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Julia Dollison
Eight years ago, the Washington Post called Julia Dollison "a deeply musical virtuoso with an airy, luminous voice." Four years ago, critics praised Dollison's self-released debut CD "Observatory" as “rare, fresh and substantive” (JazzTimes Magazine), "richly imaginative" (Wall Street Journal) and “subtle, spontaneous and breathtaking” (Sacramento Bee).
Today, Dollison has released her newest recording project "Vertical Voices: The Music of Maria Schneider" through ArtistShare®, the Grammy Award- winning fan-based internet environment that promotes the artist's creative process. Here, she and her husband Kerry Marsh, vocalist and award-winning arranger, pay tribute to their mentor and ArtistShare's multi-Grammy Award- winning flagship artist Maria Schneider, recreating compositions written for her own jazz orchestra by multi-tracking the horn parts to create a two- voice orchestra. Dollison and Marsh will be touring this spring to promote their new CD, performing in duet with their own pre-recorded vocal tracks from the album minus the two parts they'll be singing live. The duo will also reprise songs from Dollison's "Observatory" CD and preview some of their newer arrangements and compositions.
Meanwhile, Dollison's uniquely personal brand of jazz is delighting club- goers, concert and festival audiences throughout the U.S., Canada, Japan and Europe. She's performed with the Maria Schneider Orchestra at New York's Jazz Standard, appeared by invitation at many IAJE (International Association of Jazz Educators) and CMEA (California Music Educators Association) conferences. Dollison premiered a concerto written for her by Grammy- nominated pianist Geoffrey Keezer, then headlined with him at the Brubeck Festival. As a performing vocalist and educator, Julia also regularly appears in California and throughout the world as a featured guest artist, clinician and adjudicator.
Since winning the DownBeat Magazine Student Music Award for Best Collegiate Jazz Vocal Soloist in 2000, Dollison has been heard at such New York clubs as Tavern on the Green, Jazz Standard, Sweet Rhythm and Cornelia Street Cafe. She's shared the stage with Jamey Aebersold, Bob Dorough, Kurt Elling, Christian McBride, Mark Murphy, Dianne Reeves, and Kenny Wheeler. She has performed and recorded backing vocals for pop artists Ben Folds, John Secada, Nell Carter and Regis Philbin. She has performed as a guest soprano soloist under the direction of symphony conductors Michael Tilson Thomas and Erich Kunzel, and has appeared with the Boston Pops Symphony, Dallas Symphony Orchestra, and the National Symphony Orchestra at the Kennedy Center.
Dollison is currently the vocal jazz program coordinator and applied jazz voice instructor at Sacramento State, winning ten total DownBeat Student Music Awards for Best College Vocal Jazz Ensemble, Best Collegiate Jazz Arrangement and Outstanding Jazz Vocal Soloist since 2005. She has also served locally as an assistant director for the DownBeat award-winning vocal jazz ensembles at American River College and Folsom High School. Dollison was previously an adjunct faculty member at the New School University in New York and at Florida's University of Miami, where she earned her B.M. and M.M. degrees in studio music and jazz vocal performance, teaching with a full assistantship while earning her graduate degree.
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Julia Dollison and Kerry Marsh: Raising Their Voices
by R.J. DeLuke
It's nice when people of similar interest and ambitions come together. Nicer still, when those things form the basis of a personal relationship; a partnership that results in the ultimate collaboration--marriage. For Julia Dollison and Kerry Marsh--singers who are also heavily involved in education, heightened by their successful operation of the jazz vocal program at California State University, Sacramento--their journey is starting to extend more outside of the classroom and into projects for music fans to enjoy.Enter their ...
read moreJulia Dollison: Observatory
by Jim Santella
With Ben Monder's guitar harmonies surrounding her light, airy voice, Julia Dollison sings familiar tunes and several originals on this debut album. She overdubs her voice in order to achieve a choir of similar voices. Delivering lines with a cool demeanor, she expresses each message openly with a contemporary flair. Emotion plays a considerable part in her performance, but the emphasis lies in her pop-flavored directions.
These eleven pieces are a good introduction to her effervescent persona. Autumn ...
read moreVertical Voices - The Music Of Maria Schneider
Source:
Clay Wilson
Julia Dollison and Kerry Marsh have long been known as some of the most talented vocalists in the a cappella and vocal jazz ensemble worlds. When the husband and wife duo decided to create a recording in which they recreated the complex big band works of Maria Schneider, many people including Maria herself thought they were insane. Julia and Kerry went on to release the impressive vocal performance Vertical VoicesThe Music Of Maria Schneider" and have been receiving critical acclaim ...
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Dollison and Marsh transform the music of Maria Schneider
Source:
Clay Wilson
"Vertical VoicesThe Music Of Maria Schneider" sets the renowned vocal duo of Julia Dollison and Kerry Marsh beside Maria Schneider's long time rhythm section of Frank Kimbrough, Ben Monder, Jay Anderson, and Clarence Penn, to create incredible vocal renditions of Maria's big band compositions. Taking on compositions such as The Pretty Road," Hang Gliding," and Sky Blue," Dollison and Marsh stretch their vocal techniques to extremes in order to reproduce the horn timbres that make Schneider's compositions so memorable. To ...
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Vertical Voices - The Music Of Maria Schneider
Source:
Clay Wilson
When the Husband and Wife team of Julia Dollison and Kerry Marsh debuted their first fan-funded CD for ArtistShare, they chose to take on an incredible task. Vertical VoicesThe Music Of Maria Schneider presents Kerry and Julia recreating Maria's compositions with solely the human voice. On top of Maria's long time rhythm section of Frank Kimbrough (piano), Ben Monder (guitar), Jay Anderson (bass) and Clarence Penn (drums), Dollison and Marsh layer their vocal lines, showcasing an extreme range of tambres ...
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Julia Dollison and Kerry Marsh transform the music of Maria Schneider
Source:
Clay Wilson
Julia Dollison and Kerry Marsh have been receiving rave reviews of their first fan-funded ArtistShare project Vertical VoicesThe Music of Maria Schneider" since it's release. Featuring Maria's long time rhythm section of Frank Kimbrough, Ben Monder, Jay Anderson, and Clarence Penn, Julia and Kerry ingeniously re-create the compositions of Maria Schneider with only their voices. TJulia Dollison and Kerry Marsh have been receiving rave reviews of their first fan-funded ArtistShare project Vertical VoicesThe Music of Maria Schneider" since it's release. ...
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Vocalists Julia Dollison and Kerry Marsh Interviewed at AAJ
Source:
All About Jazz
It's nice when people of similar interest and ambitions come together. Nicer still, when those things form the basis of a personal relationship; a partnership that results in the ultimate collaboration--marriage. For Julia Dollison and Kerry Marsh--singers who are also heavily involved in education, heightened by their successful operation of the jazz vocal program at California State University, Sacramento--their journey is starting to extend more outside of the classroom and into projects for music fans to enjoy.
Enter their new ...
read more
"Julia Dollison’s pitch, range and ability to blend is simply astounding. Her work on 'Hang Gliding' is absolutely stellar and should garner her a new legion of fans. Kerry Marsh’s vocals are fresh and imaginative. The duo does Schneider’s work complete poetic justice." SOUNDSOFTIMELESSJAZZ.COM, CD Review Paula Edelstein (March 31, 2010)
"As a fan of both wordless vocalese and Brazilian-flavored jazz, how could I not be swept up in Julia Dollison and Kerry Marsh's lush trills on "Vertical Voices: The Music of Maria Schneider?'" PHILADELPHIA DAILY NEWS, "Samba Swing" Jonathan Takiff (March 30, 2010)
Primary Instrument
Vocals
Willing to teach
Advanced only
Credentials/Background
Applied Jazz Voice Instructor, Sacramento State
Clinic/Workshop Information
Traveling Clinician, Monterey Next Generation Educational Program Assistant Director, Monterey County Honor Vocal Jazz Ensemble Jazz Faculty Member, MJF Summer Jazz Camp Jazz Festival Guest Artist, Clinician and/or Adjudicator: (2003 to Present): Bear Valley Music Festival; Brubeck Festival; California Music in the Parks Festival; Capital Choral Festival; City Stages Jazz Festival; Columbia Jazz Festival ; Delta College Jazz Festival; Disney American All-Star Jazz Festival; Edmonton Choral Festival; Festival Miami (University of Miami); Festival of New American Music; Folsom Jazz Festival; Fresno Jazz Festival; Golden Empire Music Festival; Hollywood, Florida Jazz Festival; International Association of Jazz Education; Jazz Aspen Snowmass Summer Sessions; KU (University of Kansas) Jazz Festival; Lionel Hampton Jazz Festival; McGill University Jazz Forum (Montreal); Monk Institute; Monterey Jazz Camp; Monterey Jazz Festival; Monterey Next Generation Jazz Festival; Monterey Traveling Jazz Clinician Education Program; Montreux Jazz Festival (Switzerland); NARAS Florida Regional Grammy in the Schools; Noto Jazz Festival (Japan); Redwood Empire Music Festival; Reno Jazz Festival; Sacramento State University Jazz Festival; Santa Cruz Jazz Festival; Tomisato Jazz Festival (Japan); Umbria Jazz Festival (Italy); UNC (University of Northern Colorado) Jazz Festival; University of the Pacific Jazz Camp; University of Miami Jazz Forum; Utah Jazz Festival; Vallejo Jazz Festival; Vienne Jazz Festival (France).