Monica Dillon Music | Independent Film Composer | Performer
Monica Dillon | Female Musician | Indie Composer | Speaker Biographical Sketch
Monica Dillon is a New Orleans native and based jazz/blues/funk singer/pianist, independent/indie film composer, producer, and speaker. Her music merges various genres of music in her repertoire including jazz, gospel, R & B, and adult
contemporary. Monica’s CD, “All I Have is a Moment” has gotten worldwide attention reaching those in the USA and abroad including Germany, London, Japan, Spain, Greece, France, Hungary, Croatia, and Kenya.
Often compared to the soulful political influence of Nina Simone, the sultry balladry of Cassandra Wilson, the songwriting poise of Brenda Russell & Patrice Rushen, and the chops of Joe Sample, Monica’s sound blends jazz, blues, funk, and folk. Telling stories and painting pictures is Monica’s claim to fame through her heartfelt and powerful original compositions and performances.
With her music composition, Monica Dillon uses her cultural work to advocate for women’s rights, freedom, justice, and equality, with a particular focus on Black women and girls. A survivor of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, like many Gulf Coast residents, she lost everything she owned. Monica was able to return to New Orleans to rebuild and start again post-Katrina.
Sparked by her experience returning to New Orleans as Hurricane Rita approached, Monica was moved to produced/directed/edited “And The Living Is Easy,” a two-hour documentary video, recounting her personal meditation on life in New Orleans, six months after Hurricanes Katrina and Rita hit the Gulf Coast.
Since Katrina, Monica has been a featured artist in the Nikolaisaal “The Voice” Concert in Potsdam, Germany, opened for legendary blues/folk singer Odetta as part of the Hilltown Folk Concert Series in Shelburne Falls, Massachusetts, and been featured at Bennett College For Women as part of the President’s Academic Cultural Enrichment Series.
Monica’s music has been featured in several on-line publications including “Feministing”, “The Coup
Magazine”, “Jazz Not Jazz”, “All About Jazz”. Her song “When The Levee Broke” has also been featured on National Public Radio’s “News and Notes” and local New Orleans NPR affiliate WWNO’s “Morning Edition.”
Monica has performed as a featured artist with national community based organizations such as SisterSong Women of Color Reproductive Health Collective, INCITE! Woman of Color Against Violence, A Long Walk Home (SOARS Program), and Ruby Sales’ Spirit House in the SisterAll TM Concert Series featuring women of color artists.
In addition to opening for vocalist Lalah Hathaway, and legendary Grammy Award winning New Orleans artist Irma Thomas, Monica has also performed as a featured artist in the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Foundation Women in Jazz Concert Series, the City of New Orleans Mo’Fest, the New Orleans Jazz Historic Park, the Ogden Southern Museum of Art, the Black Lily Women’s Film & Music Festival, the Black Women’s Arts Festival, the Philadelphia University of the Arts, Indiana University, and Ladyfest New Orleans.
Monica Dillon continues to nurture the task of thought provoking songwriting. Creating a space for herself as an original song writer, her original song “No,” a powerful call to action to end all forms of violence perpetuated against women and girls, now appears in the feature length documentary “NO!” written, produced, and directed by filmmaker Aishah Shahidah Simmons. “When The Levee Broke”, a song of reclamation and tribute to the survivors of Hurricane Katrina, appears in the soon to be released documentary “Katrina in New Orleans: Rescue and Refuge”, written and produced by John C. Menszner.
Additionally, Bennett College Africana Women’s Center selected “All I Have Is A Moment” as the featured music for the 2007 spring semester. Her soon to be released cd “A Beautiful Life,” features the long awaited and often requested original song “When The Levee Broke.”
Last year Monica composed the score for and edited “Breaking Silences”, which features selected in-depth excerpts from the thirty-plus hours of footage that didn’t make it into the final version of NO! The Rape Documentary.
Monica recently completed composing the score for two documentaries, “Belly of the Basin”, written, produced and directed by Tina Morton and Roxana Walker-Canton of A Sister’s Eye On Media Productions, and “Black Womyn Conversations” written, directed, and produced by Tiona McClodden.
Monica is a member of the American Society of Composers and Performers (ASCAP), Women Who Jam, and The National Association of Black Female Executives in Music & Entertainment.
Check out Monica Dillon’s Music Blog Here.
some photos by Marcia Wall, See It My Way Photo
-
Get Email Updates..Contests, Free Stuff
Purchase Monica's Music
Subscribe To My Blog Feed
