Home » Member Page
Kaylé Brecher
jazz composer/arrranger/lyricist/vocalist/educator
About Me
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.
Imaginative, versatile and eclectic, she has performed in settings ranging from
traditional jazz through bop, free jazz and experimental music.
Kaylé is a native New Yorker who began her career as a very young teen, singing
blues and standards in the clubs of Greenwich Village. She has opened for
Maynard Ferguson, Freddie Hubbard, the Preservation Hall Jazz Band, and Doc
Severinsen, and has shared the stage with Mel Lewis, Lee Konitz, Red Rodney
and others. Her varied and active career has included concerts, festivals, live
radio performances, a TV documentary soundtrack, clubs and other fine venues,
studio production work and eight acclaimed recordings. 'Kayleidoscope', Kaylé's
eighth CD was released in January 2020 and 'Bredux: collected edges' is her
ninth recording, released in early June 2021.
After graduating Summa Cum Laude from Temple University with a double
major in performance and composition/arranging, Kaylé was a long-time member
of the BMI Jazz Composers' Workshop in New York City, as well as pursuing
private studies in composition and arranging with both Jim McNeely and Michael
Abene. Three of her original compositions and two of her versions of Freddie
Hubbard tunes have been published by Freddie Hubbard's publishing company
Hubtones and two of her versions of Herbie Hancock tunes have been published
by Hancock Music. Her compositional skills have also garnered several awards in
the jazz category of the Billboard Song Contest, including one major prize.
Kaylé says of her approach to writing and singing: “Each piece is like a movie or
vignette in which one is totally immersed; story, emotion, mood and intention
brought alive by settings carefully chosen to enhance the ambiance while
encouraging improvisation in each performance. She has also said: In
performance, I feel melodic content as an intricate dance of shapes and colors
entwining and flowing with or rubbing against harmonic and rhythmic partners.”
Originally from the Bronx, Kaylé is now based in the Philadelphia area, whose
rich jazz traditions, and musical heritage she happily honors.
Her regional work has included performances at many current and past well-
known area venues, such as Cornelia St Cafe, Chris' Jazz Cafe, The Painted Bride
Art Center, World Café Live, The Rotunda at U. of PA, the old Zanzibar Blue, The
Academy of Music, Rutgers University, Philadelphia University and Temple
University, as well as festivals, clubs and a live radio broadcast on WRTI FM of
one of her performances at the old Blue Moon Jazz Cafe.
Brecher, also a master educator with more than thirty years experience, holds
certification in three levels of LoVetri Somatic Voicework™, is a member of
Bobby McFerrin’s Circlesong tribe and holds certification in Dr. Trineice
Robinson's Soul Ingredients®: The Methodology - When Science Meets Soul, for
which she has since been an occasional workshop assistant.
An eclectic, dynamic and creative performer, Penchant Four Records artist Kaylé
Brecher's eighth CD release 'KAYLEIDOSCOPE' is a deliciously distinctive
selection of music assembled much like a collection of short stories, each slightly
related to each other in progression, with a deeply personal approach leading to
engaging variety of mood, texture and style in each individual tune. It features
some of New York’s and Philadelphia’s finest musicians, and once again proves
that this is a singer whose vision transcends boundaries.
'Bredux: collected edges', the ninth and latest Brecher recording, is a unique
curated set of eleven tunes, Kaylé's arrangements, instrumental and vocal
choices render each piece into individual soundscapes that amply flesh out depth
in each song’s musical narrative. Here, Kaylé is rooted in her authenticity, never
losing the essence of each tune even while crossing boundaries and fusing
genres.
A skilled arranger and composer, Kaylé is more than a singer: she is a complete
musical package. Combining a command of her expressive instrument and wide
range with artful writing and creative arranging, she moves a listener with
unique inventive settings, vivid subtlety, masterful phrasing and sophisticated
lyrics.