Results for "Vocalist"

Junior Parker

Born: March 27, 1932

Junior Parker was one of the premier singers of his time and had a considerable following on the black club circuit, but in working and recording almost exclusively for that market, he remained virtually invisible to the new blues audience of the ‘60’s. The versatile Parker may have been tagged as a blues artist, but was equally at home across the R&B spectrum, and even covered some early soul. Herman Parker Jr. was born in West Memphis, Arkansas on March 27, 1932, to a farming family situated near enough to West Memphis for Little Junior (who had started singing in church) to involve himself in the local music scene at an early age

Jackie Paris

Born: September 20, 1924

Anyone can appreciate Jackie without having to be a music fanatic, a "jazz head" or without knowing anything about Jackie's life. However, his story is a remarkable part of the history of jazz. He toured with and performed with the Charlie Parker Quintet which included Miles Davis, Max Roach, Duke Jordan and Tommy Potter. Jackie introduced the first vocal recording of Thelonious Monk's classic standard "Round Midnight". He was one of Charles Mingus' favorite singers, and was the first vocal artist on Mingus' label Debut, recording "Portrait" and "Paris in Blue", which Mingus wrote for him. He toured and performed with the Lionel Hampton Big Band for two years, where he was billed as "The Voice"

Joanie Pallatto

Born: July 17, 1954

Described by Rick Kogan of the Chicago Tribune as having "a stirring and special voice," Singer-Songwriter Joanie Pallatto has a history of 43 years as one of Chicago's leading studio voices, an independent artist with 17 albums as a leader/co-leader, and Southport Records co-chair responsible for 100's of recordings of otherwise little-documented local musical artists (Willie Pickens, Von Freeman, George Freeman, King Fleming, Bobby Lewis, Fred Anderson...)

Joanie Pallatto is a graduate of The University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music (CCM.) Pallatto toured with The Glenn Miller Orchestra as a featured vocalist before moving to Chicago in 1979. Co-owner and partner with pianist/composer and husband, Bradley Parker-Sparrow at Sparrow Sound Design Recording Studio and Southport Records, Pallatto has expertise in all aspects of musical production. As a studio singer and voiceover talent, she has recorded on hundreds of Radio and TV commercials, including McDonald's, United Airlines and Hamburger Helper. As a jazz vocalist, Pallatto has performed at Chicago clubs, including City Winery, The Green Mill, Venus Cabaret Theater, Andy's and New York venues Iridium Jazz Club, Pangea and Birdland. Concert engagements have included Chicago Jazz Festival, Chicago Cultural Center, The Old Town School of Folk Music, Park West, Stage 773 and Bailiwick Theater; she was also a featured soloist with Daniel Barenboim in "Ellington Among Friends" at Symphony Center in 1999.

Anita O'Day

Born: October 18, 1919

Born Anita Belle Colton in Chicago, Illinois on October 18, 1919, O’Day got her start as a teen. She eventually changed her name to O’Day and in the late 1930’s began singing in a jazz club called the Off-Beat, a popular hangout for musicians like band leader and drummer Gene Krupa. In 1941 she joined Krupa’s band, and a few weeks later Krupa hired trumpeter Roy Eldridge. O’Day and Eldridge had great chemistry on stage and their duet Let Me Off Uptown became a million-dollar-seller, boosting the popularity of the Krupa band. Also that year, “Down Beat” magazine named O’Day “New Star of the Year” and, in 1942, she was selected as one of the top five big band singers.

New York Voices

Born: 1989

New York Voices “It’s certainly not something that occurred to us when we were thinking about starting a band in 1988,” says Darmon Meader, musical director and tenor singer of New York Voices, about the seminal vocal ensemble’s 30th anniversary. “But the band has a momentum of its own—it has a life now.” Indeed, that momentum and life force has a firm grip on Meader and his bandmates, baritone Peter Eldridge and dual sopranos Lauren Kinhan and Kim Nazarian. Each has a separate and busy career of his or her own, working as a soloist and educator in the jazz vocal world, but each makes New York Voices their top priority

Aaron Neville

Stephanie Nakasian

Stephanie Nakasian is an exciting, well-seasoned vocalist and master of innovative jazz improvisation, completely authentic with a fresh and vibrant sound all her own. Bringing high energy to every performance, Stephanie enthralls listeners with her pure tones and a flawless delivery, engaging them on a personal level with a love for the music that is playful, electric and spontaneous in story and song. Then & Now: Stephanie came to international attention in the mid-80s when she sang and toured with the vocal jazz master Jon Hendricks and Company – what she considers her “vocal jazz apprenticeship.” She continues to tour and record as a vocal leader. Recordings: An active and prolific recording artist, Stephanie's debut CD “Comin’Alive” (V.S.O.P.) featuring legendary saxophonist Phil Woods received four stars from critic Leonard Feather

Mark Murphy

Born: March 14, 1932

The following is based on the book This is Hip: the Life of Mark Murphy by {{m: Peter Jones = 58082}} (Equinox Publishing, 2018). All rights reserved. In the opinion of many, {{m: Mark Murphy = 9692}} was the greatest jazz singer who ever lived. Quite a statement, but one that can be made to stand up pretty well in court. There have, of course, been more successful jazz singers; certainly more popular jazz singers. But not one of them has possessed the sheer range of abilities that Murphy was blessed with. He had a natural “instrument” at his disposal, a rich, masculine tone that could shape any jazz standard as beautifully as you were ever likely to hear it

Ella Mae Morse

Born: September 12, 1924

Ella Mae Morse was one of the most exciting vocalists of the ‘40s and ‘50s, a hard-to-classify, Texas-born white singer whose vocals were deeply influenced by her apprenticeship with a black guitarist who taught her the blues. Her style defied characterization, as it embraced boogie-woogie, blues, jazz, swing, country and at times came remarkably close to what would be known as rock & roll. Ella Mae Morse was born in Mansfield, Texas on Sept. 12, 1924, the daughter of a drummer-father and a pianist- mother. After singing in her father's jazz combo,when she wasn't yet 14,she had her first taste of the big time, when Jimmy Dorsey's band came to Dallas for a stay at the Adolphus Hotel and she called for an audition.Believing that Morse was indeed 19, as she and her mother claimed, Dorsey hired her

Beny Moré

Born: August 24, 1919

Beny Moré - Afro-Cuban Singer Beny Moré embodies the best of Cuban music, its rhythm, its soul, its humor, and its joy. He is the greatest singer ever to emerge from Cuba, and is regarded as the benchmark for all Cuban soneros. 

One of nineteen children, Bartolomé Maximiliano Moré, was born on August 24, 1919 in a poor neighborhood named Pueblo Nuevo, in the town of Santa Isabel de las Lajas in the province of Las Villas. He was an extroverted illiterate, always showing the charisma that would accompany him throughout his life, and he was happy in spite of the abject poverty in which he grew up. It was all he knew.