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Bianca Morales

About Me

NEWS! New CD “When in Rome” with Bianca Morales, UMO Jazz Orchestra and Beem Jazz Combo was released in Finland on January the 17th in 2007.

You can now buy the European edition of the CD from CD Baby: http://cdbaby.com/cd/biancamorales

Bianca Morales – half Afro-Cuban, half Finnish – is a renowned recording and performing jazz vocalist and composer. At the age of 14, she had already started her jazz career, both singing and recording with Grani Big Band. Bianca was well-established by the age of 18 after winning MTV 3's (one of Finland's main national TV channels) Spring Tune Contest in 1984 with an original composition that she co-wrote, a reggae tune titled “Our Party.”

Bianca continues to be a full-time jazz performer continuing a busy performance schedule, both in Finland and many other countries around the world including the U.S. As she spends increasingly more time in her second home in Los Angeles, her local fan base is growing rapidly.

The highlight of 2007 is the official debut and release party of Bianca's new CD “When in Rome”, recorded with Europe's premier jazz orchestra, UMO Jazz Orchestra and the Beem Jazz Combo. The UMO Jazz Orchestra is nowadays regarded as one of the Europe's leading big bands. It has made numerous concert tours including a great European tour with Natalie Cole and The Manhattan Transfer. They've performed with conductors and soloists such as legendary jazz artists Dizzy Gillespie, Gil Evans, Joe Williams and Michael Brecker. The Beem Jazz Combo features leading Finnish jazz musicians and from the USA composer, saxophonist Larry Price.

A love letter to Rome, “When in Rome” is full of swinging, rhythmic, romantic and whimsical original compositions by Bianca and her writing partner, Maria Parr, with some music composed by American composer/musician Larry Price and by Finnish composer/musician Klaus Roos. The English lyrics, based on Maria's original Finnish lyrics, are written by Judy Lamppu, a native Los Angelino. This CD is a tribute to the great jazz classics of the fifties and sixties, with wonderful arrangements by Sven Nygård. The Finnish version of the second track on the album “Yleislakko” (”General Strike”) was a finalist in the jazz category in the International Songwriting Competition 2004. Branford Marsalis and Macy Gray were among the distinguished judges. “Yleislakko” got an Honorable Mention. Visit the site: http://www.songwritingcompetition.com/winners In 2005, from the same CD, “Via Veneto” made it to the Top Ten in the Latin category in the USA Songwriting Competition.

Bianca played “Lorraine” (and was also the understudy for Motormouth) in the Tony Award-winning Broadway musical HAIRSPRAY. The Finnish production of Hairspray run to rave reviews in Helsinki, Finland from the 13th of August 2005 to April the 1st 2006 at the Helsinki City Theatre (Helsingin Kaupunginteatteri). Visit the website: http://www.hkt.fi.

Bianca has been a featured artist at most of the important jazz festivals in Finland including the world famous Pori Jazz Festival. Starting 2005 for the 40th anniversary of Pori Jazz, Bianca produced the children's' program portion of the Pori Jazz Festival and she will continue in that role also in 2007. Among this year's international stars were Sting, The Neville Brothers, Carla Bley Big Band, Roberta Flack, New York Voices and Irma Thomas. Visit the archives of Pori Jazz website at http://www.porijazz.fi.