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Paula West

PAULA WEST was fueled by a determination to find the best music and communicate it in her own way. Born into a Marine Corps family in San Diego, California, she was initially exposed to classical music. "My parents didn't have a lot of jazz records," remembers Paula "My father linked to listen to classical music." Paula began listening to jazz singers such as Dinah Washington, Billie Holiday and Sarah Vaughn while in college.

After college, Paula moved to San Francisco, unsure of what she wanted to do with her life. Buying old records from thrift shops, she studied them and then began singing classes. As she became more secure in her talent, she ventured into jam sessions, places where an open mike gave her a chance to perform before an audience. It was at one of these sessions that she met a pianist who would join her in the climb to her own musical identity and her musical success. His name was Ken Muir, and he continues as her accompanist today. Paula went on to study with Faith Winthrop, developing her unique tone and delivery. She learned how to sustain a note without a vibrato, which is now almost a Paula West trademark.

Paula worked as a waitress until pianists Muir and Larry Luckovich hired her to work with them at San Francisco's Ritz Carlton Hotel's Terrace Restaurant, and Dick Whittingham featured Paula at the Maybeck Recital Hall. Later she met donald smith, founder of the Mabel Mercer Foundation, which is the force behind the Cabaret Convention. In 1995 he included her in the Cabaret Convention, then arranged for her engagement at the Algonquin HOtel's famous Oak Room in 1996. This led to various bookings, allowing Paula to make a name for herself on the East Coast.

Paula's cortically acclaimed CD, Tempation, was released in 1995, and includes old songs she loves such as "Temptation," "You'll See" by Carrol Coates and "Peel Me A Grape" by Dave Frishberg. It was followed by Restless, and her latest release is titled Come What May. Paula chooses songs she likes personally and can be as unconventional as "Don't Fence Me In" or the Pearl Bailey favorite "Tired."

Paula West has learned her craft and honed her talent, finding audiences far beyond her San Francisco home. She has played in New York and Philadelphia, has appeared on both European and American broadcasts, as well as appearing in Switzerland and Italy several times. In 1997, she had a sold-out deut at the Maison de la Musique in Paris.

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Profile

Paula West and the Art of Making Art

Read "Paula West and the Art of Making Art" reviewed by Mathew Bahl


Jazz singing is like a horse race. To the casual eye, all the horses in the stall look the same. But they aren't. Some have more talent. Some are better trained. Some have better jockeys. Some are more exciting to watch. But no matter what we see or don't see, what the odds might be, or how much a horse has going for it, the same rule applies. It's all about who crosses the finish line first. If ...

5
Album Review

Paula West: Live at Jazz Standard

Read "Live at Jazz Standard" reviewed by Tom Pierce


Devotees of superior jazz vocalists have several reasons to rejoice about this fourth CD by the highly respected San Francisco-based Paula West. First and foremost, the recording is simply a true knockout; but the rejoicing is also because, despite rave audiences and reviews for over a decade, this is West's first release since the impressively executed Come What May (High Horse) in 2001.Recorded during an engagement at New York City's Jazz Standard in 2011, it features stellar but ...

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Album Review

Paula West: Come What May

Read "Come What May" reviewed by Dave Nathan


With her innate sense of timing and phrasing, her ability to swing and to caress a ballad all with a rhythmic fluidity, Paula West's third album is a clinic on vocalizing. The play list is a combo of standards and less familiar material of differing modes. No matter where they come from, West's no vibrato delivery gives each tune a pure, natural reading absent unnecessary embellishments. This is not to say there's no feeling. A first hearing of her rendition ...

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Performance / Tour

Jazz this week: Arturo Sandoval, Moon Hooch, Paula West, Hudson, The Wee Trio, and more

Jazz this week: Arturo Sandoval, Moon Hooch, Paula West, Hudson, The Wee Trio, and more

Source: St. Louis Jazz Notes by Dean Minderman

It's a big week for jazz and creative music in St. Louis, with a half-dozen noteworthy headliners performing in various styles visiting the area over the next few days. Let's go to the highlights... Wednesday, October 11 The weekly “Grand Center Jazz Crawl" features Mark Wallace at KDHX's Magnolia Cafe, a jam session with bassist Bob Deboo and friends at Kranzberg Arts Center, and trumpeter Kasimu Taylor at The Dark Room. Also on Wednesday, the students of Washington University's Monday ...

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Performance / Tour

Paula West at Feinstein's

Paula West at Feinstein's

Source: Miller Wright & Associates

FEINSTEIN'S AT LOEWS REGENCY, the nightclub proclaimed “Best of New York" by New York Magazine, and “an invaluable New York institution" by The New York Post, continues its Fall 2010 season with the debut engagement of critically-acclaimed jazz vocalist Paula West from October 12-16 and from November 22-27. He will perform selections by Bob Dylan ("Shelter From The Storm"), Jimmy Webb ("Wichita Lineman"), Duke Ellington ("Everything But You") and Irving Berlin ("Suppertime"). She will be joined by the George Mesterhazy ...

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Performance / Tour

Paula West and Rebecca Parris Celebrate Lena Horne in Concert

Paula West and Rebecca Parris Celebrate Lena Horne in Concert

Source: KMP, Inc.

FIVE PERFORMANCES (BOSTON, MA; CAMDEN, ME & WASHINGTON D.C.)

James Gavin's STORMY WEATHER

WHERE: Scullers Jazz Club (inside Doubletree Guest Suites Boston) 400 Soldiers Field Road, Boston, MA 02134-1805 (617) 783-0090 scullersjazz.com

WHEN: Saturday, April 24, 2010 sets at 8:00 & 10:00PM

WHERE: Camden Opera House 29 Elm St., Camden, Maine 04843 (207) 470-7066 camdenoperahouse.com

WHEN: Sunday, April 25, 2010 4PM

WHERE: ...

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Performance / Tour

Ministering to an Unlikely Couple

Ministering to an Unlikely Couple

Source: Michael Ricci

Subversion and sex: to hear the San Francisco jazz singer Paula West stamp her personality on songs by Bob Dylan and Cole Porter in the same program is like encountering someone with a multilingual gift. Ms. West is one of a few singers who can reconcile the raw sarcasm of early Dylan with Porters archness and not seem to strain in either direction. The common ground she finds between the two songwriters is a mischievous sense that she is sharing ...

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Performance / Tour

Jazz This Week: Poncho Sanchez, Paula West, Morton Subotnick, and More

Jazz This Week: Poncho Sanchez, Paula West, Morton Subotnick, and More

Source: St. Louis Jazz Notes by Dean Minderman

There's lots going on this week with jazz and creative music in St. Louis, so let's get right to the highlights, starting with three touring performers who are playing in the Gateway City over the next few days.Tonight, Latin-jazz percussionist Poncho Sanchez begins a four-night stand at Jazz at the Bistro. You can see a couple of videos featuring Sanchez and his band in this post from last Saturday, and Jazz St. Louis also has a podcast interview ...

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Performance / Tour

The Sheldon Offers Online Presale of Bela Fleck Tickets, Discount for Paula West Concert

The Sheldon Offers Online Presale of Bela Fleck Tickets, Discount for Paula West Concert

Source: St. Louis Jazz Notes by Dean Minderman

The Sheldon Concert Hall is offering a special online presale for tickets to the Bela Fleck/Africa Project show scheduled for Wednesday, April 1, 2009. Tickets are priced at $45 and $55, and the online presale begins at 10:00 a.m., Thursday November 13. To order, visit www.metrotix.com/promotions and use the promotional code BELA08.The Sheldon also is offering a $10 discount on online orders for tickets to see singer Paula West, who will perform at the hall on Saturday, November ...

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Video / DVD

STLJN Saturday Video Showcase: Paula West Sings "Nature Boy" and "Like a Rolling Stone"

STLJN Saturday Video Showcase: Paula West Sings "Nature Boy" and "Like a Rolling Stone"

Source: St. Louis Jazz Notes by Dean Minderman

This week, we spotlight some videos from singer Paula West, who will be in St. Louis on Saturday, November 22 to perform at the Sheldon Concert Hall. Some local listeners have had the chance to hear West before, as she came to town earlier this year for a four-night engagement at the now-closed Cabaret at Savor. For those who haven't yet heard her, this review from Backstage magazine of a performance last ...

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Performance / Tour

Cabaret Jazz Featuring Barbara Carroll & Paula West Thursday, March 8th at Tribeca Performing Arts Center

Cabaret Jazz Featuring Barbara Carroll & Paula West Thursday, March 8th at Tribeca Performing Arts Center

Source: Jim Eigo, Jazz Promo Services

Cabaret Jazz Featuring Barbara Carroll with Ken Peplowski, Jay Leonhart and Joe Ascione; and The Paula West Quartet

Thursday, March 8th, 2007 @ 8pm

At TRIBECA Performing Arts Center Borough of Manhattan Community College 199 Chambers Street TRIBECA Box Office at (212) 220-1460 http://www.tribecapac.org/music.htm

Barbara Carroll is an elegant jazz pianist, composer and vocalist who has long been regarded as one of the most fascinating purveyors of swinging ...

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Performance / Tour

Jack Kleinsinger Presents Cabaret Jazz Featuring Barbara Carroll & Paula West Thursday, March 8th at Tribeca Performing Arts Center

Jack Kleinsinger Presents Cabaret Jazz Featuring Barbara Carroll & Paula West Thursday, March 8th at Tribeca Performing Arts Center

Source: Jim Eigo, Jazz Promo Services

TRIBECA Performing Arts Center Borough of Manhattan Community College 199 Chambers Street TRIBECA Box Office at (212) 220-1460 http://www.tribecapac.org/music.htm

Thursday, March 8th, 2007 @ 8pm Cabaret Jazz Barbara Carroll with Ken Peplowski, Jay Leonhart and Joe Ascione; and Paula West Quartet

Barbara Carroll is an elegant jazz pianist, composer and vocalist who has long been regarded as one of the most fascinating purveyors of swinging jazz piano and ...

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Performance / Tour

Mose Allison & Paula West Perform in Singers Over Manhattan

Mose Allison & Paula West Perform in Singers Over Manhattan

Source: All About Jazz


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