Carmen Lundy

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Carmen Lundy
Born
Carmen Latretta Lundy

(1954-11-01) November 1, 1954 (age 71)
Miami, Florida, U.S.
Genres Jazz, vocal jazz
OccupationsSinger, musician, composer, arranger
InstrumentsVocals, piano, guitar
Years active1978–present
Labels Justin Time, Arabesque, JVC, Afrasia
Website www.carmenlundy.com

Carmen Latretta Lundy (born November 1, 1954) is an American jazz singer. She has been performing for over four decades, with a focus on original material. [1]

Contents

She has been positively compared with Aretha Franklin, Ella Fitzgerald and Sarah Vaughan. [2] Lundy is also the sister of bassist Curtis Lundy. [3]

Lundy's albums Modern Ancestors (2021) and Fade to Black (2022) were nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Jazz Vocal Album.

Biography

Lundy has composed and published over forty songs. Her compositions have been recorded by such artists as Kenny Barron ("Quiet Times"), Ernie Watts ("At the End of My Rope"), and Straight Ahead ("Never Gonna Let You Go").

Lundy's first album, Good Morning Kiss (1985) featured several original compositions, and was reissued in 2002. [4] Her second album was Night and Day (1987), and featured musicians Kenny Kirkland (piano), Alex Blake (bass), Curtis Lundy (bass), Victor Lewis (drums), Rodney Jones (guitar), Ricky Ford (tenor sax).

The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts website has called Carmen Lundy "a woman of many faces: composer, arranger, producer, actress, painter, and sophisticated vocalist well known for her progressive bop and post-bop stylings—an uncompromising jazz singer whose every note is bulls-eye accurate" ( Los Angeles Times ). "Equally adept at love-struck ballads, songs of heartbreak, or full-out swing, Lundy wields a voice of agility and seductive allure [that] make for a potent combination." [5]

In 2005, Lundy and producer Elisabeth Oei launched the label Afrasia Productions with Jazz & the New Songbook: Live at the Madrid recorded live at the Madrid Theatre in Los Angeles, also released on DVD. Lundy draws on repertoire from her previous recordings, backed by brother Curtis Lundy and Victor Lewis, pianists Billy Childs, Robert Glasper, Bobby Watson, Phil Upchurch, and Mayra Casales, a percussionist, who also released on Afroasia (the only one beside Lundy so far.) [6] The label's second release was Come Home, her tenth album, featuring Geri Allen and Steve Turre, followed by Solamente, an album with recordings that originally served as reference demos, where she was playing all instruments herself. [7] Lundy's latest release via Afrasia Productions was released on Feb 17, 2017, and features several guest artists, notably Patrice Rushen on piano. [8]

Lundy's oil-on-canvas paintings have been exhibited in New York at The Jazz Gallery (Soho) and in Los Angeles at the Jazz Bakery and the Madrid Theatre. Her artwork also appears in the booklets that accompany her CDs.

Discography

YearTitleLabel
1986Good Morning Kiss [9] Blackhawk; Justin Time, 2002
1987Night and DayCBS/Sony (Japan); Afrasia, 2011
1992Moment to Moment Arabesque Jazz; Afrasia, 2007
1995Self Portrait JVC
1997Old Devil MoonJVC
2001This is Carmen Lundy Justin Time
2003Something to Believe InJustin Time
2005Jazz and the New Songbook: Live at the MadridAfrasia Productions
2007Come HomeAfrasia Productions
2009SolamenteAfrasia Productions
2012ChangesAfrasia Productions
2014Soul to SoulAfrasia Productions
2017Code NoirAfrasia Productions
2019Modern Ancestors [10] Afrasia Productions
2022Fade to BlackAfrasia Productions

With Geri Allen

With Walter Bishop Jr.

With Curtis Lundy

References

  1. ↑ Loudon, Christopher (March 31, 2017). "Carmen Lundy: Code Noir (Afrasia) - JazzTimes". JazzTimes. Retrieved July 7, 2018.
  2. ↑ Carmen Lundy – Old Devil Moon
  3. ↑ Azeez, Malik (May 21, 2003) "Vocalist Carmen Lundy Is the Queen of Jazz". The Washington Informer. p. 21.
  4. ↑ Good Morning Kiss (1985), reissued in 2002 Archived September 27, 2007, at the Wayback Machine
  5. ↑ The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. Archived September 30, 2007, at the Wayback Machine
  6. ↑ "Jazz and the New Songbook - Live at the Madrid DVD | Carmen Lundy". Archived from the original on September 10, 2015. Retrieved April 3, 2013..
  7. ↑ "Solamente". carmenlundy.com. September 7, 2011.
  8. ↑ "Code Noir". carmenlundy.com.
  9. ↑ Good Morning Kiss was remastered and reissued in 2002 by Justin Time, with three previously unreleased alternate takes, Archived June 23, 2013, at the Wayback Machine , and again in its original form as a limited edition by CLR/Afrasia. Archived September 23, 2015, at the Wayback Machine
  10. ↑ Carmen Lundy, Modern Ancestors. Review by Alex Henderson, NYCJR , December 2019, Issue 212, p. 29. Retrieved December 6, 2019.
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