Results for "Lyricist"

Judy Niemack

Born: March 11, 1954

Born and raised in Pasadena, California, Judy gained her early experience singing in her church choir from the age of 7. She first heard jazz through her mother’s Nancy Wilson records, and discovered that she could easily sing harmonies when she and her sister sang background vocals on folk songs behind their brother. As a teenager, she sang in a wide variety of settings including musical theater, rock bands, bluegrass groups, madrigals and in a vocal jazz quartet.

Judy then studied classical singing and was encouraged to make it her focus, but the turning point in her young career was when she met the great tenor-saxophonist Warne Marsh (who followed in the footsteps of his teacher, pianist Lennie Tristano by becoming an important jazz educator). “I became Warne’s first vocal student. He treated me just like I was a horn player, and assigned me solos by Charlie Parker, Roy Eldridge and Prez to learn. He taught me to improvise. He always called it instant composition.” Attending Pasadena City College, she had lessons with alto saxophonist Gary Foster, and later studied classical singing at New England Conservatory and Cleveland Institute Of Music.

Jodi Michelle Proznick

Keith Wong

Keith Wong, a jazz vocalist and composer, discovered his passion for music in Hong Kong, where he was born and raised. Having graduated from the Royal Conservatoire in The Hague, Netherlands, in 2022, he is one of the few singers from Hong Kong who received formal jazz vocal training. He brings a diverse cultural background to his music, enriching it with his choral and theatrical experiences.

Known for his creative writing, Keith Wong won the Best Original Music of the Year at the Beehive Music Award 2022 from A Cappella China. Fueling his artistic pursuits, Keith Wong received support from both the Sena Performers Music Production Funds in the Netherlands and the Hong Kong Art Development Council in 2023, facilitating the creation of his debut "Intertwined." Every song on the album bears his creative fingerprint, blending elements of modern jazz, choral arrangement, and theatrical essence.

June Bisantz

Born: June 6

Vocalist, lyricist and visual artist JUNE BISANTZ has co-written and produced several collections of original vocal jazz, all of which have received national recognition. 

She has toured internationally, and performed and recorded with distinguished jazz musicians including Steve Swallow, Bob Moses, Paul Brown, Lew Soloff, Mike Stern, Jon Burr, Steve Davis & Will Lee. Reviews and articles about her work have appeared in publications including People Magazine, USA Today, Downbeat, JazzQuad.Ru, Jazziz Magazine, Jazz Podium Magazine, Jazz USA, the New York Times, New York Newsday & the Boston Globe.  Her work has been released on the Pausa and Nova labels, Los Angeles, Alpha Records,  Japan, Track Records, NYC and Arabesque Records, NY. 

Rachel Gould

Angela Verbrugge

Born: December 27

JazzTimes Magazine writes that Canadian jazz vocalist Angela Verbrugge "possesses a winsome, brightly-burnished, pliable voice, with ample emotional intelligence, considerable song-writing skills, and conspicuously good taste.” Angela recorded her debut album featuring a New York City-based piano trio, and released it through Gut String Records in 2019. Toronto Music Report described, “Verbrugge addresses each song with the breathtakingly, absolutely natural and unaffected purity of her voice… her material sounds magical.”

The album debuted at number one in jazz on iTunes-Canada. CBC Canadian National Radio host Laila Biali remarked, "There's so much joy in delivery.” Wall Street Journal-writer and acclaimed author Will Friedwald writes in his liner notes that Verbrugge possesses, "a vocal sound that's full of depth and nuance - welcoming the light without denying the existence of the darkness” and that she works with a “top-drawer arranging crew and cast of expert musicians”.

Donna Kay

Born: May 9

Donna Kay spent her earliest years in front of the television, memorizing every commercial jingle during the Golden Age of TV Advertising. She began formal music studies at age 8, and has been playing something-or-other ever since. From piano, she moved to voice studies, picked up the bass in a post-punk grunge band, made beautiful sounds for Atlanta's Liar's Club, and played keyboards and sang back up for the Americana band Wonderful Johnson in a paradise called Naples, Florida.

In 2008, Donna Kay moved to Greenville, SC, where she met jazz bassist Shannon Hoover, who mentored her and helped her become a reputable jazz singer. Her collaboration with jazz and experimental percussionist Daniel Zongrone led her to an artist in residence in Berlin, Germany, in the summer of 2014. The duet, called Vibe Vox, performed stripped-down versions of their electronic soundscapes in Berlin and Prague. Not wanting to go back to The Great American Songbook, whose pages by this time had begun to fray, Donna Kay decided to start a Gypsy Jazz/Western Swing/Boogie Blues band. Kay called her new band The Carousers. Kay enlisted the musical direction of Monty Craig, who was then an adjunct Professor of Guitar Studies at Clemson University. Monty enlisted the original line-up and played with The Carousers for seven years. The band boasted some of the best players in the region, including German native Hans Wolff on violin, Robert Nance on upright bass, Kevin Korschgen on percussion, Reed Miller on guitar, Jorge Garcia and Adam Knight on guitar and even Mark Rapp on trumpet. The band recorded a CD (Possessed), and EP (Devil Water) and two singles. (Across the Alley From the Alamo and the original tune, Free and Easy (Monty Craig).

Kaylé Brecher

Unique jazz vocalist, composer, and arranger, Kaylé Brecher (Kay-La BrecKer) is a singer who is at once completely distinctive and an amalgamation of her great musical influences. Showcase Magazine described her sound as "a supple voice that suggests the pairing of Sheila Jordan and Sarah Vaughan." One could accurately add Morgana King and Ella Fitzgerald to that description. Hers is a versatile and flexible instrument with wide range, which can move from silky, smooth and subtle to bold and bluesy; refined to brash and raw. Her instrumental and compositional approach to singing leads to explorations of the mood, texture and style in each individual tune, which results in exciting variety

Teri Roiger

Born: January 27

Teri Roiger has been making music all her life (since age 5!) and over the years her music has taken many exciting twists and turns. Teri is a jazz vocalist, but also plays piano, composes music and writes lyrics. She has been sharing her knowledge and inspiration with her many students at SUNY New Paltz for several years. The depth of her experiences and love of jazz is apparent when she brings all of her talents to a live performance, the recording studio, and in her compositions. Her latest recording, her most personal and powerful to date, was released by Dot Time Records in 2017, and is her fourth release as a bandleader – GHOST OF YESTERDAY: Shades of Lady Day — a heartfelt tribute to Billie Holiday, to coincide with Lady Day's 102nd birth year

Georgia Mancio

Born: January 6, 1972

Multi award-winning /nominated vocalist, lyricist and producer, Georgia Mancio, is one of Europe’s most respected, adventurous and multi-faceted new artists. Her multi-lingual music references classic jazz and Latin alongside her own astonishing writing, always stamped with an unfailing emotional integrity. In March 2021 Georgia releases her 8th album, Quiet Is The Star, co-written with long-standing musical collaborator, the double-Grammy-winning jazz pianist and composer, Alan Broadbent. The release is accompanied by the publication of 'The Songs of Alan Broadbent and Georgia Mancio' – a book of their 33 co-written works to date