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Lauren Bush

Lauren Bush - Canadian Born UK Based Jazz Vocalist

About Me

Originally born and raised in Canada, Lauren relocated to London to pursue music on a new level just over 3 years ago. Daughter of an accomplished jazz trumpeter father and music teacher mother, it is no surprise that Lauren grew up to have such an aptitude for music. She ignored her gift for many years, certain that music would only be a hobby; taking voice lessons but was too afraid to perform. In 2004, on a whim, Lauren auditioned for her university big band, won the position and never looked back. Traveling extensively around North America, Lauren has had some amazing opportunities to perform. Some highlights of her career include opening for Maynard Ferguson, performing with her quartet at the Corpus Christi Jazz Festival 2 years running, playing at the Victoria International Jazz Festival, sharing the stage with Bobby McFerrin at the Idaho Jazz Festival and singing in Handy Park in New Orleans. Since moving to London, highlights include playing at Elgar Room, Royal Albert Hall and being a finalist in the Riga Jazz Stage competition in Riga, Latvia. In 2010, Lauren's quartet recorded their first demo with some unique arrangements of standard tunes like Softly, as in a Morning Sunrise and When You’re Smiling. Three of these recordings have been played on Metromedia Radio out of New York and on local stations in London. Softly, as in a Morning Sunrise has had over 170,000 views on Youtube. While starting to build a reputation for herself in London, Lauren is also trying to connect with the rest of Europe. She has a regular partnership with “La JazzLife Associazione” in northern Italy where she travels regularly to sing with her Italian quartet, performing with some of Italy's best musicians. Lauren currently has a weekly residency at The Charterhouse Bar in the heart of Smithfield Market. Lauren has just finished recording her debut album with the help of award winning vocalist Ian Shaw producing. It is set to be released in May 2016!

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My Jazz Story

I was first exposed to jazz...in the womb as my dad is a jazz trumpeter and my mum also played the trumpet and taught high school music. When I was small, my parents would bring me to the late night gigs in my car seat and I would sleep through the big band music. As a child, I desperately tried to pretend I didn't like jazz. It was different, weird, hard to like... When I started taking singing lessons at the age of 14, I realised that I couldn't really follow the rules applied to singing songs "as written". I wanted to take all kinds of liberties in phrasing and changing the melody to suit me. I realised that I had picked up this style from listening to jazz my whole life. I couldn't ignore it any longer. Jazz has become a great creative outlet for me now. I can change the melody, I can sing it the way I want, I can adapt the phrasing and best of all, I can improvise. There is nothing I like more than scatting my way through an old jazz standard like Pennies From Heaven and trying to create musical patterns on the spot. It has taken loads of practice to get good at it, obviously, and sometimes, even now, I come up with nonsense but sometimes I surprise myself and create the most interesting and exciting patterns. I love the collaboration and the way it makes me feel to stand on a stage with other musicians and create something that has never been heard in THIS way, THIS time! It's exhilarating and great! How can you not love jazz? It can be anything you want it to be!