Music like Joyce Cooling

Joyce Cooling is an American jazz guitarist, vocalist, and songwriter. She has performed with Joe Henderson, Stan Getz, Mark Murphy, Al Jarreau, and Charlie Byrd.

Cooling was born into a musical family. Her mother, a music teacher, was a classical music aficionado. After moving to California from New York in the early 1980s, Cooling began sitting in on the percussion classes of Ghanaian drummer C. K. Ladzekpo. Integrating the polyrhythms of West African music with her passion for melody and harmony, Cooling focused her attention on guitar and taught herself to play by ear.

She met keyboardist Jay Wagner on San Francisco's Brazilian jazz circuit. Wagner was an original member of the San Francisco-based group Viva Brasil. She joined Viva Brasil part-time in 1988 as a guitarist and background vocalist. Cooling's and Wagner's chemistry and passion for songwriting resulted in their first collaboration, Cameo (1989), recorded with members of Viva Brasil.