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Singer & Trumpet Player Make Beautiful Music Together

BALTIMORE (WJZ) -- It started at the Baltimore School for the Arts.  They were friends first, and then they fell in love and got married.  He's a classically trained trumpet player, while she's a singer and songwriter.

Ron Matz has more on a couple who are making beautiful music together.

Mashica and Dontae Winslow are coming home, returning home to the Baltimore School for the Arts for a special performance Saturday night.

"We learned so much here.  I feel like it was a safe haven for me. It was my foundation. I definitely would not be the person I am today had it not been for the School for the Arts," said Mashica Winslow.  "This is really my second home.  When I come home from California, I have to see my family and I have to come see my second family, the Baltimore School for the Arts.  So it means a lot to me."

They've recorded and performed with a music industry who's who.

"Classically I've sung behind a lot of opera singers, Jessye Norman, Denyce Graves, Kathleen Battle. The school really gave me the foundation to be more well-rounded," said Mashica Winslow. 

"I've worked with Mary Mary, Snoop, Jay-Z, Kanye West, Jill Scott, Queen Latifah and I scored my first film this year with Robert Townsend," said Dontae Winslow.

During the interview, Dontae's elementary school principal stopped by to say hello.  Their roots are at the school they love.

"My mother was on drugs when I got into the School for the Arts.  So coming here was like a refuge.  I would spend hours in the practice room and try to stay as late as possible so I wouldn't have to go home and see what was a bad situation," said Dontae Winslow. "Many times we got together with our friends here, hang out and write songs.  Just try to escape from inner city life, the inner city trappings.  We used this school as a vehicle to really hone our craft and our dreams."

The couple has been married 11 years.  They have a son named Jedi and they're best friends.

Winslow Dynasty's debut CD is the Life album, hitting all the right notes in music and life.

"We've come back to perform at the school where we met, to have our friends and family and to open our music to a new audience, to introduce people to soul, R&B, poetry, hip-hop and dance.  We're using everything we've learned here at the school. It's like a big celebration," said Dontae Winslow.

"We had a lot of support.  The students here really supported each other and the teachers here really respected our gifts," said Mashica Winslow.

Winslow Dynasty performs Saturday at 7:30 p.m. at the Baltimore School for the Arts.  Tickets are $20 and a portion of the proceeds will go to the Doctors Without Borders Somalia relief effort.

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