Jennifer Styles

SPF - Island in the Sound
Review by Les Wiseman

I was sitting around at a music industry barbecue. It was a sunny day and musicians, studio owners, engineers and producers were eating antipasto and sipping wine. Tunes were soaring through the cloudless sky. When the guest of honor's new CD had been played, someone put on another disk. Toes started tapping, heads bobbing, people settled back with satisfied sighs, the music perfectly sound tracked the relaxed easy afternoon. Then the rumblings began. "Who is this?" "This is great" "Great vocals." "Terrific arrangements." "Is this some new Steely Dan album?" You could see engineers staring at the speakers, listening to the production. "Who is this?"

It was revealed that the artist's name was Stephen Foglia and that the album was called Island in the Sound, an independent release from San Jose, California. Foglia produced, arranged and orchestrated the album as well as playing guitar, piano and synthesizers, plus handling lead vocals and harmonies. Call it jazz-pop fusion: full trumpet, saxophone and trombone sections swelling with drama, overlain with rippling full-throated guitar and piano. What distinguishes Foglia's arrangements is his taste or tastiness.

While the Kenny G. crowd would certainly appreciate this music, there is none of that overwrought rendering - - if you want to perceive just how amazing a guitarist Foglia is, you won't find any show-offy Al DiMeola/John McLaughlin overkill, instead on compositions such as Bartertown, you will get a few lyrical bars that guitarists will appreciate for their technique and difficulty, yes everyone will enjoy for their well-choseness and their mesh with the entire composition. To ice the tunes, there is Foglia's voice, a honeyed warm thing reminiscent of Steely Dan's Donald Fagan, but inserted into the songs, seemingly as another instrument, another alto sax, that spins lyrics of yearning, life experience and West Coast imagery.

Six of the tunes are instrumentals that range from contemporary swing like an updated Count Basie through compositions that switch tempos and allow the musicians to wail a little bit, not unlike Frank Zappa at his most restrained (The Grand Wazoo, Waka Jawaka). On Living on the Western Side, Foglia even lets loose with a blistering guitar solo that will have guitarheads salaaming at his feet. Stephen Foglia: He offers new hope for the adult-contemporary and jazz markets. He deals in new spins on traditional values such as coherent orchestral compositions and good taste.

Les Wiseman - CANADA WIDE MAGAZINES - September 1999.

MANAGEMENT: Gary Taylor Management & Consulting
P.O. Box 48634 Bentall Centre
Vancouver, B.C. , Canada V7S 1A3
Phone: 604-931-7759
e-mail: talentinc@clubtek.com
Fax: 604-931-1536

JOB TITLE: Professional musician, composer, lead & rhythm guitarist, pianist, vocalist, record producer, music instructor.

PUBLISHING COMPANY: RAMBLOOD/BMI

EARLY LIFE: DOB 4/14/57. Started singing at age 3 in Catholic Church. Started violin, piano & clarinet between the ages of 5-8. Started trumpet at 13. Attended Los Gatos High and decided not to pursue the violin, trumpet & clarinet, but to focus on the piano. Transferred to Archbishop Mitty High, San Jose, Ca. in 10th grade, learned to play the guitar well and studied the art of composition. Performed in the jazz ensemble & choir 1973-75. Graduated 1975.

EDUCATION: Studied jazz guitar from Jim Bruno and David Costa, 1972-76. Studied jazz piano from Frank Sumares and Don Haas, 1976-81. Attended West Valley and De Anza Colleges, 1975-79, studying composition and jazz improvisational techniques from Joe Davis and Tom Hart. Attended SJSU from 1979-82, studied under Dwight Cannon and Greg Yazininsky. Received a BA in Music/Jazz Concentration 1982. Attended SJSU again, from 1990-93, and received an MA in Music, studying under Dwight Cannon, Hafez Modirzadeh, Dr. Daniel Hoggat, and Dr. William Meredith. The SJSU Jazz Ensemble has performed these compositions by Stephen Foglia: "Theme for Vincent", 1980 "In the End", 1981 "Book of Wonder Jive", 1981 "A Fool's Wish", 1992

PROFESSIONAL CAREER: Played 1,500 + solo and group engagements between 1976 to the present.

Composed jingles for KICU TV 1983-84.


Performed with the following groups:


Fly with the wind, 1976-79
TP Funk, 1977-78
Chain Lightning, 1978-80
Prodigy, 1984-87
Foglia-Baert Jazz Ensemble, 1990-93
No Mercy, 1992-93
South Bay Express, 1995
Token Flurry, 1995-96


Currently pursuing a solo career.


Member of AFM local 153 1990-1997.
RECORDING EXPERIENCE: Has logged over 3,000 hours in studios as a producer and sideman.

Album releases:
Stephen Foglia/I, 1988

Stephen Foglia/ Island in the Sound, June 1998
SPF/ Island in the Sound (Revised), March 2002
SPF/Another Conversation with Myself (in progress)
Compositions registered with Broadcast Music Inc.:

"Bartertown"
"A Fool's Wish"
"Island in the Sound"
"Line Vision"
"An April State of Mind"
"Kelli Girl"
"Living on the Western Side"
"Well Rat"
"Los Olvidados"
"Get Away From Me"
"In the End"
"Book of Wonder"
"Theme for Vincent"
"Variations on a Theme by Taloose"
"Jennifer Styles"
TEACHING EXPERIENCE: Has taught over 2,500 private students from 1978- present. Steven's Music 1980-81, Tony's Music 1982-97, Campbell Music 1986-87, The Musicians Warehouse, Inc. 1997- present. Taught classroom music at Saint Patrick School, grades K-8, 1993-94.