Results for "Vocalist"

Chris Connor

Born: November 8, 1927

Chris Connor has won every conceivable critical and popular accolade in her half century reign as one of the most gifted and distinctive vocalists in jazz history. Born in 1927 in Kansas City, Missouri, Connor studied clarinet, but her career direction was clear at an early age. “I always knew I wanted to be a singer,” she said, “I never wanted to be anything else.” After completing her schooling, she took a secretarial job while commuting on weekends to the University of Missouri to perform with a Stan Kenton-influenced college jazz band. An admirer of Kenton singers Anita O’Day and June Christy, Connor recalls, “I had my sights set on singing with Kenton.” Frustrated by the lack of vocal musical opportunities in her hometown, Connor pulled up stakes and headed east in 1949

Holly Cole

Born: November 25, 1963

Holly Cole is set to release her 13th studio album, ‘Dark Moon’, on January 24th. Teaming up with her long-time live performance partners, along with additional musicians to create rich harmonies and layers, this album is a true ensemble project that highlights her signature style.

Cole said, “I really wanted this album to embrace the spirit of spontaneity. At the same time a quintessential part of the sound of my music is in the arrangements. So, we did very little rehearsal in advance, and the songs were incredibly fresh for us while we were in the studio. The musicians that I play with contribute greatly to the arranging of the songs, and I wanted to hear the sound of when the light goes on for each one of us and many of the arrangements fell together as we played them. What we end up hearing on this record is the the moment when we discover what we love about the song, and what its essence is for me.”

Willie Cobbs

Born: July 15, 1932

Known for writing the blues standard “You Don’t Love Me,” Willie Cobbs steadily became one of Mississippi's great musicians with a recording career spanning over five decades. Willie Cobbs was born on July 15, 1932, outside of Smale, Arkansas. Arkansas, at that time known for its rice farming, did not appeal to Cobbs. During his childhood, he was involved in gospel music within his community. In the early fifties, Cobbs moved to Chicago where he met Little Walter, who became his mentor in blues harmonica. After four years in the National Guard from 1952-1956, he returned to Chicago in 1958 as a singer

Rosemary Clooney

Born: May 23, 1928

The distinctively unpretentious, deep, rich, and smooth voice of Rosemary Clooney earned her recognition as one of America's premiere pop and jazz singers. According to Clooney's record company press biography, Life magazine, in a tribute to America's “girl singers” named her one of “six preeminent singers ... whose performances are living displays of a precious national treasure ... their recordings a preservation of jewels.” First-class crooner Frank Sinatra stated, as was also reprinted in Clooney's press biography, “Rosemary Clooney has that great talent which exudes warmth and feeling in every song she sings

Jay Clayton

Born: October 28, 1941

Jay Clayton is an internationally acclaimed vocalist, composer, and educator, whose work boldly spans the terrain between jazz and new music. Clayton’s pioneering vocal explorations placed her at the forefront of the free jazz movement and loft scene in the 1970s, where she counted among the first singers to incorporate poetry and electronics into her improvisations. She formed a long-term association with renowned minimalist composer Steve Reich.

With more than 40 recordings to her credit, Clayton has appeared alongside such formidable artists as Muhal Richard Abrams, Kirk Nurock, Stanley Cowell, Lee Konitz, and Fred Hersch, as well as fellow vocalists Jeanne Lee, Norma Winstone, Urszula Dudziak, and Bobby McFerrin. Clayton currently records for Sunnyside and her most recent album, Brooklyn 2000, met with enthusiastic critical praise. Her many accomplishments include grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, Meet the Composer, and Chamber Music America (2004). She has worked with thousands of students in the United States and across the globe.

Otis Clay

Born: March 11, 1942

Otis Clay is one of the premier deep soul and gospel singers working today. His raw, fiery vocals drive an energetic and danceable blend of soul, R&B and Blues in the tradition of such deep soul singers as Otis Redding, Wilson Pickett and Solomon Burke. A master showman, Otis Clay stays in demand for festival and concert appearances in the U.S., Europe and Japan. Noteworthy recent appearances include headlining The 2006 Japan Blues and Soul Festival Tour, headlining the opening night and being Honorary President of The 2006 Blues Passions Festival in Cognac, France a special guest appearance at The Chicago Emmy Awards in Nov., 2006 and the 2007 Chicago Gospel Music Festival. Born in Waxhaw, Mississippi, Clay began his career in gospel singing with groups such as The Pilgrim Harmonizers, The Gospel Songbirds and the legendary Sensational Nightingales

Sharón Clark

"New and amazing . . . an absolute triumph"! — Will Friedwald, Wall Street Journal “You can’t underestimate the transformation of what seems like an ordinary song when an interpreter like Sharón Clark tears it apart and peers inside." — Stephen Holden, New York Times “A revelation . . . I never thought I'd hear a singer with the range, musicality and command of tone and timbre that was Sarah at her best, but now I have.” —JazzTimes Washington, D.C. standout Sharón Clark has brought festival and concert audiences to their feet across the globe. Her New York run drew raves from the NY Times and the Wall Street Journal, and she won New York’s Bistro Award for Best Vocalist

Soesja Citroen

Born: September 25, 1948

Soesja Citroen (singer and composer) has brought her music to Dutch and international stages for over 25 years. In recent years, she has been singing her own compositions with pianist Berend van den Berg and bassist Ruud Ouwehand. She was born in The Hague, was raised with classical music and as a teenager started to sing jazz. After completing her Master’s in social psychology, she opted for jazz and took voice and piano lessons. She has performed in many European countries, played at the Yatra Jazz Festival in India, sung in New York and toured though Indonesia. After making three LP’s with, among others, Nedly Elstak, Willem Breuker and Nico Bunink, she recorded her album Soesja Citroen Sings Thelonious Monk in 1983 with Cees Slinger

June Christy

Born: November 20, 1925

June was born as Shirley Luster on November 20, 1925 at the Memorial Hospital in Springfield, Illinois and was raised from the age of three in Decatur, Illinois; and from the beginning always wanted to sing.

She was singing with local bands when she was just 13, and later with society bands around Chicago, the big city 150 miles from Springfield, using the name Sharon Leslie. None of her family knew anything about music, so she had to persuade them to let her sing with the local home town band. The band was led by Bill Oetzel, and as Shirley Luster she sang with it for four years. Next she joined Boyd Raeburn's first great band at Chicago's new Band Box Theatre. A bout of scarlet fever meant leaving after just four months. On recovering she found work hard to come by due to the effect of a 20% amusement tax on the music business. Nevertheless a short stint followed with Benny Strong's band, and there was some club work. By 1945, demoralised by the continuing panic in the business she was ready to call it quits and return home. Then she heard that Anita O'day was leaving the Stan Kenton band. The actual details of how she met and was auditioned vary according to the source but the fact remains that she was hired on March 22nd 1945 by Kenton. June was to say later "I don't think Stan ever cared for singers really, but at that time he felt he needed one fast"

Bobby Charles

Born: March 21, 1938

Bobby Charles, born Robert Charles Guidry in Abbeville, Louisiana, was an American singer and songwriter. An ethnic Cajun, Charles grew up listening to Cajun music and the country and western music of Hank Williams, Sr. At age 15, however, he heard a performance by Fats Domino, an event that "changed my life forever," he recalled. Charles helped to pioneer the south Louisiana musical genre known as swamp pop. His compositions include the hits "See You Later, Alligator," which he initially recorded himself as "Later Alligator" but which is best known from the version by Bill Haley & His Comets, and "Walking to New Orleans", written for Fats Domino. Because of his south Louisiana-influenced rhythm and blues vocal style, Charles has often been referred to as black, when in fact he is white. On November 26th, 1976, Charles was invited to play with The Band at their farewell concert, The Last Waltz