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Carrie Wicks
In 2010 her debut CD on OA2 Records, I’ll Get Around to It, catapulted her to national acclaim. She followed it with Barely There in 2012 and Maybe in October 2015. Her fourth Origin album, Reverie, releases October 2019. A three-time nominee for the Earshot Jazz Vocalist of the Year Award, she’s known for her lustrous, burnished tone; her uncanny sense of phrasing; and a delivery that’s both understated and passionate.
Her early musical background included playing viola in Summit, New Jersey, singing harmonies during middle school in a church choir in Dorset, Vermont, and then playing cornet in jazz band in high school. But it wasn’t until the fall of 2001, while living out in the woods of Indianola, Washington, when she ferried across the Puget Sound for her first jazz-singing workshop in Seattle, that she fell for the bright light of urban jazz. Since then Ms. Wicks has been focusing on jazz vocals and collaboratively composing songs with bassist Ken Nottingham for the Bushwick Book Club of Seattle and pianist Nick Allison; she also harmonizes with Aria Prame as Night-n-Gale and assisted in producing eight variety shows called the Big Gig at the Triple Door with Billy Brandt.
A Seattle resident, she has performed at Tula’s, the Triple Door, the Royal Room, the Sorrento Hotel, Vito’s, St. Clouds, Egan’s, and other area venues.
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Carrie Wicks: Reverie
by Paul Rauch
Seattle-based vocalist Carrie Wicks is back with her fourth effort on the Origin label, and while there are many similarities stylistically with her previous efforts, Reverie more draws from the original compositions of Wicks and her partners Ken Nottingham and Nick Allison. One of the commonalities between the recordings is Wicks' insight into putting together a top shelf unit on her behalf. Even more so, including pianist Bill Anschell in the mix is a particularly astute move, considering ...
read moreCarrie Wicks: Maybe
by C. Michael Bailey
Vocalist Carrie Wicks is three albums into her recording career with the release of Maybe, a collection heavy on smartly composed and sung originals. Wicks has previously released I'll Get Around to It (A2 Records, 2010) and Barely There (OA2 Records, 2012). She enjoyed the same rhythm section so much on both recordings, pianist Bill Anschell, bassist Jeff Johnson, and drummer Byron Vannoy that she uses them with no additional solo instruments on Maybe. Wicks is a ...
read moreCarrie Wicks: Barely There
by Dan McClenaghan
Vocalist Carrie Wicks' debut was 2010's I'll Get Around To It (OA2 Records). She slipped her original composition, the disc's title tune that she cowrote with bassist Ken Nottingham, onto the CD, along with a bunch of well-chosen songs from the 1940s and '50s, with Elvis Costello's timeless Almost Blue" nudged in there, too. It all fit. It was a classic jazz outing featuring a deep-in-the-tradition singer, with exquisite accompaniment headed up by pianist Bill Anschell-a top debut of the ...
read moreCarrie Wicks: I'll Get Around to It
by Dan McClenaghan
In the crowded and talent-filled lady jazz vocalist field, standing apart is no small feat. Some natural vocal chops, combined with a bunch of hard work and a good backing band, can make for a very viable artistic effort, and there are a lot of those around. But a very workable artistic effort is not enough. The singer has to connect on a personal level by telling the stories of her songs in a convincing fashion--in her own vulnerable or ...
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Small But Elegant Place
From: Barely ThereBy Carrie Wicks