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Adrianne Duncan

Pianist, singer, songwriter and composer Adrianne Duncan has been making music since the age of six. The daughter of renowned classical guitarist Charles Duncan (author of The Art of Classical Guitar Playing), she honed her classical piano skills through private study, master classes with such luminaries as Murray Perahia, Leon Fleisher, Emanuel Ax and Ruth Laredo, and summers spent at such institutions as Tanglewood and Brevard Music Centers. Adrianne attended Northwestern University on a music scholarship and is the winner of numerous piano competitions and awards. She has performed in multiple capacities: as a solo artist, in a duo, as an accompanist for individual musicians and musical theatre productions, with chamber groups, in jazz ensembles and as a soloist with symphony orchestra. Now based in Los Angeles, Adrianne has performed in venues in the United States and internationally. She has performed and recorded with some of LA’s most noted musicians, including the Grammy-nominated Lado B Brazilian Project, with whom she toured Brazil on keyboards and vocals. She has played and sung on numerous recordings (including The Jazz Chamber with legendary multireedist Bennie Maupin) and was the musical director of the new musical Twins for its premiere in Berlin. Also a producer and arranger, her projects include albums for actor-singers Jacqueline Emerson (The Hunger Games) and Larry Wolf (Pound, Putney Swope). Her piano playing can be heard on film soundtracks including The Chameleon and The Young Kieslowski, as well as the short films Impact! The Musical and Na Na Na (Na), which screened at Britain’s Kindfest 2020 to an audience of over 50,000 viewers. In addition to her own project, Adrianne performs regularly with her seven-person vocal improvisation collective Fish To Birds at such Los Angeles venues as the Blue Whale, Catalina Jazz Club, REDCAT at Disney Hall and the Skirball Cultural Center. She also has an extensive acting background and has appeared in numerous plays, films, commercials and television shows, including starring opposite venerable character actor Seymour Cassel in the thriller The Chameleon. She will appear in a documentary and a feature film in 2021, both currently in post- production. She was the founder and producer of LA Modern Jazz Series, a concert series featuring world-class creative jazz musicians. Adrianne's album Gemini releases September 24, 2021.

Awards

National Merit Scholar, Northwestern University; music and academic scholarship recipient, Northwestern University; scholarship recipient, Tanglewood, Brevard and Southeastern Music Centers; Atlanta Symphony Youth Orchestra Concerto Competition winner; Atlanta Music Teachers Association competition winner (multiple years); Georgia Music Teachers Association competition winner (multiple years); Music Teachers National Association competition finalist (multiple years); winner of numerous other piano competitions


Tags

25
Album Review

Adrianne Duncan: Gemini

Read "Gemini" reviewed by Dan McClenaghan


It started out for Adrianne Duncan with classical piano. Then—as it happens so often—she fell in with a jazz crowd. On her Gemini, the vocalist/pianist/composer proves herself an adept and compelling artist in the jazz genre, one who isn't afraid to take some chances. And she has a way with words, penning lyrics in an off-the-beaten-path style on three of her songs—one offering is an instrumental—while throwing in Sting's “Roxanne" as a closer, a familiar tune than isn't initially recognizable, ...

2
Album Review

Cathy Segal-Garcia: The Jazz Chamber

Read "The Jazz Chamber" reviewed by Jerome Wilson


On this album, Cathy Segal-Garcia, a vocalist and educator on the Los Angeles jazz scene, comes up with something special, working with a chamber orchestra and a group of jazz musicians to produce a wide-ranging program that veers from lush romanticism to complex jazz-funk. On much of the disc, Segal-Garcia's thick, classically formal voice, combined with a full string section, presents a lilting hybrid of jazz and light classical music. On first hearing it sounds a bit too ...

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7

Recording

Los Angeles-Based Pianist, Vocalist And Composer Adrianne Duncan Offers Songs Beautiful And Broad In Scope, Leading A Top-Shelf Ensemble On New Album 'Gemini'

Los Angeles-Based Pianist, Vocalist And Composer Adrianne Duncan Offers Songs Beautiful And Broad In Scope, Leading A Top-Shelf Ensemble On New Album 'Gemini'

Source: Two for the Show Media

In honing her own creative voice as a jazz pianist, singer and songwriter, Adrianne Duncan also discovered the ideal way to present it: with the devoted group of musicians and friends heard on her inspired recording Gemini. The versatile rhythm section features Duncan on piano with Dan Lutz on acoustic and electric bass and Jimmy Branly, who mixed the album, on drums. Vibraphonist Nick Mancini achieves a beautiful blend with Duncan’s instrument, serving the multifaceted songs with his fine touch ...

“With her gorgeous vocals and improvisational ability, Adrianne Duncan alternately moved and wowed the crowd.” — Chicago Reader “Adrianne Duncan, with her powerful voice, was to my mind the standout performer of the evening.” — Chicago Windy City Times “Her poised and supple delivery indicated that a substantial talent has begun to blossom.” — Atlanta Journal-Constitution “Supremely confident.” — Chicago Sun-Times “A charming performer with passion and a beautiful, strong voice. . . . The crowd loved it.” — LA Jazz Scene “Her intelligent structures left substantial room for improvisation

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Photos

Music

Recordings: As Leader | As Sideperson

Gemini

LA Modern Jazz Series
2021

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Mood Swings

Whole Big Productions
2019

buy

The Jazz Chamber

Dash Hoffman Records
2018

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The Past Lives of...

Whole Big Productions
2016

buy

Lado B Brazilian...

Self Produced
2015

buy

Roxanne

From: Gemini
By Adrianne Duncan

Gemini

From: Gemini
By Adrianne Duncan

Videos

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