Brooke D & Mark Whitfield

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Brooke D. is a musician, songwriter, poet, author, artist, and Bay Area native, now living and performing in New York. She has been writing music for over 14 years, and in that time has experimented with looping, beatboxing, piano, and in more recent years has developed a deep affinity for playing acoustic guitar.

Her thought-provoking lyrics and soothing melodies express a well of emotions, intended to heal and transform the listener. She released her 7th album, October 2020, and coinciding 2nd book, January 2021, "Something in the Sky," an intimate exploration of true stories and tools for transformation. This album / book represented an awakening for Brooke D. as she combined her love for storytelling, meditation, poetry, and visual art for this project.

On August 20th, 2021, Brooke released her 8th album, called "Love Notes" recorded in her bedroom in Brooklyn, NY, using the Voice Memos app on her iPhone. This was an act of surrender for the artist, an expression of her vulnerability, and an invitation for the listener to process their feelings, take deep breaths, and find peace in being imperfect. These songs capture the waves of human experience as we navigate the realities of life, death, love, and letting go. Along with the release of this record, Brooke and Mark Whitfield produced a live video series, playing the album from start to finish, which can be viewed on Youtube. This sparked an already brewing musical collaboration which was the inspiration and catalyst for their performance at Rockwood Music Hall on December 3rd.

Mark Whitfield graduated from Boston’s prestigious Berklee College of Music, the world’s foremost institution for the study of Jazz and modern American music in the spring of 1987. Shortly thereafter, he returned to his to his native New York to embark on a career as a Jazz Guitarist that has afforded him the opportunity to collaborate with such legendary artists including Dizzy Gillespie, Art Blakey, Quincy Jones, Ray Charles, Herbie Hancock, Carmen McRae, Gladys Knight, Burt Bacharach, Jimmy Smith, Clark Terry, Shirley Horn, Wynton Marsalis, Branford Marsalis, Joe Williams, Stanley Turrentine and his mentor, the great George Benson.

In 1990 the New York Times dubbed Whitfield “The Best Young Guitarist in the Business”. Later that year, Warner Bros. released his debut album “The Marksman”. The success of his debut release led to a recording career that has produced a total of 16 solo recordings and a myriad of collaborative efforts with some of the most important artists in recent years; Sting, Steven Tyler, D’Angelo, Mary J. Blige, John Mayer, Chaka Khan, Jill Scott, Diana Krall, Christian McBride, Chris Botti, Roy Hargrove, Nicholas Payton and Robert Glasper.

Mark Whitfield remains extremely active as a performer, recording artist and sideman and as a highly sought after instructor and master clinician. 2022 will see the release of his newest recording, "GBD" which features fellow jazz legends bassist Robert Hurst and drummer Jeff "Tain"Watts.