Results for "jazz vocals"

Greg Little & Renderglow

RENDERGLOW is a dynamic, interactive musical group based out of Orlando, Florida that combines elements of funk, pop, reggae, latin, jazz and dance into an intoxicating brew that is funky and fresh. Founder Greg Little plays trumpet, sings and incorporates the rare EVI. (Electric Valve Instrument) Renderglow has built a compelling new sound. Since 2012, they have played to enthusiastic crowds at clubs, festivals and corporate gigs.

Shane Hampsheir

Born: April 29, 1988

Shane Hampsheir is recognised within the music industry as both a very talented jazz/swing singer and a versatile and accomplished performer. As a professional singer, Shane has performed a number of highly acclaimed one-man shows in jazz clubs and theatres in the UK and Europe and is widely regarded as one of the country’s top swing singers and is in constant demand with many big bands and orchestras including the Ronnie Scott’s Jazz Orchestra.

Shane was asked by Universal Records to record Michael Bublé’s hit single ‘Home’ for the compilation album ‘You Raise Me Up – 2008’. In March 2009, the recording was re-released as the title track on a double CD featuring such artists as Katherine Jenkins, Hayley Westenra, Russell Watson, Louis Armstrong, Boyzone, Lesley Garrett, Girls Aloud, Jamie Cullum and many more. Since then, Shane’s version of ‘Home’ has appeared on 6 top 10 albums World-wide, with more of the biggest stars in the music world.

Anna Einarsson

MaryLynn Gillaspie

Born: February 1

MaryLynn was a founding member of the Grammy nominated vocal jazz group, Rare Silk.The group got their start in Boulder, CO. Their very first album, New Weave flew to the top of the Billboard Jazz charts and received 2 Grammy nominations. MaryLynn and the group toured the world singing in the US, Europe and Japan.Rare Silk received acclaim working alongside artists such as Miles Davis, Branford Marsalis, Dizzy Gillespie, Benny Goodman, and as an opening act for Spyro Gyra and BB King. Their touring took them to some of the best venues in the country - The Playboy Jazz Festival at the Hollywood Bowl, Carnegie Hall, Jacksonville Jazz Festival, Blues Alley in DC, New York Jazz clubs, and Boston Globe Jazz Festival, to name a few. Her experience working within this environment gives MaryLynn a rich history in the Jazz idiom.

Mirna Bogdanovic

Award-winning singer & composer Mirna Bogdanovic is creating a blend of experimental sounds with jazz influenced vocals, effects and beats. With tireless curiosity, she explores the possibilities of harmony, combining the voice with acoustic and electronic soundscapes. The universe of Berlin-based artist Mirna Bogdanovic, invites the listeners into a warped world coated with jazz and avant-pop.

Bogdanović studied classical piano and jazz vocals at various music Colleges around Europe and finished her degree at the Jazz Institut Berlin (2017). At the time of her studies she won the Downbeat Student Award and was part of the National Youth Big Band (BuJazzo).

Ester Andújar Rico

Born: June 29, 1976

singer, composer, arranger, teacher Ester holds a Master in Music Performance and Research by the VIU (International University of Valencia) and a Degree in Jazz Performance from the Conservatory of Navarra. Courses of different vocal techniques (Estil Voice Training, The complete vocal technique).Jazz singing lessons with Sheila Jordan, Miles Griffith (Manhattan School of Music), Bob Stoloff, Carme Canela, among others. In December 1995 she began singing in Valencian clubs, that same year she won the award for “Best Vocalist” in the Valencia Jazz Club contest “Black Note '95”. She has attended seminars and master-classes with Mike Mossman, Astrid Krone, Carme Canela, Mario Rossi, Kurt Rossenwinkwel, etc? In 1996 she decided to dedicate herself professionally to music, performing all over Spain with her own group “Ester Andujar Group” or with outstanding groups and soloists such as: Dr. Lonnie Smith, Idris Muhamad, Jorge Pardo, Ximo Tebar, Sam Yahel, Carles Benavent, Dennis Rowland, Ramón Cardo, Sedaví Big Band, etc. In 1998 he began to work with Ximo Tebar's band, performing in the most important jazz clubs and festivals in the country, such as the Barcelona Jazz Festival, Madrid Jazz Festival, Valencia July Fair, Seville Jazz Festival, Jamboree Jazz Club, Clamores, etc. In 1999 he toured Spain as a quartet with New York organist Sam Yahel, and also collaborated in the recording of the new albums of the Nova Dixieland Band and the Sedajazz Latin Jazz Big Band. In 2000 she toured Latin America performing at the International Festivals of Havana (Cuba) and La Plata (Argentina). Also in 2000 she was elected President of the Valencian Association of Jazz Musicians (PROMUSICS). In 2001 she returned to the city of Buenos Aires for a concert tour and to give a series of intensive courses in interpretative singing at the UEM school in La Plata. He won the “Best Voice 2001” award from the Valencian Association of Jazz and Creative Music (PROMÚSICS). In November 2001, Branford Marsallis invited her to sing on his tour in Spain while she was working as his tour manager. In 2002, she attended the International Jazz Seminar in Zarautz where she studied vocal improvisation techniques with Bob Stoloff (Berkley School of Music) and participated in Benny Golson's Master Class, performing in the closing concert with Albert Bover and Iñaki Salvador. In November 2002 she released her first album as a leader entitled “Tristeza de Amar” (Omix Records). In this recording she is accompanied by Albert Sanz, Pere Loewe and Esteve Pi and counts with the collaborations as soloists of Joan Soler, Carlos Martín and Ximo Tebar. Tristeza de Amar has been highlighted by the magazine Todas las Novedades as one of the five best Spanish jazz albums of 2002, nominated for “Best Album” in the II Edition of the Valencian Jazz Awards Promusics 2002 and highlighted in the magazine “Cuadernos de Jazz” with a rating of four stars. In this edition of the Promusics Awards he has received the BEST VOICE Award 2002. He has participated in records of “La Nova Dixieland”. In 2003 she teaches in several Valencian schools and records an album with the group “Dona'm Jazz”. In 2005 he released his second solo album, “Celebrating Cole Porter”, recorded in NY with musicians such as Ben Street, Helen Sung, Rob Bargad, Peter Bernstein, J.D. Walter, Adam Cruz and Ximo Tébar and arrangers such as Jorge Pardo, Polo Ortí and Ricardo Belda. That same year she was a finalist in the 7th International Soloist Competition in Monaco, organized by the “Academie de Musique Fondation Prince Rainier III”, being also the first singer in the history of the competition. Participates in the “Shure Montreux Jazz Voice Competition”, within the framework of the Montreux Jazz Festival, where she was FINALIST AND SPECIAL PRIZE OF THE PRESIDENT OF THE JURY (President of the Jury: BARBARA HENDRICKS, Member of Honor: RANDY CRAWFORD) (07/05). She participated in the annual conference of the IAJE (International Association of Jazz Educators) in New York, in January 2006, presenting in concert her new album, “Celebrating Cole Porter”, accompanied by Ricardo Belda, César Giner and Donald Edwards. Also this year, she has presented her album in Argentina, starting her tour in Buenos Aires, within the Jazzology Cycle (Centro Cultural General San Martín) and continuing in La Plata and Mar del Plata Jazz Festival. She has filled the Teatro “El Musical” in Valencia with the presentation of her album and received numerous applause from critics and audiences with her album and live performance. She has been selected semi-finalist for the second consecutive year in the “Montreux Jazz Voice Competition” and chosen as representative of her generation by the magazine “Interviú” for the celebration of her 30th birthday in the article “Triunfadores a los 30”. In 2007, she has collaborated in the albums of Ricardo Belda (El Principio) and Jerez Texas (Patchwork), and has been invited by the Europa Jazz Festival, in Bucharest, where she toured presenting Celebrating Cole Porter. In May 2007, she attended the Europa Jazz Festival in Bucharest, where she was invited for the second consecutive year, this year to play with her trio format, “Tres por el Jazz”. In December 2008 she released her third album, ¨Páginas Preciosas¨, based on her own compositions sung in Spanish and Valencian, where all her musical influences converge, from Brazilian music to jazz, soul or funk, together with Donald Edwards (drums), César Giner (bass), Ximo Tébar (guitars), Edmundo Carneiro (percussion) and Stephan Braun (cello). She studied for a semester at the Berklee School of Music in Boston between 2009-2010, with a scholarship from this institution and the SGAE. She has presented her latest album in Spain, Lebanon, Jordan, Morocco and other parts of the world, invited by the Cervantes Institute to present ¨Páginas Preciosas¨.

Paul Vornhagen

Born: August 18, 1950

Paul performs on saxophones, flute, piccolo, clarinet and vocals with styles reminiscent of Stan Getz, Dexter Gordon, Herbie Mann, Hubert Laws and Chet Baker (vocals). Based in Ann Arbor, he has released numerous recordings as a bandleader for several labels including Schoolkids, BOPO, PKO, Inner Light and Global Pulse.  His Quartet performs throughout Michigan and northern Ohio on a monthly basis as well as touring in California and the Chicago area.  His latest Quartet recording was released on February 3, 2025 on Global Pulse Records entitled Paul Vornhagen-Live at the Blue LLama to NPR and Internet Programs.  

Sharada Shashidhar

Los Angeles-based vocalist, composer, and producer Sharada Shashidhar has a deep awareness of the cosmos. There’s a distinct tug-of-war in her music, an understanding that scanning the heavens to answer existential queries isn’t quite enough; there are internal depths to plumb as well. Shashidhar’s first album, 2020’s Rahu, found her voice billowing out of smoky, post-beat-scene soundscapes, meditating on the collective unconscious and the energy exchange between all living things. Her newest work, Soft Echoes, is a bold step forward, eschewing her previous work’s hip-hop tilt for expansive compositions that blend jazz and Indian classical influences into a swirling, spiritual whole.

Though she has an extensive resume as a collaborator in LA’s experimental jazz scene, notching work with the likes of Carlos Niño, Zeroh, and the Pan Afrikan Peoples Arkestra, Soft Echoes marks Shashidhar’s first outing as a bandleader. Gathering an ensemble that includes Anna Butters on bass, Julian Rodriguez on keys, Devin Daniels on saxophone, and Timothy Angulo on drums, Shashidhar sought to create a band that ostensibly functioned as an extension of herself. Her primary goals in writing these songs were to “let [her] body do what it wanted to do,” to trust her intuition, and “play without judgment.” Through that process, making Soft Echoes became a practice of presence and exploration, a chance to unlearn rigid structures and rediscover the joy of creating for oneself.

Recording took place over three brief, distinct sessions at Altamira Sound in Alhambra, California. Though the full band wasn’t ever present at the same time, Soft Echoes sounds like the work of a group in complete, mind-meld focus. Splashy drums nudge up against skronkingsaxophone on “Canyon Song,” while mushrooming synth tones stack up behind rippling Rhodes piano on “Luckiest.” Shashidhar’s elegant voice is the anchor for each of these tracks, sometimes gracefully stretching between instruments like a lithe dancer’s limbs, other times scattering through psychedelic delay.

She describes the album as having “two poles,” illustrated by the whimsical, buoyant opener “Soft Echoes” and the darker, more anxiety-ridden closer, “New Echoes.” The songs in between may come from different emotional spaces, but “it’s all really reflective,” she explains. The album can play like a loop, with Shashidhar entering a portal “into the endlessness” during “New Echoes,” only to be transported back to the beginning, full of gratitude and pondering “how strange it is to be alive.” On Soft Echoes, Shashidhar leads us on a journey through her mind, traversing its peaks and canyons in search of greater connection. “I want to take people places,” she says, pausing thoughtfully. “I can’t always guarantee that they’re good places, [but] hopefully you’ll feel something.”

Silva & Steini

Active since: 2020

The debut album from Icelandic duo Silva & Steini, More Than You Know is proof of the pure magic in truly inspired song interpretation. Over the course of eight spellbinding tracks, Reykjavík-based musicians Silva Thordardottir and Steingrímur Teague reimagine a lovingly curated collection of jazz standards, presenting each in a gorgeously sparse arrangement that often finds their vocals solely accompanied by the warm and dreamlike tones of Wurlitzer or the muted sounds of a felted piano. A delicate convergence of their distinct sensibilities—the gracefully understated approach to jazz singing Silva first revealed on her 2019 full-length debut, the inventive yet elegant musicianship Steini has showcased as a member of globally beloved band Moses Hightower and as a touring/recording keyboardist for indie-folk powerhouse Of Monsters and Men—More Than You Know ultimately lends a sublimely new vitality to its selected songs (some nearly a century-old). The result: a lovely and luminous body of work, both timeless and quietly forward-thinking.

Kris Adams