Danielle Eva

Danielle Eva is an american jazz vocalist and songwriter whose distinctive soulful and breezy style is keeping her in the international spotlight. Fusing jazz harmony, echoes of appalachia, and lilting latin rhythms with the palettes of folk and pop she serenades in shades of blue-eyed soul with a compelling sincerity and a side of sass. She has performed in the top venues of New York, Washington DC, Pittsburgh, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Istanbul and Bodrum, Turkey. Danielle is a past top three winner in the Billie Holiday Competition, US JazzMobile, and selected for the prestigious Monk Institute’s Jazz Aspen. She is currently spending time performing and traveling around Asia and Turkey working with various musicians and continuing with songwriting. Her debut cd Road and Moon showcases her original compositions and arrangements alongside gems from the jazz and folk songbook.  


Born in Pittsburgh, Danielle has been singing almost as long as she's been speaking, collecting melodies from anyone who had a song to share. “I was hungry for music. If someone started singing a song, I would make them repeat it until I knew it. I once learned 'Sweet Child Of Mine' from a kid at camp, then a few years later learned that it was a Guns and Roses song.”  

 When she received her first radio in her teenage years, it was the melodies of Mozart, Puccini, and Tchaikovsky that she hungered for. Soon she was studying classical music, learning arias and art songs, and traveling with a professional children’ choir. Initially planning on a professional opera career, she continued her classical training at a local university but allowed for additional studies in jazz singing in order to understand more about different voice styles. Testing the waters, Danielle took every opportunity to perform. While preparing for recitals, she also cantored in churches, sang with rock bands, performed in dinner theatre, and even delivered singing telegrams in outrageous costumes. But it was in the rich jazz community of Pittsburgh where she began to find her own niche. “The Burgh is a great place to be raised up in jazz. There's a down-home feel to the scene and the people that comes through in the music - a lot of inter-generational playing going on. You'd get a little osmosis of the elders' wisdom just by being in the same room.”

She cut her teeth in clubs like the Balcony and the historic Crawford Grill before making the move to New York, where in her first week found herself singing back-up for a band on the Blue Note stage. Danielle soon became immersed in New York's jazz scene, appearing at top venues like the Zinc Bar, Metronome, Brandy's, Kavehaz, Sweet Rhythm, and the Garage. In 2001, she was chosen to perform and study with jazz masters at the Jazz Aspen Snowmass Academy under the artistic direction of Christian McBride. She has been featured in several festivals including Mellon Jazz Festival, Great Women in Jazz Festival, and the New Rochelle Jazz Festival.  In 2007, she spent over a year living in Washington DC where she was a regular on the famed U Street, playing at Twins and Nema’s. Danielle has been honored as a 3rd place winner of both the 2007 Billie Holiday Vocal Competition and the 2008 US Jazzmobile Vocal Competition.

Danielle left New York in 2009, planning to perform jazz in Hong Kong for only three months. Once in Hong Kong, she decided to stay out on the road and take advantage of other opportunities which led her to spending some time in Istanbul where she made her debut show at the Istanbul Jazz Centre, became a monthly feature at Nardis Jazz, and even appeared on Turkish Tv’s Music Channel performing with a turkish orchestra. In 2010, Danielle spent four months playing at Jade Bar in Shanghai, and the summer at Salon De Ning in Hong Kong’s legendary Peninsula Hotel.

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