Kristen Lee Sergeant

Kristen Lee Sergeant is a singer, songwriter, and arranger who has “gone beyond music. She is a conceptual artist…” in the words of author and producer Kabir Seghal. After releasing two albums that both received the distinction of DownBeat Magazine Editor’s Pick, she now brings us “Falling” - her third studio album of largely original material and wholly original vision. In it, Kristen synthesizes her training as a vocalist (from opera to theater to jazz), abilities as a poet, instincts as a songwriter and dramatic sensibility as an arranger to creates a world for us to inhabit in sound through her vision and deft use of her extremely talented ensemble. Early in her career, her passion for music and theater led her to work professionally as an actor and singer on the dramatic stage, until she fell in love with jazz while singing with a big band regularly in NYC. She found inspiration from performers current and past such as Marilyn Maye, Dianne Reeves, Mark Murphy and Judy Garland. After finding her voice in jazz, she began writing her own songs and creating her own arrangements — finding both a freedom and a control that no other art form could offer. In “Falling” we hear all of her influences — from the music of theater to 70’s rock, from the Great American Songbook to chamber music. Her music has brought her to stages at Birdland, Dizzy’s Club Coca Cola, Zinc Bar, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, L.A.’s The Blue Whale, and Joe’s Pub for the premiere of this new work — and she is poised to travel farther as the music broadens it’s reach to the world. In addition to her musical work, Kristen has a deep love and knowledge of fine wine which she shares in her series Jazz & Juice, and produces a bottle, Two Notes, with partner and Grammy winner Ted Nash.

Awards

Nominee, 2020 BroadwayWorld Cabaret Award for "Best Special Event/Solo" for "Smolder" at the Birdland Theater

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Radio & Podcasts

A Conversation with Vocalist Kristen Lee Sergeant

Album Review

Smolder by Dan Bilawsky

Live Performance: “Oh my gosh. That was my immediate reaction to Kristen Lee Sergeant. Oh my gosh, oh my goodness, golly Moses, holy wow. OMG. Those are the thoughts that were going through my head as I watched the jazz set presented by Kristen Lee Sergeant and friends in the Birdland Theater. Kristen Lee Sergeant has risen to the occasion and has every tool, every skill, every intention of causing inside of her listeners every emotion a person can feel, all of which she achieves in the most splendidly excessive, intricately contained, theatrically subdued knowing sass. She is an enigmatic ball of fire, energetically laid back, and cool, oh so cool, from the pointed toe of her pump to last wild curl on her strawberry blonde head.” BroadwayWorld.com (full review here) Stephen Moser, Cabaret Editor (November, 2019) On “Smolder”: “Sergeant’s training as an actress and classical vocalist enable her to craft moments of engaging drama, whether she’s seductively sliding into a note with a near-whisper, delivering a breathy revelation or belting out a lyric with full-throated muscularity… This elegant album illustrates what can happen when admirable ambition is paired with vocal vibrancy.” DownBeat Magazine Bobby Reed, Editor (Editor’s Pick, March 2019) “As an arranger Sergeant paints with beauty and perspective…as a singer she balances passion and poise in her uncovering of the song’s hidden angles and inner truths. …Regardless of what material she’s working with, Sergeant makes her mark by molding a song and owning its intentions with wisdom and clarity…Kristen Lee Sergeant is most certainly deserving of greater recognition.” All About Jazz Dan Bilawsky (June 2019) “…Smolder promises to push her rise even further. The 10 tracks…crackle with warmth and feeling.” The New York City Jazz Record Suzanne Lorge (March 2019) “..a Chris Connor thrush for millenials. Handily wrapping a lyric around her little finger, as easily as she will you, with a great, clear voice expressing what the writer wanted from the 30’s to the 80s (and then on to her own stuff from now) this is a solid work of jazz vocal that’s modern but in the tradition. A most solid bet for those who appreciate solid vocal work surrounded by ace cats allowed to do their thing.” The Midwest Record “A special singer can evoke a thermometer’s span of temperatures while sustaining a singular fire within. Kristen Lee Sergeant is special.” Bob Blumenthal, Grammy Award winning author

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