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Judy Niemack | |
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| Background information | |
| Born | March 11, 1954 Pasadena, California, U.S. |
| Genres | Jazz, vocal jazz |
| Occupation | Singer |
| Years active | 1978–present |
| Labels | Sea Breeze, Freelance, Stash, Blujazz |
| Website | judyniemack |
Judy Niemack (born March 11, 1954) is an American jazz vocalist.
Judy Niemack was born in Pasadena, California to a musical family. She began singing in a church choir from the age of seven. [1] Niemack decided on a professional career in singing at age 17 and studied Bel canto singing with Primo Lino Puccinelli in Pasadena for 3 years. She studied classical voice and jazz improvisation with Gary Foster at Pasadena City College, and later attended the New England Conservatory of Music and the Cleveland Institute of Music. [1] After pursuing classical studies until 1975, she returned to California to study jazz improvisation with Marsh (who she had met early on). Niemack eventually moved to New York City in 1977, her first major engagement was a week at the Village Vanguard, singing in Warne Marsh's band. [1]
Her debut album, By Heart was recorded in New York City and released in 1977; since then she has recorded 12 albums under her own name in addition to working with Toots Thielemans, James Moody, Lee Konitz, Clark Terry, Kenny Barron, Fred Hersch, Kenny Werner, Joe Lovano, Eddie Gómez and the WDR Big Band (among others). [2]
In 1987, while living in New York, Niemack met guitarist Jeanfrançois Prins; the two would eventually marry in 1998. In 1992 Niemack relocated to Brussels and taught vocal jazz in the Royal Conservatory of Brussels, the Royal Conservatory of Antwerp, and the Royal Conservatory of the Hague. The couple recorded several CDs together and performed together extensively. [3] In 1995 the couple moved to Berlin, where she became the first Professor of Jazz Voice in Germany, teaching at the Hochschule für Musik "Hanns Eisler" (later called Jazz Institut Berlin) and also establishing the vocal jazz program at Musikene, the Basque School of Higher Music, in San Sebastian, Spain (2003-2015). The couple eventually divorced in 2016.
Niemack has written and published a set of three widely praised method books on jazz singing; the Hear It and Sing It! series. Since 1995, she has been a professor of vocal jazz studies at the JIB (Jazz Institute Berlin). Prominent vocal students of Niemack's include artists such as Dominique Lacasa, Marc Secara, Efrat Alony, Lucia Cadotsch and Erik Leuthäuser. Niemack has written lyrics for over 100 compositions by Thelonious Monk, Bill Evans, Richie Beirach, Pat Metheny and Kenny Dorham (among others) which have been recorded on numerous albums.
Niemack currently lives in both Berlin and New York City.
Originating in vocal jazz, scat singing or scatting is vocal improvisation with wordless vocables, nonsense syllables or without words at all. In scat singing, the singer improvises melodies and rhythms using the voice solely as an instrument rather than a speaking medium. This is different from vocalese, which uses recognizable lyrics that are sung to pre-existing instrumental solos.
John Hondorp is a professor at the Enschede Conservatory. He was the first to teach Hammond organ as a fully autonome jazz major.
Nicolas Thys is a Belgian bassist. He graduated in 1994 from the Hilversum Conservatory, where he also taught bass and double bass. Thys took private lessons with Dave Holland, Marc Helias and Marc Johnson. He received several awards, most notably the Golden Django award for best young talent in 2001. Thys performed live with Toots Thielemans, Garrett List, Judy Niemack, Mark Turner, Jeanfrançois Prins, Ivan Paduart, Kris Defoort, Kenny Werner, and Mike Stern. He released his first CD with his band Alice's 5 Moons in 1997.
Luciana Souza is a Brazilian jazz singer and composer who also works in bossa nova, pop, classical and chamber music. She won a Grammy Award in 2007, and has been nominated for seven others, most recently in 2024. Souza is considered to be one of jazz's leading singers and interpreters. The New York Times called her voice "smooth-surfaced, coolly sensuous and dartingly agile."
Hein van de Geyn is a jazz double bassist, composer and band leader from the Netherlands. Van de Geyn also teaches double bass and music.
Kenny Werner is an American jazz pianist, composer, and author.
Norma Ann Winstone MBE is an English jazz singer and lyricist. With a career spanning more than 50 years, she is best known for her wordless improvisations. Musicians with whom she has worked include Michael Garrick, John Surman, Michael Gibbs, Mike Westbrook, as well as pianist John Taylor, who was her former husband.
Victor Lewis is an American jazz drummer, composer, and educator.
Anca Parghel was a Romanian jazz singer, composer, arranger, pianist, choir conductor, and music teacher. As a jazz vocalist, she excelled in scat, vocal percussion, and improvisation. Her voice had a four octave range, this being one of the reasons she was compared to Yma Sumac in the Romanian music press. She had an exceptional ability to interpret songs in English, French, German, Italian, Spanish, or Portuguese.
After Hours is an album by jazz singer Jeanne Lee and pianist Mal Waldron, recorded in 1994 and released on the Owl label. The album was released in the US on Sunnyside Records in 2003.
Carolyn Leonhart is a jazz singer, daughter of jazz bassist Jay Leonhart, and sister of the trumpeter Michael Leonhart. She has performed as a back-up vocalist for Steely Dan on several tours and recordings.
Markus Strothmann is a German jazz drummer. He established himself in the European jazz scene and came to prominence as a jazz musician in 2009 with his own concert series. He has a "Master of Music" degree from the Artez Conservatory of Music in Enschede in the Netherlands. He teaches at the Artez Conservatory and at German music schools.
Jeanfrançois Prins is a Belgian jazz guitarist, composer, vocalist and record producer. He has spent many years between New York City and Berlin where he was leading the Jazz Guitar departments in both music universities for a total of 12 years. Upon his return to Belgium in 2016, he became the CEO of the GAM Records label in 2017.
Samantha Noella is an Indian singer and vocal coach based in Mumbai. Her styles include Jazz, R&B, Funk, Blues and Soul. Having worked as a Singer, Composer and lyricist since 1992, she began Voice Coaching since 2006. She is a well recognised Vocal Coach in Western Modern / Contemporary Music and has coached several students, amateurs, semi-professional and professional singers including well known industry professionals like Priyanka Chopra, Hrithik Roshan, Varun Dhawan, Nargis Fakhri, Alia Bhatt, Shrradha Pandit, Vasuda Sharma, Shahana Goswami, Hazel Keech, Preeti Desai and others.
Dominique Lacasa is a German singer who has been performing since she was nine years old. She made her debut with her parents, Frank Schöbel and Aurora Lacasa in a 1985 Christmas special. Later, she took classical and jazz training while touring with a pop band Two as One. Since 2008, she has performed as a solo artist, traveling from Alaska to New Zealand and experimenting with combinations of Latin rhythms, jazz, and pop.
The Berlin Jazz Orchestra is a 17 piece concert jazz orchestra based in Berlin, Germany. The orchestra has been critically acclaimed by prominent periodicals such as the Berliner Tagesspiegel, Märkische Allgemeine, Jazzpodium, All About Jazz and Jazzthetik.
Marc Secara is a German singer and recording artist known for jazz, American pop music, and German popular repertoire. He is also a member of the German singing group the Berlin Voices.
Fleurine Verloop, known professionally as Fleurine, is a Dutch jazz vocalist.
Katherine Genevieve McGarry, known professionally as Kate McGarry, is a jazz vocalist.
This is the discography for American jazz musician Lee Konitz.
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