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Solitaire Miles

Solitaire Miles... the name has a ring to it, echoing with loneliness and distance... it sounds too good to be true, but look on her birth certificate and you'll see it's the real thing: Solitaire Miles. Listen to her sing and you'll hear the real thing, too. Considering the ancestry of hipness she needed to get a name like that, you won't be surprised to learn that Solitaire comes from a swinging bloodline. Her grandmother Sybil Der Manuel was a big band vocalist in the early 1940's. When Sol, aged three, heard her first Billie Holiday side, she thought she was hearing Grandma. When Sybil played the piano and sang, young Sol would sit underneath next to the foot pedals for hours, drinking in the sounds of the past that would one day become her future.

Solitaire originally planned to be an opera singer, but while attending DePaul University in Chicago, she met the legendary swing violinist Johnny Frigo who encouraged her to sing jazz. "When I first head Johnny play I was crazy for him, and followed him around to every gig he had, until he got sick of seeing me in the audience! But he also taught me a lot of tunes and helped me arrange them." During this time she completed her first recording with Frigo and his long time accompanist Joe Vito, "The Psychic Cabaret". "Johhny and Joe were like Grandfather's to me, and they helped me get a start in Chicago."

Working with elder players became a habit. "They seemed to appreciate my old fashioned style of phrasing." After college she also began working and recording with Sax Maestro Von Freeman, and pianist Willie Pickens. "I was lucky to have their guidance, because they were playing jazz and swing with the greats during the hey day." While performing on the Chicago scene, they all meticulously coached her. During later years spent living in New York, she had many opportunities to sit in with the great trumpeter Doc Cheatham, learning lots of great swing tunes along the way. From these venerable bandleaders, she learned more about old- school phrasing; "They wrung every little bit of opera or pop singing from my voice until it was authentic, unadulterated jazz and swing, and that's what I'm presenting today."

For Solitaire, a jazz or swing number isn't just source material to be pillaged for a contemporary pop recording.

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Take Five With...

Take Five With Solitaire Miles

Read "Take Five With Solitaire Miles" reviewed by AAJ Staff


Meet Solitaire Miles“Solitaire Miles captivates an audience with mesmeric tone, playful, conversational phrasing, and a sinuous sense of swing. Miles has a voice that grabs you, and demands to be listened to. Her natural, unaffected delivery never draws attention to itself, allowing the craft of the song writers to shine through." Tamara Dailey, Chicago Sentinel“Billie Holiday with sunshine and air"- Chautuaqua Sympony bassist Harry JacobsonPerforming in Chicago, New York and Los Angeles, Solitaire Miles ...

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Performance / Tour

Von Freeman Remembered At The Jazz Showcase Oct 10th, 2010

Von Freeman Remembered At The Jazz Showcase Oct 10th, 2010

Source: Solitaire Miles

Chicago pianist Willie Pickens and vocalist Solitaire Miles will pay tribute to the late saxophonist Von Freeman at the Jazz Showcase in Chicago on Wednesday Oct 10th at 8 pm. Pickens and Miles, who worked and recorded with Freeman, will be remembering him with a cast of many vocalists and players who loved Von and worked with him over the years including trumpeter Brad Goode, saxophonist Eric Schneider, bassist Larry Kohut, and drummer Robert Shy. They will be joined by ...

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Performance / Tour

Solitaire Miles CD Release Party for "Born to be Blue" at the Jazz Showcase in Chicago

Solitaire Miles CD Release Party for "Born to be Blue" at the Jazz Showcase in Chicago

Source: Michael Ricci

On Tuesday July 13th at 8 pm Solitaire Miles will be celebrating the release of her new CD Born to Be Blue at the Jazz Showcase in Chicago with many of the great players on the record including pianist Willie Pickens, trumpeter Art Davis, guitarist Neal Alger, bassist Marlene Rosenberg and drummer Robert Shy. Scott Yanow recently reviewed the album saying “Throughout this project Solitaire and her musicians are not content to merely recreate the past but are creative within ...

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Performance / Tour

Solitaire Miles "Born to be Blue" CD Release Party at the Jazz Showcase in Chicago

Solitaire Miles "Born to be Blue" CD Release Party at the Jazz Showcase in Chicago

Source: Michael Ricci

Please join us as we celebrate the release of vocalist Solitaire Miles's Born to Be Blue on July 13th at the Jazz Showcase in Chicago 8-12 pm. The band will include a long list of Chicago greats including Willie Pickens on piano, Art Davis on trumpet, Neal Alger on guitar, Marlene Rosenberg on bass and Robert Shy on drums, along with many others. BTBB has been featured as “CD of the Month" on Chicago's jazz radio station WDCB. “This delightful ...

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Recording

Solitaire's New Record "Born to be Blue" Will Be Released This Spring

Solitaire's New Record "Born to be Blue" Will Be Released This Spring

Source: Michael Ricci

Solitaire Miles and Willie Pickens are releasing a new album “Born to Be Blue" this Spring in Chicago. “For Born To Be Blue, Solitaire utilized some of Chicago's top musicians, all of whom have the flexibility to sound at home in a swing combo. One particular joy of this CD is hearing a lot of fresh material, vintage songs that deserve to be revived. “Born To Be Blue" is one of Mel Torme's best originals while “You've Got to Crawl ...

"Vocalist Solitaire Miles sings with warm highs and holds her lows neatly. There's a jazziness about Miles's phrasing, but she holds fast to a sound reminiscent of roadside bars where just three people are left near closing at the pinball machine.” - Wall Street Journal

"Susie Blue and the Lonesome Fellas includes some of the best Jazz and Roots players and Miles adds a lively vocal style that brings to mind a winning blend of Patsy Cline and Billie Holiday. " - DownBeat Magazine

​​"Miles' voice is wonderful, what an instrument." - Michael Feldman, NPR

​"Susie Blue and the Lonesome Fellas takes you back to the days of Kay Starr, with the husky voice of Solitaire Miles along with Chicago's best jazz and blues musicians. They get the crowd on the floor with syncopated honky tonking. Miles is a joy and you feel like you’re listening to tunes at the juke box on the counter alongside your hash browns. This band takes you to a place you want to be." - George W Harris, Jazz Weekly

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Tenderly

From: Melancholy Lullaby
By Solitaire Miles

Baltimore Oriole

From: Born to Be Blue
By Solitaire Miles

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