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Tish Oney

Dr. Tish Oney, international performing/recording artist, arranger, and composer currently tours as a symphony pops and big band soloist, jazz vocalist, and artist-in-residence. Oney has arranged several hundred pieces for jazz combo including hits from the Great American Songbook as well as her originals and is frequently commissioned to write, arrange, and perform unique concert presentations.

Tish recently released her fifth major recording project featuring John Chiodini (guitar), Chuck Berghofer (bass) and Ray Brinker (drums). This album, The Best Part (on the Blujazz label) serves as a compilation of new original songs by contemporary jazz composers, including three never-before-heard songs co-written by jazz diva Peggy Lee. Oney's 2015 recording of original vocal/guitar duets titled Songs From the Heart was honored by the Recording Academy on the 2016 first-round Grammy ballot in three categories, including "Song of the Year." Oney's previous albums, Sweet Youth, Dear Peg, and Forever Friend, also achieved international airplay, Grammy consideration, and critical acclaim.

Oney has performed and/or recorded with hundreds of renowned jazz artists and has headlined at thousands of live performances worldwide. She was featured as a big band/symphony soloist in the PBS-broadcast concert recorded at Galen Center in Los Angeles, We Love Ella! A Tribute to the First Lady of Song, along with Natalie Cole, Nancy Wilson, Stevie Wonder, Wynonna, Patti Austin, and Take 6, emceed by Quincy Jones and produced by Phil Ramone. She has performed as soloist with Detroit Symphony Orchestra, Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra, Williamsburg Symphony, Spartanburg Philharmonic Orchestra, Symphoria, several U.S. Army Bands including the Jazz Ambassadors and Pershing’s Own Army Voices and Army Blues, among others. She has headlined at jazz festivals, performing arts centers, concert series, and regional theatres nationwide. She has appeared as headlining performer at many jazz hotspots including The Jazz Bakery in Los Angeles, The Jazz Corner on Hilton Head Island, Feinstein's at Loews Regency and the off-Broadway theatre, The Triad, in New York. At home she is a frequent collaborative performer with the Greenville Jazz Collective. An experienced film, stage and television actress, Oney imbues her live performances with dramatic power and warmth.

Dr. Oney was honored in 2016 to win the Jazz Artist/Group of the Year award from the South Carolina Music Awards, and in 2015 her high school honored her as one of the inaugural five 'Graduates of Distinction.' She was lauded in the book The Jazz Singers: The Ultimate Guide authored by jazz critic Scott Yanow. A recipient of The Diane Warren Award, Dr. Oney earned two initiations (by faculty at both IC and USC) into national music honor society Pi Kappa Lambda. Dr. Oney earned her Doctor of Musical Arts degree with honors from the University of Southern California's Thornton School of Music, and a Master of Music degree with honors in Voice Performance from Ithaca College.

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5
Album Review

Tish Oney: The Best Part

Read "The Best Part" reviewed by C. Michael Bailey


Dr. Tish Oney is a woman for all seasons: vocalist, arranger, composer, professor, producer. She has many irons in many fires and all of them are hot. Her fifth recording, The Best Part continues her fruitful association with guitarist John Chiodini, whose trio this time around comprised bassist Chuck Berghofer and drummer Ray Brinker (no mean company). This guitar-led trio provides Oney with a spare and sophisticated place from which to launch her vocal musings. Stylistically, Oney has ...

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Take Five With...

Take Five with Tish Oney

Read "Take Five with Tish Oney" reviewed by Tish Oney


Meet Tish Oney Dr. Tish Oney tours internationally as a jazz vocalist and symphony pops soloist. She has recorded and produced five critically-acclaimed albums, taught voice and jazz at eight universities, and has served several more as an artist-in-residence. She has headlined at thousands of venues worldwide and has performed as soloist with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra, Williamsburg Symphony, Spartanburg Philharmonic Orchestra, Symphoria, and several U.S. Army Bands including the Jazz Ambassadors, Pershing's Own Army Voices and ...

66
Album Review

Tish Oney: Sweet Youth

Read "Sweet Youth" reviewed by Gregg Akkerman


In previous offerings from singer Tish Oney, she surrounded herself in the trappings of traditionally sized jazz combos, but on Sweet Youth she eschews safety in numbers for the nowhere-to-hide texture of voice and guitar. This baker's dozen of standards and original songs dispels any doubts that the recently doctored Oney (University of Southern California, Jazz Studies) is better suited to academic settings rather than the recording studio. The artful playfulness of her scatting on several tunes (highlighted on “Waltz ...

79
Album Review

Tish Oney: Forever Friend

Read "Forever Friend" reviewed by Dave Nathan


Can educators really practice what they teach is a question that constantly pervades the music business. Vocalist Tish Oney is one of the many who teach their craft in music schools and colleges while at the same time keeping up a healthy performing schedule. Oney teaches voice and vocal jazz, and gigs in and around the upper New York State area. In addition, one of her compositions has been nominated for the SAMMY award, the prize named after the inimitable ...

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Book / Magazine

'Peggy Lee: A Century of Song' by Tish Oney, Available June 2020 - Pre-Order Now.

'Peggy Lee: A Century of Song' by Tish Oney, Available June 2020 - Pre-Order Now.

Source: All About Jazz

One hundred years after the singer’s birth, Peggy Lee: A Century of Song brings to life the eventful career of an iconic performer whose contributions to the Great American Songbook, jazz, popular music, and film music remained unparalleled. Lee stood out among her peers as an exquisite singer possessing a cool vocal style, a songwriter frequently collaborating with leading composers of American jazz and film music, and a globally-loved entertainer with star quality. Tish Oney sheds new light upon this ...

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Recording

Vocalist Tish Oney with the John Chiodini Trio release 'The Best Part' on Blujazz

Vocalist Tish Oney with the John Chiodini Trio release 'The Best Part' on Blujazz

Source: All About Jazz

The Best Part is jazz vocalist, arranger, composer, and producer Tish Oney’s fifth CD project. The music is a compilation of new original songs by contemporary jazz composers, including three never-before-heard songs with lyrics by jazz diva Peggy Lee. Oney's 2015 recording of original vocal/guitar duets titled Songs From the Heart, was honored by the Recording Academy on the 2016 first-round Grammy ballot in three categories, including “Song of the Year". Oney's previous albums, Sweet Youth, Dear Peg, and Forever ...

"Tish Oney, whose previous CD, Dear Peg, was a tribute to Peggy Lee, on Sweet Youth showcases her delightful voice on a set of duets with guitarist John Chiodini... Her choice of notes and use of space are quite sophisticated. Chiodini, a masterful accompanist and a subtle soloist, has a style that is perfectly complementary and plenty of musical magic takes place between the duo throughout Sweet Youth. This exquisite set, which rewards repeated listening, is available from www.blujazz.com." (Scott Yanow, LA Jazz Scene)

"(Sweet Youth is) a vocal jazz album, but one with a nice sort of difference, given that the vocals of Tish Oney are only backed by a bit of acoustic guitar! Yet despite the lack of familiar piano, bass, and drums, Tish has a hell of a swinging sound...one that often leads off a tune without the guitar, and then seems to inspire the instrument to stretch out on its own! She's a hell of a singer with a great ability to stretch out her lyrics in true jazz-based ways, really inflecting things yet never going too far over the top, and making for a nice mix with guitarist John Chiodini on the record. Titles include a few nice originals: "Year Round Blues", "Sweet Youth", "Lonely Evening", and "Ask Seek Knock" plus versions of "Alice In Wonderland", "September In The Rain", and "Tis Autumn". " (Dusty Groove America)

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Primary Instrument

Vocals

Location

Greenville

Willing to teach

Advanced only

Credentials/Background

I earned a DMA in Jazz Studies from the University of Southern California's Thornton School of Music and a Master of Music in Voice Performance from Ithaca College School of Music. I have served as a professor of voice and jazz at Syracuse University's Setnor School of Music, Hobart & William Smith Colleges, Cal State LA, USC Upstate, Southwestern College, and Christian Heritage College. I have served as an Artist-In-Residence at several more, and currently tour as a visiting artist/master teacher for NATS (National Association of Teachers of Singing). My research on singing and voice pedagogy takes me around the world as a guest presenter, clinician, recitalist, author, and lecturer. My current and former students include major Broadway stars, jazz singers, opera singers and commercial singers. I teach voice at my home studio in Greenville and Skype lessons for professional level singers around the world. Please contact me directly for availability and rates.

Clinic/Workshop Information

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Photos

Music

Recordings: As Leader | As Sideperson

The Best Part

Blujazz
2019

buy

Songs From The Heart

DTG Productions
2015

buy

Sweet Youth

Blujazz
2011

buy

Dear Peg

Rhombus Records
2008

buy

Forever Friend

Rhombus Records
2002

buy

Videos

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