Jazz Articles about Diane Hubka

Diane Hubka: West Coast Strings

by Geannine Reid
January 11, 2014

This Blue Ridge Mountain-bred artist grew up in Western Maryland in a musical family and learned violin, trombone and guitar from an early age. After college Diane Hubka moved to Washington, DC where she frequented local jazz clubs Blues Alley, One Step Down and Mr. Y's Soul Kitchen, absorbing the sounds of local legends Charlie Byrd and Shirley Horn, hearing national acts, as well as honing her own skills in those rooms. In 1986 she moved to New York City ...

Diane Hubka: I Like It Here/Live in Tokyo

by Ken Dryden
September 2, 2009

Cool-toned vocalist Diane Hubka first caught the attention of jazz journalists with her 1999 debut CD Haven't We Met?(Challenge-A) and she has continued to prove herself as an inventive, gifted interpreter of a wide range of material on her subsequent releases. Since leaving New York City for Southern California in 2004, she has played and recorded with a variety of top West Coast musicians. Hubka faced two challenges for I Like It Here/Live in Tokyo. After being ...

Diane Hubka: I Like It Here: Diane Hubka Live in Tokyo

by C. Michael Bailey
July 30, 2009

Diane Hubka has made a reputation for being a straight-ahead, no-nonsense jazz singer and guitarist. Her previous recordings--Goes to the Movies (2008, 18th & Vine), You Inspire Me (2002, VSOJAZ), Look No Further (2000, Naxos)--all reveal a keen jazz talent with a conservative singing approach and swinging guitar sensibility.

Hubka solidifies her hold on mainstream jazz vocals with an excellent live set recorded in Tokyo, December 5, 2007. Hubka is supported by the superb trio of pianist Kiyoshi Morita, bassist ...

Diane Hubka: Diane Hubka Goes to the Movies

by C. Michael Bailey
February 11, 2008

Hubka, Hubka...

The marketplace is clotted with exceptional recordings by female jazz vocalists/instrumentalists, the vast majority complimenting their voices with a certain piano talent. Diane Hubka is one of the few, if not the only, female vocalist who also plays guitar. She has enjoyed considerable exposure with recordings like, Haven't We Met (A-Records, 1998), Look No Further (Naxos, 2000), and You Inspire Me (VSOJAZZ, 2002). Diane Hubka Goes to the Movies is her first release since You Inspire Me, during ...

Diane Hubka: You Inspire Me

by Roger Crane
May 7, 2002

Listening to Diane Hubka is a delight. Somehow it is appropriate and nice that Diane Hubka sounds just the way she looks, namely, cool, understated and very pretty. But there is much more to singing than a lovely voice and Hubka can do it all. She is a master of time and she can employ melody modification with the best jazz singers. She can also scat convincingly, but it is her burnished sound that captures the listener; it is a ...

Diane Hubka: You Inspire Me

by Dave Nathan
May 1, 2002

Working with a rotating set of musicians seems to be in vogue in recent years. Ray Brown has his Some of My Best Friends Are...series, Pat Martino a couple of years back did a disc with several visiting guitar compatriots. Even Frank Sinatra toward the end of his career cut albums which featured a number of different singers. Now comes songbird Diane Hubka, with an album which has her working with what are billed as “seven of the world's greatest ...

Diane Hubka: Look No Further

by C. Michael Bailey
August 1, 2000

Skylark. Sweet-toned with considerable scat chops, Diane Hubka turns out and assertive collection of standards and vocalese on Look No Further. Ms. Hubka and friends swing with a gentle confidence, always maintaining a forward momentum. Ms. Hubka's voice requires no make-up. Her tone and approach are crystalline and precise. When she scats (as she does on the title track), it is without excess and grandiosity. She makes it look (sound) easy.

Hubka's band includes the fine pianist Frank Kimbrough, who ...