly to the Moon” is a song and website dedicated to the victims of the September 11th tragedy and, due to its impactful message, the CD was taken aboard the Space Shuttle Endeavor during its November 2002 mission.
Anita’s original musical, “Give Me Your Story, I’m Listening to Love” was commissioned by Thomas Jaber, Director of Choirs at Rice University and Chapelwood Methodist Church, and first performed by Chapelwood’s 90-voice Wesley Youth Choir in August 2003.
After many years of friendship and collaboration, Anita and flutist Jennifer Keeney formed the duo Tall Girls, performing a wide range of musical styles from classical flute and piano repertoire to original songs. In 2005, mezzo soprano, Sonja Bruzauskas joined the team, to form Trio Angelico, performing concerts to enthusiastic acclaim in the United States and internationally.
n inspiring composer, Anita began writing music to accompany services at the Rothko Chapel for the Mary Magdalene Community in Houston. A compilation CD, “The Magdalene Mystique, Songs from Within” was released in 2006 to accompany Reverend Betty Adam’s book, The Magdalene Mystique.
In March 2006, Anita’s innate passion for music and strong desire to reach out to others led to the founding of Purple Songs Can Fly, (external link, open in new window) a non-profit organization dedicated to providing a creative musical outlet for children at Texas Children’s Cancer Center. From an in-house recording studio designed by Anita, she continues to work with the children to write and record their own songs. To date, over 190 songs have been written, recorded and enjoyed around the globe. As the first recording studio ever created on a pediatric cancer floor, Purple Songs Can Fly has been featured in numerous publications and broadcasts, including: The New York Times, The Associated Press, Family Circle, Reader's Digest, Grammy.com, Woman’s World, Cure magazine, the FOX Television Special “Kaleidoscope”, and NBC Nightly News.
In May 2010, Anita gave the commencement address at Maryville University in St. Louis and received an Honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters. Inspired by The Purple Songs Can Fly Project, Maryville's music therapy department created Kids Rock Cancer, which provides songwriting and recording opportunities to children being treated for cancer in three St. Louis children's hospitals.
Anita serves as Composer in Residence, Pianist, and Director of the concert series, MusicDoingGood Café: The Art of the Songwriter for MusicDoingGood.
Delfeayo Marsalis
Delfeayo Marsalis was born in New Orleans on July 28, 1965. He began studying trombone at age 13, and attended the New Orleans Center for Creative Arts high school. He was classically trained at the Eastern Music Festival and Tanglewood Institute. In 1983, Delfeayo performed Gordon Jacob’s Trombone Concerto with the New Orleans Philharmonic and received the Outstanding Performance Award from the Jefferson Performing Arts Society for his presentation of Marcello’s Sonata #6.
After producing his first recording at age 17, Delfeayo attended the prestigious Berklee College of Music, majoring in both performance and audio production. He has since produced over 75 major-label recordings, several of which have received Grammy awards and nominations, including works by: Harry Connick, Jr., Marcus Roberts, Spike Lee, Ellis, Branford Marsalis, and Wynton Marsalis. His production skills earned a 3M Visionary Award in 1996 and a cover article for the industry source, Mix magazine in 1997.
As a trombonist, Delfeayo has toured internationally with legendary jazz artists Art Blakey, Abdullah Ibrahim, Elvin Jones, Slide Hampton and Max Roach, as well as touring with his own modern jazz ensemble. During a tour with the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra, he was filmed as part of the Ken Burns documentary ”Jazz.” A mainstay on the New Orleans modern jazz scene, he has released three solo albums to critical acclaim: Pontius Pilate’s Decision in 1992, Musashi in 1997, and Minions Dominion in September 2006. Along with late trombone master J.J. Johnson, several music reviewers labeled Delfeayo one of the freshest modern voices on the instrument to arrive in the 90’s.
Delfeayo has been involved with educating youth in various developmental programs for several years. In 1993, his original D-Blues was commissioned by “Meet the Composer” for the Filmore Arts Center in Washington DC, and in 1995 he lectured in public and parochial schools on behalf of both the Dallas Opera and the Bravo cable network. To further introduce young people to jazz music, he has served as director of the Foundation for Artistic and Musical Excellence summer program in Lawrenceville, NJ from 1998 to 2002.
In 2004, Delfeayo obtained an MA in jazz performance at the University of Louisville. In addition to implementing Uptown Music Theatre’s Kidstown After School in three grammar schools in New Orleans in 2009, he released a new CD entitled “Sweet Thunder,” an Ellington suite based upon the literary brilliance of William Shakespeare. Delfeayo joins MusicDoingGood as Director of Jazz.
