FELICIA WEBB
Randall Haywood and April May Webb.
“Every song has its own color, has its own mood, has its own feeling that takes you on a journey,” says trumpeter Randall Haywood, half of the renowned jazz duo, Sounds of April & Randall.
Haywood and April May Webb first met at a jam session hosted by Winard Harper at Moore’s Lounge in Jersey City, 11 years ago. There, they bonded over their shared musical interests. Although they found joy in traditional jazz musicians like Sarah Vaughan, Clifford Brown, Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong, they were also greatly inspired by R&B artists such as Jazmine Sullivan and Jill Scott.
“It turns out that those were some of our idols — or some of the people that we’ve been trying to emulate or imitate, to develop our own personal sound,” says Haywood. “And through music, we were vibing out with each other.”
Soon after meeting, their shared interests turned both romantic and professional and they started their own band: Sounds of April & Randall, also known as SOAR.
“When trying to come up with a band name, we had gone through a list of things like ‘April and Randall’s Music’ but thought that was kind of typical,” says Webb, “I was like, ‘Sounds of Randall & April,’ and I think Randall was like, ‘Oh no, it should be “Sounds of April & Randall” because it spells out the acronym SOAR.’ It’s also a play on A&R: artists & repertoire.”
Their upcoming shows include an appearance at the 12th annual Jersey City Jazz Festival, May 31 at 4 p.m. at the RWJBarnabas Health Plaza Stage. (The May 30-31 festival will include free performances on three stages on the Hudson River waterfront; in the days leading up to it, various Jersey City venues will present both free and ticketed events Visit riverviewjazz.org/jersey-city-jazz-festival.)
JULIANNE KARR
Randall Haywood and April May Webb.
Having made New Jersey their home for the last 17 years, the couple has found a community that shares their love for music. Webb, who moved here from Kansas, loved the proximity to jazz legends like the late Mulgrew Miller and the late Harold Mabern, both of whom she had the privilege of studying with and working alongside.
“All the knowledge and wisdom shared, you can’t even put a price tag on that hands-on learning,” says Webb. “I think just the willingness to share and push the genre forward is something I’ve enjoyed learning, in the New Jersey scene.”
Together, they create original versions of popular songs like Dolly Parton’s “Jolene” (listen below) and Adele’s “Set Fire to the Rain.” “What we like to do is what we call SOARify them,” says Haywood. “We want to pay tribute and homage to those artists who have influenced us, and put the song they’ve written in a new light — allow the listener to hear a different take on it.”
Alongside covers, the duo also releases original music. Their single “Everybody Ain’t Gonna Like You,” which will be released on June 6, is partially inspired by Webb’s decade-long journey to win The Sarah Vaughan International Jazz Vocal Competition. Webb applied to the competition (which takes place annually at The New Jersey Performing Arts Center in Newark) every year for 10 years, and when she was finally accepted in 2024, she won.
“Everybody ain’t gonna like you, but someone will,” says Webb, “Randall and I would create arrangements for these competitions that I may not have won, but we ended up using these arrangements for records we’ve done, like ‘Jolene.’ It was still a great record and ended up being played on the radio.”
APRIL MAY WEBB
Randall Haywood and April May Webb.
Webb and Haywood both come from musical families, so it is no surprise that they have many similar inspirations.
Webb grew up with two older brothers who took complete control of the radio. “As the youngest sibling, I really didn’t have a choice as to what we listened to on the radio,” says Webb. “I was just influenced by what my brothers listened to: listening to Sarah Vaughan, listening to Ella, listening to Nancy (Wilson) and just a variety of different jazz artists that I didn’t even know their names, at the time. As I got older, I started investigating and found myself really being immersed into that culture.”
Haywood grew up with his father, uncle and oldest brother as R&B musicians, but his uncle truly introduced him to jazz. “We listened to a Miles Davis record, which my uncle bought to show me the music that he presented at the time. Then my father, who saw that I took that … he went out and bought a John Coltrane record. Around that time, I began playing my second instrument: the trumpet.”
In 2023, the State Department named SOAR cultural ambassadors, and they toured Fiji and Tonga, performing and learning about music and culture. One of the songs they learned to play was the 100-year-old folk love song, “Isa Lei.”
“Every time we (played the song) in a live performance, I would see people moved to tears,” says Haywood. “I thought, ‘They’ve heard this before, it’s not like we’re playing it any better than anyone else would play it.’ But it was something about the calming and soothing of the melody and the lyrics. It made me think about how we, as Sounds of April & Randall, can compose music or arrange and produce music that would move people in such a way as this song.”
Every time they perform, he says, “We hope that we give the people a wonderful musical journey of different colors and just allow them to enjoy themselves and view the world for a brief moment through our eyes as we see it, with our music, and our love for one another, and our passion for presenting art.”
In addition to appearing at The Jersey City Jazz Festival, Sounds of April & Randall will open for Gregory Porter at Prudential Hall at NJPAC in Newark, June 29 at 3 p.m. (as part of The North to Shore Festival); and headline at The Jazz Room Series at The Shea Center for Performing Arts at William Paterson University in Wayne, July 23 at 7 p.m., and at The Puffin Cultural Forum in Teaneck, July 26 at 7 p.m.
For more about them, visit soundsofaandr.com.
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