UPDATE: STACY ROWLES PASSED AWAY OCTOBER 30, 2009. SHE MADE HER TRANSITION WHILE IN HER HOME IN BURBANK, CALIFORNIA. SHE IS SURVIVED BY AN ABUNDANCE OF DEAR FRIENDS AND FANS WHO WERE TOUCHED BY HER LAUGHTER, HER MUSIC, AND HER HEART.

Stacy Rowles had the great good fortune to have a parent, pianist Jimmy Rowles, who was one of the Southland's most admired jazz artists. More than that, she had the opportunity to share his music and the wisdom to receive his knowledge. Jimmy Rowles probably didn't anticipate that his daughter would choose to become one of the rare female trumpet-fluegelhorn players. But their performances together afforded rare and memorable jazz pleasures. Rowles' fluegelhorn playing, even more than her trumpet work, combines a warm, often sensuous sound with briskly swinging, melodically based improvisations. Although she is better known as an instrumentalist, her warm-toned vocals move confidently from sweetly intimate balladry to in-the-pocket, swinging grooves. And watching Stacy Rowles in action, masterfully displaying her craft, one could easily imagine Jimmy Rowles, somewhere, listening to the set and smiling proudly.