Renée Yoxon

“Totally charming this Woman in Music is a young jazz singer with a promising career.” – Urszula Muntean, ulamuntean.com

“Something interesting has happened in one corner of North American popular music: the rise of a new generation of female jazz singers. … They are dynamic leaders, consummate interpreters of classic tunes, composers of original songs, fearless risk-takers and part of chamber ensembles populated by high-caliber players. …Who am I talking about? Here’s my incomplete list: Madeleine Peyroux, Melody Gardot, Cecile McLorin Salvant, Charenee Wade, Esperanza Spaulding, Rene Marie, Becca Stevens and Kat Edmonson. There are many others: the Canadians K.D. Lang, Sarah McLachlan, Diana Krall, Emilie-Claire Barlow, Jill Barber and Renee Yoxon; Americans Lucinda Williams, Nora Jones and Lizz Wright. And then there are the country-folk singers, who also have mastered their banjos, guitars and mandolins, such as Sierra Hull, Sarah Jarosz and Abigail Washburn.” – Adam Parker, The Post and Courier

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“Totally charming this Woman in Music is a young jazz singer with a promising career.” – Urszula Muntean, ulamuntean.com

“Something interesting has happened in one corner of North American popular music: the rise of a new generation of female jazz singers. … They are dynamic leaders, consummate interpreters of classic tunes, composers of original songs, fearless risk-takers and part of chamber ensembles populated by high-caliber players. …Who am I talking about? Here’s my incomplete list: Madeleine Peyroux, Melody Gardot, Cecile McLorin Salvant, Charenee Wade, Esperanza Spaulding, Rene Marie, Becca Stevens and Kat Edmonson. There are many others: the Canadians K.D. Lang, Sarah McLachlan, Diana Krall, Emilie-Claire Barlow, Jill Barber and Renee Yoxon; Americans Lucinda Williams, Nora Jones and Lizz Wright. And then there are the country-folk singers, who also have mastered their banjos, guitars and mandolins, such as Sierra Hull, Sarah Jarosz and Abigail Washburn.” – Adam Parker, The Post and Courier

“[Renée’s] conversational writing style is a perfect fit for her supple voice and warm tone.” – James Hale, 5 new female jazz singers you should here on music.cbc.ca

“The young, Montreal-based, Ottawa-raised singer is progressing nicely. She meshed well with two veteran Montreal accompanists, pianist Jeff Johnston and bassist Fraser Hollins, and impressed me with the spin she put on some well-chosen standards.” – Peter Hum, jazzblog.ca

“Renée is a storyteller unafraid to explore every inch of the human condition.” – Curtis Perry, Ottawa Tonite

“She has an indie voice and rock star glam but this lady is all about jazz!” – Chaka V., Winehouse Mag

“Intimate may best describe [Here We Go Again]. Yoxon’s writing and voice are clearly out there with no net. Even on the more up-tempo ‘Just As We Are,’ Yoxon sings as if telling a humorous secret.” – C. Michael Bailey, all about jazz

“In songs like ‘There’s Only You’, ‘Have We Been In Love Before?’ and the passionate ‘Drinking Coffee’, you hear someone who sings from personal experience, as if each song is a small note meant to be put up on the wall before its adhesiveness fades and becomes another not-so-distant memory” – John Book, This Is Book’s Music

“Ms Yoxon has a fine voice – intense and full of clarity and resolve. This is matched by Mr Ferguson’s piano and trombone and together they have certainly created something very special as a debut album.” – John Peters, The Borderland

“Something [from Here We Go Again] may enter the Great American Songbook, maybe more than one.” – Brian Arsenault, The International Review of Music

You’ll find Yoxon’s no-nonsense, unaffected delivery mighty refreshing. She’s a fearsomely talented lyricist, starting with the usual romantic themes (“Have We Been In Love Before?”) but picking at the surfaces until the embarrassingly human need is mercilessly exposed (“Don’t Go”).Her best songs are so cleverly constructed, yet so gut- wrenchingly honest they beggar my powers of description (“Drinking Coffee” and “Canary,” my two favorites). Mark Ferguson and the rest of the combo need no such lengthy explanation: they’re a piano-led jazz quartet with occasional horn solos, with a sensitive, delicate touch… So nobody here will offend you, but the one who’ll reach out and grab your lapels (in the calmest possible way) is Yoxon.” – D. Wilson, Wilson & Alroy Record Reviews

“Renee Yoxon & Mark Ferguson are terrific, she has a great voice and instrumentalists are top-notch.” – Peter Kuller, Radio Adelaide Australia

“Yoxon shows promise as a songwriter and interpreter of lyrics…” – Debra M., bebop spoken here

“A collection of original jazz compositions that explore the themes of love and loss, Here We Go Again has torch song clarity with fissures of folk, blues, and Judy Garland-tinged soul.” – Susan Frances, Yahoo! Voices

“Canada should consider listing vocal jazz as one of their leading exports with the first collaborative work by Renee Yoxon and Mark Ferguson leading the way.” – Brent Black, @CriticalJazz

“One of the hardest working jazzbos in Ottawa, Yoxon flexes her jazz wings a little farther afield than on her past recording by going all original with a cabaret vibe underpinning it all. A vocal date that has art chick written all over it, it’s a nice dose of sophisticated cocktail music for a pomo world.” – Chris Spector, Midwest Record

“Ms. Yoxon demonstrates talent as a singer, composer and lyricist worthy of recognition far beyond her native Ottawa.” – Doug Boynton, girlsingers.co.uk

“As a lyricist, Yoxon writes about love gained and lost, the 25-year-old seeming like a voice of experience despite her youth. As a singer, she interprets her own words with verve and poise. She’s deeply invested in what she sings, even as the stylistic and emotional ground beneath her shifts.” – Peter Hum, jazzblog.ca

“Ottawa singer Renée Yoxon … is someone who is tireless when it comes to getting jazz out there into the world. She’s endlessly creative as a lyricist, jazz singer, bandleader, recording artist and physicist. Yes, Yoxon has a degree in physics and she demonstrates her physics prowess in her music career through Newton’s laws of motion. In other words, Yoxon makes her career move with constant energy, enthusiasm and talent.” – Tim Tamashiro, CBC

“Renee has been forging her own style of singing and more recently songwriting… both of which have unremarkable focus, and she teams up with the well established, lush, and recognizable pianist Mark Ferguson.” – Petr Cancura, In The Pocket

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