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Adia Ledbetter
Adia is a recent graduate of North Carolina Central University with degrees in Jazz Studies and Music Education. She has performed with the NCCU Vocal Jazz Ensemble and the University Touring Choir. Her performing experience includes opening for jazz luminaries Hubert Laws, Nnenna Freelon, Jimmy Heath, Grady Tate, Freddie Cole Antonio Hart, and the Branford Marsalis Quartet. Adia most recently studied voice under the tutelage of Lenora Zenzalai Helm. She has also had the opportunity to study with Shelia Jordan, Madeline Eastman, Dena DeRose, Martha Flowers, Harold Mabern, Barry Harris, George Cables, Carmen Lundy and Jennifer Shelton.
Adia’s debut recording, “First Take” features Generations, a straight ahead jazz quartet spanning two generations.
Adia was chosen as an outstanding performer by DOWNBEAT magazine (June 2006) and was selected to participate in the 2006 Kennedy Center Betty Carter Jazz Ahead International Jazz Residency and Performance Project. In 2007 she was listed as a “vocalist to watch” in the NC Independent Weekly. In 2008 she was choose as an Emerging Artist by the Durham Arts Council.
After spending a year teaching middle school chorus, piano, and introducing students to jazz, Adia is currently pursuing a Master of Jazz Studies Degree at Queens College in New York. She is also performing with Generations, working on a second CD. She is dedicated to the preservation of jazz music and hopes to continue a successful career as a jazz vocal musician and educator.
Awards
DownBeaT Magazine Student Awards 2006 Kennedy Center's Betty Carter Jazz Ahead 2006 Dac Emerging Artist Grant 2008
Tags
Adia Ledbetter: Take 2: Rendezvous With Yesterdays
by Dan Bilawsky
Take 2: Rendezvous With Yesterdays is a journey through songs of yesteryear with some interesting personal detours thrown into the itinerary from vocalist Adia Ledbetter. Eight years after her first album, Ledbetter returns and uses her sophomore effort as a descriptive odyssey of where she came from, where she is and where she is going. As the album gets underway, with a medley of Ledbetter's Closer" and You And The Night And The Music," she seems to ...
read moreAdia Ledbetter has a voice full of personality and expression that surprises. A young voice but she has something of substance to say that belies her tender years. She is soulful, and as in her title tune "Rendezvous with Yesterdays", deeply personal yet she is willing to share her thanks with those who inspired her. Deborah Brown
Primary Instrument
Vocals
Willing to teach
Intermediate to advanced
Credentials/Background
I am available for private lessons! I am a licensed teacher and I have class room experience. Contact for rates!
Music
Recordings: As Leader | As Sideperson