Alexia Benz Gardner

Member Since: 2022 | Location: Newcastle | Page Views: 1,453

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About Me

I am a Jazz Singer living in New York City and a Licensed Real Estate Sales Person paying the bills!

I am a professional recorded, international vocalist living currently in Lynbrook, Nassau County in New York State. Coming from a musical family. A father who was a guitarist and vocalist of his Rhythm and Blues band during the 1960s.He and his twin brother and cousin performed up and down England and Wales over in Europe and called themselves - The Rainbows! I continued the singing theme at first with my sister and then as a soloist. I am an english girl of Jamaican parents. Just loving everything jazz as well as a hint of reggae, latin, blues and After graduating from Central School Of Speech and Drama in Swiss Cottage in north west London; I embarked on a career of Jazz Vocalist that took me all over south east Asia and Europe. From Shanghai and Beijing in China to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. From Jakarta Indonesia to Hongkong and Singapore. This was after winning every Talent Competition and Cabaret Showcase up and down England and Wales during my teens and early twenties.

Badge

Tier

Explorer

Points Earned

469

Favorite Musicians / Bands

Harry Keeble

Abbie Finn

Alan Law

Alex Blake

Alex Webb

Breggett Rideau

Dianne Reeves

George Gray

Gizem Gokoglu

Gregory Porter

Hyuna Park

Keith Loftis

Linus Wyrsch

Mark Sganga

Martin Pizzarelli

Oliver Von Essen

Roy Hargrove

Wynton Marsalis

Yoichi Uzeki

MORE FAVORITES

My Jazz Story

I love jazz because it was the first thing I heard as a young child. My grandaunt and granduncle would play the vinyl records on a Friday evening each week. We lived in Kingston, Jamaica. Our parents - who are Jamaican - sent us home from the UK. The intention was to complete their studies and then return to the island of their birth. My siblings and I lived with our grand aunt and uncle for 5 years and played Louis Armstrong, Ella Fitzgerald, Nat King Cole, Frank Sinatra, Peggy Lee on their quaint, old, turn table. They would stay ...stop singing....and listen! We didn't hear the words because we were so busy making the sounds we heard. I grew up listening and loving. Even when I was at Drama School back in the UK I would be out in Jazz Clubs and Cabaret venues listening and singing..... I have since sang my way all through south east Asia, Europe and now residing with my husband here in Lynbrook, Nassau County. I have had the honor of singing for Jazz Lovers from all over the world as well as celebrities and famous persons such as the remarkable, Nelson Mandela, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, athletes such as Michael Johnson, Sebastion Coe, Daley Thompson, Boris Becker. I had the joy of attending the jam session at North Sea Jazz Festival back in 2003 in Holland. The likes of Wynton Marsallis, Marcus Miller, Roy Hargrove, Dianne Reeves were there to inspire and astonish me! My Jazz Story is long. Never ending....just joyful.

My House Concert Story

As a jazz Vocalist I have had the chance to both host and perform at House Concerts. One of the latest ones was right here in New York City. The lucky winners of the Swiss Society Of New York's Red Cross Charity Fundraiser Draw. The family won a Jazz concert in their Living Room back in Spring 2017. There was a grammy award winner on the clarinet and saxophone, a grammy nominee on vocals and celebrated New York based musicians on keyboard and acoustic bass. An intimate and memorable evening in an iconic Brownstone home on Park Lane in Manhattan. Another memorable House Concert was the winner of Radio Swiss Jazz all the way in Switzerland. The national Jazz Radio station opened up the entire country to the opportunity to win the performance of a Jazz Quartet in their homes. I was the vocalist. Superb trio behind me. A house packed with friends and family served to be an excellent evening.