NAMM Museum Performance: Tori Roze & Johnny Alexander

"This is Soul for today: tight, sophisticated, and up-to-date...a winner" (San Diego Troubadour). Tori Roze and Johnny Alexander are two members of a larger six piece original funky soul-jazz band called Tori Roze and The Hot Mess from San Diego, CA. The band, of which Alexander and Roze are the primary songwriters, has been nominated for three San Diego Music Awards including "Best Acoustic," "Best Blues Album," and "Best Pop Album."

Tori funnels her musical influence down from childhood favorites Michael Jackson, Erykah Badu, Ella Fitzgerald, Bjork and musical theatre bringing forth a uniquely syncopated, clever, interesting, and unmatched blending of audio tapestries. Alexander, a diverse man of music ranging from The Smiths to jazz and classic rock, is a sound magician inverting standard chord structures and time signatures into beautiful landscapes; his contributions are full of brilliant luminescence.

Currently recording their third album due out in Spring 2018, Tori Roze and The Hot Mess are a soulful force to be reckoned with. Gathering their musical thunder from an extremely eclectic time and space spanning centuries, this band busts straight through the glass ceiling of genre-bending: original funky soul-jazz exploding with grit, integrity, and vulnerability. Roze is a key artist in conveying the emotional intent behind a song. "Hearing Tori Roze's sultry voice for the first time is like learning that Santa Claus isn't real: it absolutely breaks your heart. Roze seduces you with her Erykah Badu-esque flair, and just when you think she can't be any smoother, she claws her way into your ears with her rocking roars" (San Diego City Beat).

“We pride ourselves on not fitting into the mainstream. The beauty is in the difference. We make genuine art. We shape sound. We care about what we do. We like to put some stank on it, bottom line," Roze says of their fearless musical style. Their unique edge of colorful heart-driven funky soul-jazz grooves enveloped in the emotionally potent lyrical truth that Roze serves up in spades; Tori Roze and The Hot Mess deliver serious human connection and an original sound that is absolutely unforgettable.