Tag: jazz vocalist

After Hours featuring Andrea Miller, air date July 20, 2022

On By Charles BinghamIn Featured guest, VocalsLeave a comment

Join me for After Hours Alaska at 9 p.m. on Wednesday, July 20, on KRBD public radio in Ketchikan, Alaska, as I’m joined in conversation with award-winning jazz vocalist Andrea Miller.

Andrea Miller’s voice has been described as soulful, sensual, hypnotic and endearing. In 2021 and 2020 she became a Top 5 Finalist in the Sarah Vaughan International Jazz Vocal Competition. Influenced by Nancy Wilson, Sarah Vaughan and Stevie Wonder, Andrea is currently heating up the international jazz scene.

Andrea opened for the legendary Al Jarreau at many concerts before he passed including the Newport Beach Jazz Festival. She received a standing ovation and gracious compliments from Jarreau and his band and was set to tour with and open for him on his European tour, just prior to his passing.

In 2022, Andrea headlined the Punta Mita Jazz Festival and will headline San Jose Jazz Weekend, The Texas Jazz Festival and Festival de Jazz de Polanco in Mexico City. In 2020 she headlined Bemol 5 Jazz club in Lyon, France. In 2021 and 2019 Andrea headlined Jazz De Polanco Festival in Mexico City and Jazz at LACMA in Los Angeles. In 2018 she headlined the Newport Beach Jazz Party Series, and in 2017 she headlined the Utah Arts Festival, the Salt Lake City Jazz Festival and the Newport Beach Summer Jazz Series with the Tom Kubis Big Band. 

“A brilliant young singer” – Al Jarreau

Click this link to go to Andrea’s personal website. Click here to listen to a recording of her interview.

After Hours featuring Molly Johnson, air date June 22, 2022

On By Charles BinghamIn Featured guest, Philanthropist, Songwriter, VocalsLeave a comment

Join me for After Hours Alaska at 9 p.m. on Wednesday, June 22, on KRBD public radio in Ketchikan, Alaska, as I’m joined in conversation with award-winning vocalist Molly Johnson.

Molly is known as one of Canada’s greatest vocalists. She is a mother, singer-songwriter, artist and philanthropist, who has just released her highly anticipated new album, “Meaning To Tell Ya”. Produced by multiple GRAMMY Award winning producer, Larry Klein (Joni Mitchell, Tracy Chapman, Madeleine Peyroux, Melody Gardot, Norah Jones); it is more than a jazz record. It’s funk, it’s soul, it’s groove played by some of Canada’s best musicians.

Dedicated to supporting communities in need, Molly established the Kumbaya Foundation and Festival in 1992, raising awareness and funds for people living with HIV/AIDS, and continues to work with several other charitable organizations each year. Molly has been awarded the Queen’s Jubilee medal, and in 2008, was honored with becoming an Officer of The Order Of Canada (O.C.). This rare distinction was given to Molly to recognize her philanthropic work for a variety of causes and for her international contributions to the arts. In 2016, Molly launched the Kensington Market Jazz Festival, which fills this colorful and vibrant area of Toronto with over 400 local Canadian musicians, performing 150-plus shows over one weekend in September to more than 5,000 enthusiastic music fans. 

Molly was the voice of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) Radio 2 Weekend Morning program where she eased listeners into their weekend with great Canadian songs, and stories about musicians and the people of Canada, from coast to coast. The Canadian music icon’s latest release, the Juno-nominated, Because of Billie (2014) is a celebration of the music of Billie Holiday. Billie Holiday’s journey inspires Johnson not only as an artist, but as a model citizen. Paying homage to Holiday’s childhood struggles, Johnson donated a portion of album sales to the Boys & Girls Clubs.

Tune in and be inspired.

Click this link to go to Molly’s personal website.

After Hours featuring Stacey Kent, air date Feb. 16, 2022

On By Charles BinghamIn Featured guest, VocalsLeave a comment

Join me for After Hours Alaska at 9 p.m. on Wednesday, Feb. 16, on KRBD public radio in Ketchikan, Alaska, as I’m joined in conversation with vocalist Stacey Kent (this interview originally was scheduled to air on Dec. 8, 2021).

Stacey Kent is a jazz singer in the mould of the greats, with a legion of fans worldwide and a host of honors and awards, including a Grammy nomination, album sales in excess of 2 million, platinum, double-gold and gold-selling albums that have reached a series of No. 1 chart positions during the span of her career.

Her album, I Know I Dream: The Orchestral Sessions (Sony) has had more than 40 million streams, won ‘Album of the Year’ in the vocal category at the 2018 Jazz Japan Awards, and received glowing reviews, including a coveted five stars in Downbeat, and was described by All About Jazz as “intoxicating understatement at its finest…one more jewel in a discography with many, it’s one that deserves singling out for its luster.”

This comparative literature graduate with a passion for music travelled to Europe to further her studies, and after receiving her degree from Sarah Lawrence College in New York, through a series of twists of fate, she found herself in London where she enrolled in a graduate music program at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, and where she met her future husband and musical partner, Jim Tomlinson.

Click this link to go to Stacey’s personal website.

After Hours featuring Leslie Page, air date Feb. 9, 2022

On By Charles BinghamIn Featured guest, Songwriter, VocalsLeave a comment

Join me for After Hours Alaska at 9 p.m. on Wednesday, Feb. 9, on KRBD public radio in Ketchikan, Alaska, as I’m joined in conversation with jazz vocalist Leslie Page.

Leslie is a singer/songwriter and resident of sunny Southern California. She is an incredible vocal force with unique life experiences that resonate in the timbre of her rich and sultry tone. Her career as a live performance vocalist, studio session singer and touring background vocalist spans with more than 20 years of experience.

Leslie has shared the stage with an ongoing list of world class musicians and entertainers including Joe Walsh, Ringo Starr, Keith Urban, Vince Gill, Billy Gibbons, Rick Springfield, Zack Brown Band, Gary Clark Jr, Hunter Hayes, Brad Paisley, Luke Bryan, Peaches and Herb, Richard Marx and many more. Her vocals have been featured on numerous television/film/commercial recordings and album projects. In July 2019, Leslie released her first jazz album, Heart Songs, produced by Tony Guerrero, featuring some original music as well as covers of some of her favorite jazz tunes.

She has been described as a pro’s pro, having one of the finest and most adaptable voices you’ll ever hear and has been dubbed by producers as the “one take wonder”. Leslie is a woman who sings from the depths of her soul, with great tune and skill. She is truly a master of her instrument.

Click this link to go to Leslie’s personal website.

After Hours featuring Halie Loren, air date Jan. 26, 2022

On By Charles BinghamIn composer, Featured guest, Songwriter, VocalsLeave a comment

Join me for After Hours Alaska at 9 p.m. on Wednesday, Jan. 26, on KRBD public radio in Ketchikan, Alaska, as I’m joined in conversation with jazz vocalist and former Alaskan Halie Loren.

Halie is an international, award-winning jazz singer/songwriter. This Oregon-based artist brings a fresh and original perspective to time-honored musical paths, channeling her innate understanding of connectedness across musical boundaries to forge bonds with diverse audiences in North America, Asia, and Europe.

Nature, and the natural world, has always featured significantly in Loren’s songwriting. As a child growing up in Alaska, and then as an adult in the Pacific Northwest, her wonder and gratitude for the gifts of the great outdoors have inspired a reverence and communion she brings forth in song.

Halie’s began her career as something of a prodigy at age 13, when she won a songwriting contest, gaining national attention. Before she was 19, she did a stint in Nashville, soaking up that city’s ancestry of great American songwriting. She recorded her first album at 20, and from there she was off and running, recording successive albums that garnered awards, Billboard recognition and an international following that has sent her touring around the globe, including stops in Korea, Africa, Japan, Canada and the Caribbean, to name a few locations. Her records regularly make “best of” lists, and her sublime talents as a vocalist are attested to by several albums hitting the No. 1 slot on Canadian and Japanese jazz charts.

Considering such success, it would have been understandable for Loren to toe the line and stick to the known path with her new album, From the Wild Sky. Instead she chose to take a leap of faith, forging ahead with a vision that encompassed the full complement of her compositional talents. Funding her latest efforts through fan pledges to a Kickstarter campaign, she teamed up with producer Troy Miller (Gregory Porter, Laura Mvula, Jamie Cullum) and a handful of all-star musicians, including Femi Temowo, Ben Williams, Michael Olatuja, Nathan Schram, Andrew Yee, and Becca Stevens (featured on the track “Wild Birds”).

Click this link to go to Halie’s personal website.

After Hours featuring Jackie Ryan, air date Sept. 14, 2020

On By Charles BinghamIn Featured guest, VocalsLeave a comment

Join me for the Sept. 14, 2020, edition of After Hours on KCAW Raven Radio as I’m joined in conversation with jazz vocalist Jackie Ryan.

Christopher Loudon from Jazz Times has called Jackie “one of the outstanding jazz vocalists of her generation and, quite possibly, of all time…rivaling the dexterous sass of Sarah Vaughan, the instinctive smarts of Carmen McRae and the scintillating verve of Diana Krall.”

Click this link to listen to the After Hours show featuring Jackie Ryan, originally broadcast on Sept. 14, 2020. Click here to visit Jackie’s personal website.

After Hours featuring Denise Donatelli, air date Aug. 24, 2020

On By Charles BinghamIn Featured guest, VocalsLeave a comment

Join me for the Aug. 24, 2020, edition of After Hours on KCAW Raven Radio as I’m joined in conversation with multi- Grammy-nominated jazz vocalist Denise Donatelli.

In addition to her four Grammy nominations, The Los Angeles Jazz Society, whose voting advisors include Herbie Hancock, Quincy Jones and Johnny Mandel, have honored Denise with the 2012 Jazz Vocalist of the Year award. Denise has also been elected the Downbeat Critics Poll Female Vocalist Rising Star for the past four consecutive years.

Click this link to listen to the After Hours show featuring Denise Donatelli, originally broadcast on Aug. 24, 2020. Click here to visit Denise’s personal website.

After Hours featuring Stephanie Nakasian (mother) and Veronica Swift (daughter), air date July 27, 2020

On By Charles BinghamIn Featured guest, Vocals1 Comment

Join me for the July 27, 2020, edition of After Hours on KCAW Raven Radio as I’m joined in conversation with jazz vocalist Stephanie Nakasian and her daughter, Veronica Swift, also a jazz vocalist.

Stephanie is an exciting, well-seasoned vocalist and master of innovative jazz improvisation, completely authentic with a fresh and vibrant sound of her own. She came to international attention in the mid-1980s, when she toured with the great Jon Hendricks.

At 26, her daughter, Veronica Swift, inow is being recognized around the country as one of the top young jazz singers on the scene today, touring with pianist Benny Green and trumpeter Chris Botti.

Click this link to listen to the After Hours show featuring Stephanie Nakasian and Veronica Swift, originally broadcast on July 27, 2020. Click here to visit Stephanie’s personal website, and click here to visit Veronica’s personal website.

After Hours featuring Dena DeRose, air date July 6, 2020

On By Charles BinghamIn educator, Featured guest, Piano, Vocals1 Comment

Join me for the July 6, 2020, edition of After Hours on KCAW Raven Radio as I’m joined in conversation with jazz pianist, vocalist and educator Dena DeRose.

Although she began her career just as a pianist, medical problems with her hand forced her to become a vocalist as well. Dena has been chosen by Downbeat’s Critic’s Poll as an “artist deserving wider recognition,” and All About Jazz anointed her as “Jazz Artist of the Year” and “Best Jazz Album.” She has been featured on NPR’s “Morning Edition” and Marian McPartland’s “Piano Jazz” several times.

Click this link to listen to the After Hours show featuring Dena DeRose, originally broadcast on July 6, 2020. Click here to visit Dena’s personal website.

After Hours featuring Kate McGarry, air date June 22, 2020

On By Charles BinghamIn educator, Featured guest, VocalsLeave a comment

Join me for the June 22, 2020, edition of After Hours on KCAW Raven Radio as I’m joined in conversation with jazz vocalist Kate McGarry.

Kate has many critically acclaimed CDs and two Grammy nominations (2019 and 2009) for Best Jazz Vocal CD. She has become recognized as a jazz artist who brings authenticity and vitality to every song regardless of genre. The Wall St. Journal calls her music, “Austere and elegant,” and The New York Times pronounced it, “astute and sensitive”.

Kate currently performs in jazz clubs, performing arts centers and festivals throughout the US and abroad. As an educator she has taught at New England Conservatory and Manhattan School of Music. Downbeat’s 2016 Critics Poll named McGarry the No. 1 Rising Star Female Vocalist. She has been interviewed on All Things Considered, and has performed on Jazz Set  With DeeDee Bridgewater, Piano Jazz With Marion McPartland, and a host of nationally syndicated radio shows.

Click this link to listen to the After Hours show featuring Kate McGarry, originally broadcast on June 22, 2020. Click here to visit Kate’s personal website.