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Ashley Daneman

Ashley is a singer/songwriter who creates expressive audio landscapes at the intersection of jazz and modern folk music. She crafts organic, vignette-like songs with rich harmonies that the West Michigan Jazz Society aptly describes as “…an uncompromising concoction of subtle and intimate jazz with a touch of hipster singer-songwriter.”

Noted as “a fine young jazz vocalist” (USA Today), Ashley’s songwriting has also been recognized through grants awarded and artist residencies such as The Banff Centre’s Jazz and Creative Workshop and Betty Carter’s Jazz Ahead.

Ashley honed her chops on the Washington, D.C. jazz scene before completing her masters degree in Jazz Vocal Performance at Manhattan School of Music. All About Jazz says “Ashley owns a decidedly individualistic style and a willingness to take interpretive risks, the true hallmark of the dedicated jazz musician.”

Awards

KADI Grant, Arts Council of Greater Kalamazoo (2018) Emerging Artist Grant Award, Arts Council of Greater Kalamazoo (2010) Small Projects Grant Award, D.C. Commission on the Arts & Humanities (2002)


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2
Album Review

Ashley Daneman: People Are Fragile

Read "People Are Fragile" reviewed by Dan Bilawsky


While solidity and vulnerability are at opposite ends of the strength spectrum, they also exist as two sides of the same coin. All that is broken can be put back together, much of what's whole isn't without interstitial breaks, and the human experience is built around the fluid bonds between the two representative emotional extremes connected to these states. It's this very notion that serves as the foundation for vocalist Ashley Daneman's work. With Beauty Indestructible (Self ...

Album Review

Ashley Daneman: Beauty Indestructible

Read "Beauty Indestructible" reviewed by Angelo Leonardi


È un disco che colpisce, questo di Ashley Daneman, e merita tutta la nostra attenzione. Per certi aspetti ricorda quello di Becca Stevens di qualche anno fa: entrambe sono affascinanti e personali singer/songwriter che attualizzano la lezione di Joni Mitchell e Laura Nyro in percorsi eclettici, assegnando al jazz un ruolo significativo. Qualcosa che le altre cantautrici bianche americane hanno fatto raramente. Ogni debutto ha la sua storia, fatta di passione, anni di studio, prime ...

4
Album Review

Ashley Daneman: Beauty Indestructible

Read "Beauty Indestructible" reviewed by C. Michael Bailey


The most important thing that singers/educators Kate McGarry and Theo Bleckmann impart to their students is the direction to define his or her own vocal trajectory. The lesson was readily honored by Nicky Schrire on her Space and Time (Magenta Label Group, 2013). Vocalist Ashley Daneman also took that message to heart after her study with the pair and released the present and exceptional Beauty Indestructible. Forged from a harrowing “Long Night of the Soul" (apologies to ...

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Album Review

Ashley Daneman: Beauty Indestructible

Read "Beauty Indestructible" reviewed by Bruce Lindsay


During 2013 singer and songwriter Ashley Daneman and her husband, trumpeter Benje Daneman, raised the funding for Beauty Indestructible via 200 Kickstarter contributors. To each and every one of those contributors, “Thank You." For Beauty Indestructible is a striking debut, full of strong, memorable, songs and performances.Every song is a Daneman original. She's a self-declared fan of '70s singer-songwriters--..."raised on Carole King and Joni Mitchell..." as she puts it. Some of the finest moments on Beauty Indestructible seem ...

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“Editors’ Pick” DownBeat Magazine - January 2015 http://www.downbeat.com/defaultl.asp?sect=reviews#5 “her full-length debut makes it clear that she is carving out her own unique identity.” - Bobby Reed, DownBeat Magazine “Daneman’s vocal control and phrasing are impressive here, and she has crafted an arrangement that gracefully merges her wordless singing with the poignant cello work” “her aesthetic approach marries the sophistication of jazz harmonies with the hooks associated with folk-rock.” - Bobby Reed, DownBeat Magazine “Throughout the album, the choice of instrumentation…is combined with tasteful production to complement the overall song structure.” - Bobby Reed, DownBeat Magazine

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Primary Instrument

Vocals

Willing to teach

Beginner to advanced

Credentials/Background

Level II Certified in Somatic Voicework (tm) The LoVetri Method Master of Music, Manhattan School of Music: Jazz Vocal Performance

Clinic/Workshop Information

Strength & Freedom for the Contemporary Singer

Photos

Music

Recordings: As Leader | As Sideperson

People Are Fragile

Flood Music
2019

buy

Beauty Indestructible

Self Produced
2015

buy

Here comes a body

From: Beauty Indestructible
By Ashley Daneman

Videos

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