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Chris McNulty

Chris McNulty is an Australian born, American-Australian vocalist-composer. Born in Melbourne, Australia she travelled to NYC with her son in 1988 where she became a fixture on the New York jazz scene for almost three decades performing, recording and touring with many legendary American jazz musicians. Chris relocated back to Australia in late 2015.

McNulty’s emergence on the international jazz scene began around 1991 with the release of her critically acclaimed, Waltz for Debby (Discovery). Since then her recordings and performances have garnered outstanding reviews in publications including DownBeat, Jazz Times, The Irish Times, Jazz Wise, All About Jazz and The Australian, among others. Universal press and radio coverage brought further international touring opportunities leading to consistent appearances at festivals including the Edinburgh Jazz Festival, Dundee Jazz, Brecon Arts (UK); Kilkenny Arts (Ireland); Kharkiv Int. Jazz (Ukraine); Petrozavodsk Int. Jazz (Russia); Perth Int. Jazz, Wangaratta Jazz and Blues, Stonnington Jazz, Dunborough Jazz By the Bay and the Melbourne Int. Jazz (Australia)

Her last and most recent release ‘Eternal’ (Palmetto 2015) melds the sounds of chamber ensemble with jazz quintet and was co-produced with Australian orchestrator Stephen Newcomb. Pianist-arranger, John Di Martino and Newcomb collaborated on the arrangements. The album placed #11 on the 80th DownBeat Readers Poll for Album of the Year in 2015 and received 5 star reviews in All About Jazz as well as a 4.5 star review in DownBeat among others. 'Eternal' was listed as one of the top album releases of 2015 in DownBeat and JazzTimes.

In 2016 after relocating back to Australia, McNulty toured her Eternal Chamber Ensemble project nationally.

McNulty is also the recipient of the 2013 Australian Jazz Bell Award for Best Jazz Vocal Album for ‘The Song That Sings You Here’ (Challenge International).

Her book Vocalist As Complete Musician - VCM (published in 2017) utilises a method for empowering vocal jazz musicians and students of jazz. The method explores the use of tetra chords as a tool for integrating theory, ear training and improvisation among other approaches.

In late 2018 Chris McNulty was one of six Australian composers announced as recipients of a 2019 Bundanon Trust Prelude Composer Residency award. Her year-long composing project, was completed at Gallop House in Perth, WA culminating in the completion of a 12-piece suite, ‘Finding Home - Other Australian Stories’ bringing musical voice to stories of Australian refugee and immigrants. The project remains unrecorded.

In May 2021, while in pandemic lockdown in WA, McNulty was featured Artist in Residence for ABC Jazz hosted by Mal Stanley. She returned to the east coast in mid 2023 and is currently living in regional Victoria working on an originals project which is slated to be recorded in mid 2025. The album will feature arrangments with her New York collaborator, John Di Martino along with American and Australian musicians.

History:

McNulty first visited New York City in 1985 and settled there in 1988 after being awarded an International Study Grant from the Australia Council. Since then Chris has garnered further accolades from critics, jazz musicians and fans alike. She has recorded, collaborated and performed with musicians including: Paul Bollenback, Gary Thomas, Mulgrew Miller, Ugonna Okegwo, John Di Martino, Gary Bartz, John Hicks, Peter Leitch, Frank Wess, Ingrid Jensen, Terri-Lyne Carrington, Tim Garland, Tineke Postma,Tom Lellis, Billy Hart, Ed Howard, Dave Pietro, Joe Locke, Greg Hutchinson, Marcus Gilmore, Montez Coleman, Matt Wilson, Adam Cruz, George Mraz, Kenny Washington, Joel Frahm, Gary Versace, David Budway, Harvey S and Tony Reedus.

Chris’s debut recording in the States, Waltz For Debby (Discovery 1990), received outstanding reviews in several publications and features the official published lyric by Chris of the great Miles Davis classic 'Blue in Green'. In 1994 Chris was selected as one of the six exceptional new jazz singers on the New York scene to be featured on the Venus recording 'Big Apple Voices'. She has released six albums since then: A Time for Love (Amosaya 1996), I Remember You (2004) (re-released on Elefant Dreams 2006), Dance Delicioso (Elefant Dreams 2005), Whispers the Heart (Elefant Dreams 2006), The Song that Sings You Here (Challenge International) and Eternal (Palmetto 2015). Eternal was re-released with new artwork in late 2022 on McNulty's own label (Pearl Coast Jazz 2022).

Following the release of her highly acclaimed Dance Delicioso, Chris returned from successful festival appearances in both the UK and Ireland including the Brecon Festival in Wales and the Killarney Festival in Ireland. Along with national radio features throughout the States, UK, Ireland and Europe, her music has also been a major feature in Australia on ABC’s nationally broadcast program 'The Nightly Planet'.

McNulty’s Whispers the Heart features several original pieces along with featured guest, jazz great Frank Wess and Ingrid Jensen, Paul Bollenback, Ed Howard, Dave Pietro, Tineke Postma, Gary Versace, Matt Wilson, Rogerio Boccato and Montez Coleman. Whispers the Heart was recently included in the Jazz Journalists Association (JJA) Critics list of Top Ten picks of 2006 by JJA critic, Nancy Barell. The recording also remained in the Top 10 on major global Internet radio www.radioio.com during October and November 2006.

The Song That Sings You Here (Challenge International 2013) features Russian greats Andrei Kondokov and Igor Butman, Australian Graham Wood, Marcus Gilmore, Ugonna Okegwo, Paul Bollenback and special guest Anita Wardell.

Eternal (2015) melds the sounds of chamber ensemble with jazz quintet and features the core ensemble of John Di Martino, Ugonna Okegwo and Greg Hutchinson along with guest soloist, Australian flugel-trumpet player, Matt Jodrell and chamber ensemble.

Chris’ vocalese work is featured on album releases of Paul Bollenback’s Brightness of Being (2006) and Invocation (2007)

Awards

McNulty is the recipient of the 2013 Australian Jazz Bell Award for Best Jazz Vocal Album for ‘The Song That Sings You Here’ (Challenge International).

In late 2018 Chris McNulty was one of six Australian composers chosen as recipients of a 2019 Bundanon Trust Prelude Composer Residency award. Her year-long composing project, was completed at Gallop House in Perth, WA culminating in the completion of a 12-piece suite, ‘Finding Home - Other Australian Stories’ bringing musical voice to stories of Australian refugee and immigrants. The project remains unrecorded.

Gear

Neumann U87 and KMS105

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Chris McNulty: Eternal

Read "Eternal" reviewed by Blaine Fallis

by Blaine Fallis
July 8, 2015

Losing a child. The pain can't be explained, although a close personal friend of ours lost their first born during childbirth. After the months of preparation, the painting of rooms, the choosing of a name. In response to their loss, they built a gorgeous rose garden, and placed poetic emblems on the back fence. And our friendship was was re-established through many long suppers and after- dinner jazz listening sessions, our families spending time just being with each other.

Album Review

Chris McNulty: Eternal

by Dan Bilawsky
March 4, 2015

Eternal is a work of love and loss, a celebration of life, and a poignant piece of artistic expression. Vocalist Chris McNulty crafted this album as a tribute to her son, Sam, who passed away in 2011. This album took shape in the days following Hurricane Sandy in 2012, as McNulty, with no electricity, heat, or running water, sat with her thoughts and selected songs that reflected the complex emotions that were running through her. In the ...

Album Review

Chris McNulty: The Song That Sings You Here

Read "The Song That Sings You Here" reviewed by C. Michael Bailey

by C. Michael Bailey
March 17, 2013

Great art often results from conflict, pain or loss. Australian-born singer Chris McNulty notes that The Song That Sings You Here, in spite of being conceived and recorded before she suffered the death of her son Sam, could have just as easily been conceived and recorded after, summing these circumstances into a type of preemptive creative process filled with both grief and gratitude. The temporal results are a highly refined offering filled with robust standards, finely delivered by the singer's ...

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Interview

Chris McNulty: A Siren From Down Under

by Ludwig vanTrikt
January 24, 2012

Chris McNulty emigrated to New York City, from her native home in Melbourne, Australia, in 1988. Since then she's released five recordings, with Waltz For Debby (Discovery, 1991) first introducing the Australian singer to American audiences. On that record, she wrote what would ultimately become the official, published lyrics to Miles Davis' classic “Blue in Green." Since 2004, she has released three records on Elefant Dreams, the independent label she shares with her husband, guitarist Paul Bollenback. Both Dance Delicioso ...

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Interview

Chris McNulty: A Global Voice

by Joao Moreira dos Santos
March 28, 2008

Chris McNulty may well be regarded not only as a fine jazz singer but also as the epitome of jazz globalization these days. Born in remote Australia, she made her career in the USA and in 2003 performed in Russia at the White Night's Jazz Festival to celebrate St. Petersburg's 300th Anniversary. How far McNulty wants to go seems to be the million dollar question to ask the author of one of the finest vocal recordings of 2006: Whispers the ...

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Album Review

Chris McNulty: Whispers The Heart

Read "Whispers The Heart" reviewed by Andrew Velez

by Andrew Velez
October 25, 2006

It's particularly on that '40s Cahn-Stordahl-Weston gem “I Should Care that Aussie songstress Chris McNulty evokes pleasant memories of Anita O'Day and Chris Connor's hip cool. McNulty's voice can soar lightly into upper registers like O'Day's, and she also exudes a kindred innate cheerfulness that never totally disappears, whatever the song. It's especially apparent with her upbeat, swinging take on Legrand-Bergman's “Summer Me, Winter Me. She also makes a very credible dive into “Make It Easy On ...

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Album Review

Chris McNulty: Whispers The Heart

Read "Whispers The Heart" reviewed by Michael P. Gladstone

by Michael P. Gladstone
October 2, 2006

Whispers The Heart, the sixth album from Chris McNulty, a native-born Australian, continues the positive vibe of last year's Dance Delicioso, with a similar cast of jazz players. McNulty has selected an average collection of tunes, some of which are familiar titles from the Great American Songbook, plus others which make this an interesting package.

The Michel Legrand/Alan and Marilyn Bergman movie song “Summer Me, Winter You," the Bacharach/David '60s hit “Make It Easy On Yourself" (with a guest appearance ...

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Interview

Vocalist Chris McNulty Interviewed at AAJ

Source: All About Jazz
March 28, 2008

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Recording

Vocalist/Composer Chris McNulty Celebrates Release Of New CD "Whispers the Heart" on Elefant Dreams Records

Source: Braithwaite & Katz Communications
September 12, 2006

With Frank Wess, Ingrid Jensen, Paul Bollenback, Dave Pietro, Ed Howard, Gary Versace, Tineke Postma, Matt Wilson, Montez Coleman and Rogerio Boccato Jazz vocalist/composer Chris McNulty's new CD Whispers the Heart, out September 12, 2006 on the Elefant Dreams label, showcases her unique vision, strong individual style and boundless creative energy. Her risk-taking, fluid, and powerful emotional approach support but never compromise her musical sensibilities as she combines her talent as both vocalist and composer. She is consummate musician with ...
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Live Performance reviews:

"McNulty has a refined musical intelligence, deep understanding and mastery of the bebop idiom and complete control of the ballad with an emotional wallop of lived experience. 'There's No Such Thing As Love' was memorable for McNulty’s great ability to tell a story, with perfect diction, engaging tone and expressive range. It was a programme chosen with such care and intelligence - old, new, popular, classic, original, standard, swing, ballad - it was like a degustation of jazz vocal at its most inviting and satisfying." –– Ian Muldoon, Eric Myers Jazz - December 2023

"An absolute showstopper was a duet of guitar and vocal for the Burt Bacharach composition “Make It Easy on Yourself” where, at a slow tempo, McNulty wove a soulful descant on the melody over soft guitar chords to frame the song with a quiet, poignant delicacy. It was a showcase of world-class talent and professionalism." –– John McBeath, the Advertiser, Sep 6th, 2008

“...the McNulty gig remained one of the best-kept secrets of the Festival....for me this provided some real Festival highlights over the several nights I heard them... a really strong swinging New York band from note one! McNulty was in great form out front, using tone and every possible nuance to enhance her expression, while always swinging. It is interesting to note that this was the one group which I heard in the Festival (and I heard most of them) which actually delivered such a joyous and irresistible swing that one’s foot had to move!" –– M. Jackson, Jazz Australia, June 5th, 2007

"A brilliant, languorous The Meaning Of The Blues, an easy, loping Easy To Love and Star Eyes, a beautifully phrased It Might As Well Be Spring and My Romance, and a gorgeous, slow It Never Entered My Mind that came close to equaling The Meaning Of The Blues as the best of the night. McNulty's willingness to open songs a cappella, or with the minimal support of guitar...time and again, the drawn-out codas offered compelling examples of group interaction....an engrossing demonstration of the art of jazz singing.” –– Ray Comiskey, The Irish Times, Dublin, January 2005

"A singer of great subtlety, she interprets each lyric in an extremely individual way and with exceptional sensitivity. Without doubt an inspirational jazz singer. Eloquent, expressive and extremely exciting. The subtle variations she applies to each song aptly illustrate her unflinching commitment to jazz. A consummate artist, her unsentimental approach suggests a certain vulnerability and emphasizes an intimacy few singers can match.” –– Mike Pinfold, jazz journalist – UK, Howden Jazz Society

Album Reviews:

Live Performance reviews:

"McNulty has a refined musical intelligence, deep understanding and mastery of the bebop idiom and complete control of the ballad with an emotional wallop of lived experience. 'There's No Such Thing As Love' was memorable for McNulty’s great ability to tell a story, with perfect diction, engaging tone and expressive range. It was a programme chosen with such care and intelligence - old, new, popular, classic, original, standard, swing, ballad - it was like a degustation of jazz vocal at its most inviting and satisfying." –– Ian Muldoon, Eric Myers Jazz - December 2023

"An absolute showstopper was a duet of guitar and vocal for the Burt Bacharach composition “Make It Easy on Yourself” where, at a slow tempo, McNulty wove a soulful descant on the melody over soft guitar chords to frame the song with a quiet, poignant delicacy. It was a showcase of world-class talent and professionalism." –– John McBeath, the Advertiser, Sep 6th, 2008

“...the McNulty gig remained one of the best-kept secrets of the Festival....for me this provided some real Festival highlights over the several nights I heard them... a really strong swinging New York band from note one! McNulty was in great form out front, using tone and every possible nuance to enhance her expression, while always swinging. It is interesting to note that this was the one group which I heard in the Festival (and I heard most of them) which actually delivered such a joyous and irresistible swing that one’s foot had to move!" –– M. Jackson, Jazz Australia, June 5th, 2007

"A brilliant, languorous The Meaning Of The Blues, an easy, loping Easy To Love and Star Eyes, a beautifully phrased It Might As Well Be Spring and My Romance, and a gorgeous, slow It Never Entered My Mind that came close to equaling The Meaning Of The Blues as the best of the night. McNulty's willingness to open songs a cappella, or with the minimal support of guitar...time and again, the drawn-out codas offered compelling examples of group interaction....an engrossing demonstration of the art of jazz singing.” –– Ray Comiskey, The Irish Times, Dublin, January 2005

"A singer of great subtlety, she interprets each lyric in an extremely individual way and with exceptional sensitivity. Without doubt an inspirational jazz singer. Eloquent, expressive and extremely exciting. The subtle variations she applies to each song aptly illustrate her unflinching commitment to jazz. A consummate artist, her unsentimental approach suggests a certain vulnerability and emphasizes an intimacy few singers can match.” –– Mike Pinfold, jazz journalist – UK, Howden Jazz Society

Album Reviews:

"...the singer's story-telling gift has you hanging on every phrase. She also contributes a brace of songs - the first, the hauntingly beautiful "Letter to Marta"...the second "Long Road Home - The Song That Sings You Here", features jazz singing of the highest order. McNulty has never sounded more at ease with her mastery." –– Peter Quinn, March 2013 - Jazz Wise UK

"McNulty has put all she has learned over half a lifetime of jazz singing and songwriting into this exquisite chamber jazz CD. The Australian born, New York City-based singer and a veteran performer on the international jazz scene, has many gifts as a performer and a direct channel to the emotional core of a lyric. On 'Eternal', McNulty bares her soul, and one doesn’t dare look away." — 4 1/2 stars ***** Allen Morrison, Downbeat, June 2015

"Does she ever swing! In the charged company of her small band, McNulty proves worthy of a frontline instrument on rhythm tunes and bright tempos. The delicate melodic improvising [she} floats on Horace Silver's "Lonely Woman" is focused and finely wrought. There's not a hesitant note or second guessed choice to be heard. Her own title tune is a quietly intense lover's plea wrapped in liquid glisses and keening rhythm." — 4 stars **** Kirk Silsbee, April 2013 Downbeat

“Exquisite....McNulty applies poignant jazz chops... while accomplishing the impossible, the expression of her story through song....making listeners rethink the meaning of why we love jazz.." — 5 Stars ***** Blaine Fallis, All About Jazz, July 2015 USA

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