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Heather Bambrick

JUNO-nominated vocalist Heather Bambrick prides herself on being an entertainer through and through. From her skillful, effortless interaction with audiences, to the variety and breadth of her material, Heather approaches every aspect of her performances with the goal of leaving audiences feeling far better after her shows than before they arrived. This is why her concerts have been described as what happens when “Ella Fitzgerald meets Carol Burnett at a Newfoundland kitchen party”.

It’s not only audiences who appreciate Heather’s talent. Critics and industry professionals place Heather on the top rung of the musical ladder. “Heather hits every right note”, says Mark Rheume of CBC Radio. WholeNote Magazine calls her “one of the finest jazz singers in this country”, and All About Jazz says her voice is a “paragon of clarity” and that “she’s the real deal in every way”.

As one of Canada’s top Jazz vocalists, Heather has collaborated with some of the best around, including Phil Nimmons, Fred Hirsch, Gene DiNovi, Guido Basso, Anne Hampton Callaway, Carol Welsman, Jackie Richardson, Ian Shaw, as well as the late Rob McConnell and Peter Appleyard. She’s a founding member of vocal ensembles The Beehive Singers and Broadsway, and has appeared as a guest performer with numerous Jazz ensembles, as well as with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, the Newfoundland Symphony Orchestra, the Hamilton Philharmonic, and the Windsor Symphony Orchestra.

Heather’s solo recordings have each received East Coast Music Award nominations for Jazz Recording of the Year, and her 2017 release You’ll Never Know was also nominated for a JUNO Award for Vocal Jazz Album of the Year. Heather has been a guest artist on a number of diverse recording projects, from those of the Caliban Bassoon Quartet, to Sophisticated Ladies (the final recording of Jazz great Peter Appleyard), and Just Passing Through (the award-winning recording from Jeff and Don Breithaupt). She’s been honoured with Canada’s National Jazz Award for Vocalist of the Year.

Heather’s newest release Fine State sees her moving in some new musical directions, with a more Pop-influenced Jazz sound, featuring strong Canadian content, and original material. Says Bambrick: “This project brings together more of the things that inspire me overall, not just in jazz and not just in music. The arrangements show influences from rock, pop, and folk music, and the tunes we’ve chosen have a strong connection to the events of the world around me, and the roots of who I am as a musician and a person.”

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30
Album Review

The Nimmons Tribute: Volume 2--Generational

Read "Volume 2--Generational" reviewed by Jack Bowers


If you live in Canada and are not familiar with the name Phil Nimmons, you probably have not been paying close enough attention. Nimmons, who surpassed the century mark in June 2023, is often referred to as the “Dean of Canadian Jazz," and listing his many accomplishments and awards would require far more space than is ordinarily set aside for a complete review. Suffice to say that Nimmons has been active as a composer, arranger, performer and educator longer than ...

5
Album Review

The Nimmons Tribute: Volume 2 - Generational

Read "Volume 2  - Generational" reviewed by John Chacona


Anyone who listened to Canadian radio after the adoption of the so-called Canadian Content requirement in the '70s probably heard a lot of Phil Nimmons' music. To be sure, the clarinetist, composer and arranger had achieved some recognition south of the 49th parallel through his RCA recordings of the '50s but, by choosing to base his career in jny: Toronto, he became a living symbol of Canadian jazz. When the nation celebrated the 100th anniversary of Confederation in 1967, Nimmons ...

6
Multiple Reviews

Northern Voices: Heather Bambrick and Brenda Earle Stokes

Read "Northern Voices: Heather Bambrick and Brenda Earle Stokes" reviewed by Dan Bilawsky


There's a vast array of notable singers that have been given unto us from the Great White North. In terms of star power you have Joni Mitchell, k.d. Lang, Sarah McLachlan, Shania Twain, Bruce Cockburn, the lovably twangy Neil Young and a croaky Leonard Cohen. And, of course, we have genre-straddling, jazz-breathing mega-names like Michael Bublé and Diana Krall. But then there's also a brilliant vein of today's vocal jazz figures--Susie Arioli, Laila Biali, Emilie-Clare Barlow, Amy Cervini, Sophie Milman, ...

6
Album Review

Heather Bambrick: You'll Never Know

Read "You'll Never Know" reviewed by Dan Bilawsky


You know those stop-you-dead-in-your-tracks moments that only music can elicit? Those oh-so-rare occurrences where sound and intention hypnotize, leaving a permanent mark on the soul? This writer experienced one of those sonic epiphanies in hearing Heather Bambrick's enthralling version of “Far From The Home I Love." It's a song that I've been relatively indifferent about in the past, but Bambrick changed that with her take. She made a convert out of me. If Bambrick's name is new ...

347
Album Review

Heather Bambrick: It's About Time

Read "It's About Time" reviewed by Dan McClenaghan


The opening tune on It's About Time, “(Sing) Joyspring," had me savoring the snappy horn chart which embraces Canadian vocalist Heather Bambrick's technically perfect chops, a perfection that doesn't eschew organic ebullience and joy, suffused as it is with a hip, buoyant, guileless sauciness. The second song, “That's Falling in Love"--written, as it turns out, by Bambrick and Keith Power--made me think I'd let a Cole Porter tune slip under my radar somehow. Let's call that an auspicious one-two punch ...

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“Her voice flutters over, under and through each melody, adding a crispness and alluring mystery as she completely surrenders to the message of each song. That, right there, is the mark of an engaging vocalist.” Mike Greenblatt / The Aquarian Weekly / Little Falls, NJ

Bambrick is blessed with perfect pitch, something that enables her to land every note in her spectacular range with dazzling facility and balletic grace … to have the music sound as if falls somewhere between a song and a symphonic aria, it takes nothing less than Heather Bambrick. Raul da Gama / JazzdaGama / Toronto, ON

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Nat King Cole
piano and vocals
Diana Krall
piano and vocals

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Music

Recordings: As Leader | As Sideperson

Volume 2 -...

Self Produced
2023

buy

Volume 2--Generational

Self Produced
2023

buy

Fine State

Self Produced
2019

buy

You'll Never Know

Self Produced
2017

buy

It's About Time

Unknown label
2004

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Arf

From: Volume 2 - Generational
By Heather Bambrick

Wave Over Wave

From: Fine State
By Heather Bambrick

Lovers In A Dangerous Time

From: You'll Never Know
By Heather Bambrick

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