Kids at Heart10/27/2025 When playing solo background music gigs, it's fun to go through a variety of mental games to expand your musical knowledge under pressure and test your people-reading skills:
But my favorite farmer’s market game is always: ”How long can I hold this baby’s attention?” (It’s so cute to see them crane their tiny neck around the side of the stroller to stay focused on the music as long as possible while their parents try to push them on to the next vendor.) Also, my very official, real-time-audience-reaction research confirms that “Part of Your World” has no age limit :) We’re all still kids at heart! With gratitude, Ashley P.S. Unfortunately my set got rained out at BOTH the Ogden Park Prowl two weeks ago and the Yellow Leaf Art Festival yesterday, but please join me Nov. 20th for a very special FULL BAND SHOW at the Manship Theatre's Hartley/Vey Studio! Click here for details and to purchase tickets today. 
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You Want Me to Sing WHAT???10/6/2025 That was my response when Andrew, the owner of RockClass101.com (an ukulele tutorial website that I teach for), asked if I'd ever tried singing Metallica. I thought he was joking. He was not. In spite of the name "RockClass101," most of the songs I do for the site's ukulele tutorials are jazz, folk, holiday songs, etc. Songs that are in my wheelhouse or at least NEAR it. lol I am not a rock singer. I do not aspire to be a rock singer. It takes very different vocal technique and, usually, a different voice type to do rock vocals justice. But, after Andrew sent me the song, "Nothing Else Matters"--one of Metalica's few ballads--I decided to go out on a limb. "I'll give it a try," I told him. Thankfully, my voice surprised me in new ways with this song (and I had a great female vocal cover version to work from as a model, which helped, a lot too). So if you are itching to learn how to play Metallica on the ukulele (arranged and performed by the incredibly talented Evan J De Silva), or if you're just curious to hear how it turned out with the full band, here's the video! With gratitude, Ashley The Humidity Was Fierce10/2/2025 As I looked at my reflection in my bathroom mirror, an uncommon thought came to mind: "The humidity must be really low today because my hair is actually holding a curl and doesn't look frizzy for a change!" I had made a rare effort to wear my long hair down--as a new mom, I usually pull it hastily into a claw clip and well out of 1-year-old Ethan's ever-expanding, tiny (but strong) grasp... Finally ready for my gig, I hopped in the car and, two hours later, stepped out onto the damp lawn of the adorably tiny Lacombe Library. It took me 3.56 minutes to walk from my car to the stage set up in the library's "front yard" for our Fat City Swing Band community concert. And somewhere within those 3.56 minutes, the thick Louisiana humidity descended on my loose locks like an invisible army, flattening the curls and frizzing each strand to a level of saturation only our soupy southern air can achieve. I was not at all surprised by this, but the SPEED at which Mother Nature accomplished her task was impressive. "There goes my attempt at looking presentable," I laughed to myself. "Where's a claw clip when I need one???" On the flip side, humidity is EXCELLENT for helping to keep the vocal chords hydrated, so my voice felt great (as a gigging musician who plays in lots of different settings, you quickly learn to pick your battles with Mother Nature.) Thankfully, the crowd wasn't deterred by the humidity, and bug spray kept the mosquitoes at bay once the sun set. All in all, the band sounded fantastic, and it was a fun night of Great American Songbook standards free for the public, thanks to the Friends of Slidell Library! Here's a little clip from the concert. I hope to see you at an upcoming show this fall! (Click here for the full list!) With gratitude, Ashley  Singing With the Sunrise9/24/2025  It's not often that I happily wake at 5am for a 6:45am call and 7:20am performance time.
BUT...this Sunday I couldn't pass up the chance to help Mysti Byrnes, Development Director for BREADA/Red Stick Farmer's Market, promote their annual fundraiser Farm Fête happening tomorrow night at the Main Street Market in Downtown Baton Rouge! I look forward to providing music for this special evening along with John Gray Jazz & Friends. Watch the full WAFB interview and learn more about the event here. With gratitude, Ashley Keeping Calm Under Pressure9/8/2025 Have you truly lived as a vocalist (or public speaker, or business leader) if you have never found yourself: Singing (or talking) in front of a packed audience with rows and rows of eyes staring in your direction... Yet the only ones you’re concerned about are the 8 beady orbs on the head of a spider that’s crawling up the microphone stem 4 inches away from your mouth??? All I could do the whole time was pray he didn’t jump… Thankfully, we made it through unscathed (both of us! Although Mr. Spider may not be so lucky the next time he turns up on someone's mic in that building...). Have you ever had to keep your composure under intense (unexpected) pressure like a bug, bee, or some other (minor but freaky) potential danger that suddenly draws all of your attention away from whatever very public activity you were supposed to be doing? I'd love to hear your story, too! With EXTRA GRATITUDE to have avoided swallowing a spider this weekend, Ashley  Ask & You Shall Receive8/29/2025 In a celebratory mood today for a few reasons, but one is because it's my birthday! This year has been a feat of physical and emotional endurance for me as I learn to navigate parenthood while continuing my artistic career. Whew! I'll let you know how well I'm balancing that juggling act in 5 years. Haha In the meantime, I have a gift for YOU! Ever since I put together my first "Great American Songbook" Show at the Manship Theatre's Hartley/Vey Studio, people have asked me, "When's the next one????" Well... Mark your calendar for Thursday, Nov. 20, 2025, cuz this will be an exciting night: PASSPORT TO PARADISE WITH ASHLEY ORLANDO: A Swinging Sojourn of Jazz, Joy, and Jet-Setting  Fasten your seatbelt and let your imagination take flight!
“Passport to Paradise with Ashley Orlando” will take you on a swinging sojourn of jazz, joy and jet-setting with songs from the 1920s to the present day. Join jazz vocalist and ukulele artist Ashley Orlando and her band as they whisk you from the sun-kissed shores of Hawaii to moonlit nights in Paris; from the vibrant rhythms of Rio to the soulful sounds of New Orleans. Featuring timeless classics like “Come Fly With Me,” “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” (Iz version), “One Note Samba,” and “La Vie en Rose,” this evening blends romance, whimsy, and irresistible grooves with golden age glamour. Come to paradise with these incredible musicians: Ashley Orlando (vocals/ukulele), Raudol Palacios (cello), Connor Underwood (piano), Dave Hinson (bass) and John Jones (drums)!
Big Show Announcements!8/14/2025  School is starting back up here in Louisiana, and my fall performance schedule is shaping up to be quite eventful. Come join in the fun!
In the meantime, here's to tackling today's routine tasks and rehearsals with the same infectious curiosity and enthusiasm as my 1-year-old, Ethan. He can't walk unassisted yet, but a couple weeks ago, he accidentally turned an empty Kirkland diaper box (sitting all alone by the backdoor just waiting to be recycled) into his own personal push-walker. This unexpectedly unleashed FREEDOM to explore most of the house on his own, which he now delights in doing all day long. He even prefers this cardboard box to the ACTUAL push-walker we bought him. haha. Gotta love toddler ingenuity :) With gratitude, Ashley A Dash of Courage8/8/2025 Two-ish years ago, I bought a beautiful red tulle dress for a "big gig" (as a soloist with the symphony)! The dress was a tad too large in places, but it was also unlike anything I had ever worn before and made me feel bolder just looking at myself in the dressing room mirror. "Woah!" I remember thinking when I first tried it on. "Maybe it can be easily altered." I felt enchanted enough by the uniqueness of the dress to at least take a chance and paid $40 to bring it home. In the days that followed, my mom and I tried to "fix" the dress with our minimal sewing skills, but it wasn't working out quite like I hoped. In that state, I did not feel comfortable wearing the dress to sing in front of a symphony and 1,800 spectators. Disheartened, I hung the dress up in my closet, and there it stayed...HAUNTING ME. Until last Saturday night. Two+ years later... When I could finally zip up the dress again (FUN SIDENOTE: I learned a couple days before that aforementioned symphony concert that I was pregnant with my son, so technically, it was his "onstage debut" :P). And I dared to TRY AGAIN. This time I was fully committed to the dress and called in the professionals at a bridal shop around the corner from my house. The lovely ladies there didn't know me from Adam, but they immediately took me under their wing like my fairy grandmothers and worked their magic so that that night I could FINALLY (AND COMFORTABLY) muster up my courage to wear "the dress" for a "big gig"--this time with a "big band!" And I'm so glad I did :D As my 1-year-old's books remind me every night before bed: "When things don't work out like you hoped the first time around, don't give up too easily. Trust your gut and try again!" With gratitude, Ashley  Seeking Synchronicity7/19/2025 You know those rare days when everything seems to be going RIGHT? When good things keep happening to you all day, like lucky pennies falling from the sky? :) This happened to me last week. Synchronicity. It's unusual but oh so sweet. And I don't say this to brag, because it's not (mostly) due to luck. It's the result of MONTHS of tiny actions to prepare for "good things" (for example, new gigs require practicing new repertoire ahead of time, updating equipment regularly, etc.) and then placing yourself over and over again in interesting situations that help you to interact with people in positive ways. It's saying "yes" to thousands of tiny actions that align with your overall goals and saying "no" to ones that don't. It's not waiting for things to come to you but creating your own projects and challenges. When you do that regularly, sometimes additional opportunities will pop up that weren't even on your radar before, but you'll be in the right place at the right time, and ready to say "yes." I don't wait for great days like this to take action, but I treasure them when they do show up and give me an extra burst of energy to keep moving forward! I hope you experience synchronicity, too, every now and then in your life. If not, how about trying something new this week? An activity a bit out of your ordinary routine. Or something fun that helps you tap into your inner child. You never know what you might learn or who you might meet! With gratitude, Ashley  Whirlwind Week7/2/2025 What a fun experience it was to stay in the heart of the French Quarter (the Bourbon Orleans Hotel, just behind St. Louis Cathedral) and immerse myself in traditional jazz for 6 days during the New Orleans Traditional Jazz Camp! Stepping out of my comfort zone also paid off tremendously since I did the guitar track (i.e. ukulele since I don't play guitar. haha--the instructors are the best in their fields so they were still able to work with me). Now I feel a lot more confident "locking in" with the rhythm section (guitar/piano, drums) in full-band situations. It was also exciting to meet fellow trad jazz players from throughout the U.S. (and even the U.K., France, and Australia). I shared some of the fun on social media Facebook and Instagram, but here's a link to the recap video on YouTube! With gratitude, Ashley  AuthorAshley Orlando is a jazz vocalist/ukulele artist and joyologist on a mission to help 1 million women find their voice through music, inspiring stories, and communication skills. Archives
October 2025
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