Black Olive Jazz is a group from the San Francisco Bay area that features the warm singer Kay Kostopoulos and the veteran Noel Jewkes on tenor, alto, soprano and flute.

The group performs a wide range of jazz: swing, standards, blues, latin and originals.  Black Olive Jazz brings a Mediterranean feel to jazz, featuring sultry vocals, exotic finger cymbals and serpentine phrases on soprano saxophone.

I use finger cymbals in some of my songs with a mid-eastern or latin groove. I play them on Caravan, Night in Tunisia, Delilah, and others. I use them in 6/8, 5/4, etc…

I love the delivery of the complex time, sensitive lyrics and multiple shades of jazz. rhythm, range, and textural meaning in my music.

Sending love to everyone! – Kay

Videos of the group are available here

Notes for "Cleopatra and The Viper":

Shakespeare, Tennessee Williams, and Jazz:
I played Cleopatra in Shakespeare's "Antony and Cleopatra" at New Jersey's Shakespeare Festival years ago. When I started working with Noel Jewkes, he introduced me to a melody he had written called "The Viper." It was based on the Dick Tracy character from the funnies. When I heard it, I didn't hear Dick Tracy at all . . . I heard Cleopatra, so I was inspired to write lyrics to the tune.

I don't know which lyrics I made up or which were inspired by Shakespearean text: Like "Rash Poison," "Venomous Fool," maybe "Bliss Elixir." I do know "What's played in the heart is a kind of music" is Orpheus' line from Tennessee Williams' "Camino Real."