Happy For No Reason is a Portland-based trio that is a collaboration with singer/song- writer Jo Alexis, Neil Goldstein (fingerstyle guitar and vocals) and Australian flute player Mark Pritchard. The trio write and perform all original music in a variety of styles including bossa nova, jazz and folk.
Singer/songwriter Jo Alexis writes and performs original songs with impressively skilled musicianship and significant emotional content in a variety of genres including folk rock, acoustic, electronica, country, jazz, blues and rock. Jo's astonishing voice exhibits a quali- ty that has been compared to phenomenal vocalists including Sinead O'Connor. An accom- plished musician with more than 150 songs and 6 CDs to her name, Jo has been steadily build- ing fanbases in L.A., Portland and Philadelphia, among other cities.
Neil Goldstein is a music producer, musician and composer based in the Portland area. He has been a performing singer songwriter since 1968 with a a multitude of perfor- mances in southern California, Vancouver BC, Spain, Mexico and Portland. His focus has been on guitar, in a variety of styles, grounded in classical guitar and jazz. He also plays keyboards, bass and percussion. He has operated a home studio since 1975, producing independent artists as well as the recent Happy for No Reason CD. Recent projects include scores for film, and ambient music for a best selling iPhone app, Pure Meditation Premium.
Flautist, composer and arranger Mark Pritchard is an Australia native who has been ac- tively playing flute and piccolo for over four decades. From an early age, Pritchard played flute/piccolo in the Sydney Youth Orchestra and performed with and directed en- sembles at the Sydney Opera House. Since moving to the US, Pritchard has been a singer in the Portland Symphonic Choir and a flautist, singer and keyboardist with the blues band The Mighty Sparrows. In addition to his personal musical talents as a flautist, piccolo player, keyboardist, singer and recorder player, he is currently a music educator at the Catlin Gabel School in Portland.
Happy For No Reason recently recorded their debut album, working with mixing engi- neer Sean Flora, known for his work with The Shins. The album was co-produced by Alexis and Goldstein and will be released Internationally in late Spring 2015.