Ann Hampton Callaway

Ann Hampton Callaway

Musicians | Instrument: Vocals | Location: New York City

…superbly intelligent, singularly creative pop-jazz stylist who can stand shoulder to shoulder with the likes of Streisand, Ronstadt, Shirley Horn and Dianne Reeves…
—Christopher Loudon, JazzTimes

Updated: January 9, 2024

Born: May 30, 1959

Ann Hampton Callaway is one America's most gifted and prolific artists. A leading champion of the great American Songbook, she's made her mark as a singer, pianist, composer, lyricist, arranger, actress, educator, TV host and producer. Voted by Broadwayworld.com as "Performer of the Year" and two years in a row as "Best Jazz Vocalist," Ann is born entertainer. Her unique singing style that blends jazz and traditional pop, making her a mainstay in concert halls, theaters and jazz clubs as well as in the recording studio, on television, and in film. She is best known for Tony-nominated performance in the hit Broadway musical "Swing!" and for writing and singing the theme song to the hit TV series "The Nanny." Callaway is a Platinum Award winning writer whose songs are featured on seven of Barbra Streisand's recent CD's. The only composer to have collaborated with Cole Porter, she has also written songs with Carole King, Rolf Lovland, Amanda McBroom and Shelby Lynn to name a few. Callaway has shared the stage with great artists from many genres- George Shearing, Dizzy Gillespie, Stevie Wonder, Dr. John, Liza Minnelli, Betty Buckley, Dianne Reeves, Dee Dee Bridgewater, Audra McDonald, Harvey Fierstein, Ramsey Lewis, Kurt Elling and Michael Feinstein.

Callaway's live performances showcase her warmth, spontaneous wit and passionate delivery of standards, jazz classics and originals. She is one of America's most gifted improvisers, taking words and phrases from her audiences and creating songs on the spot, whether alone at a piano or with a symphony orchestra. Ann has been a special guest performer with Wynton Marsalis and the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra, with Keith Lockhart and the Boston Pops at Symphony Hall and Tanglewood and has been featured at many of the Carnegie Hall tributes. She has sung with more than forty of the world's top orchestras and big bands, and has performed for President Clinton in Washington, D.C. and at President Gorbachev's Youth Peace Summit in Moscow. Callaway performed with her sister, Broadway star Liz Callaway, in their award-winning show Sibling Revelry at London's Donmar Warehouse. Their act "Boom!," a critically acclaimed celebration of the baby boomer hits of the 60's and 70's, was recorded by PS Classics which debuted in the top 25 on Billboard Jazz. Ann was featured in the Macy's Day Thanksgiving Parade telecast watched by 6 million people singing Emmy Award winning song "Yes, Virginia." Her symphony shows "The Streisand Songbook," "The Linda Ronstadt Songbook," "Diva to Diva," and "Broadway with the Callaways" are always in demand. Callaway's performances and recordings have garnered her The Theater World Award, 15 MAC Awards, several Bistro Awards, The Mabel Mercer Award, The Johnny Mercer Award for Songwriting and The Blanton Peale Award for Positive Thinking. Stephen Holden of The New York Times wrote, "For sheer vocal beauty, no contemporary singer matches Ms. Callaway."

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8
Album Review

Ann Hampton Callaway: Finding Beauty. Originals. Volume 1

Read "Finding Beauty. Originals. Volume 1" reviewed by Richard J Salvucci


"This is my most personal record," Callaway says. “Throughout my career, I've loved singing the great jazz classics and selections from the Great American Songbook, but I've always snuck my original songs on various projects. The pandemic made me think, 'I don't know if I'll live through this, but if I do, what's at the top of my bucket list?' And I realized that I wanted to tell my story and share the deepest part of me. What better way ...

11
Album Review

Ann Hampton Callaway: Fever: A Peggy Lee Celebration

Read "Fever: A Peggy Lee Celebration" reviewed by Richard J Salvucci


Peggy Lee was a remarkable singer and songwriter, but to some listeners, deeply enigmatic. Her time, often well behind the beat, conveyed a subtle sense of irony. “Are you getting this?" she sometimes seemed to say, “or am I going too fast for you?" She could be exuberant and world weary almost in the same breath. It was seemingly up to the audience to decipher her meaning. Lee could convey expectation and experience simultaneously, as in her version of “Folks ...

3
Live Review

Ann Hampton Callaway at Birdland

Read "Ann Hampton Callaway at Birdland" reviewed by Tyran Grillo


Ann Hampton Callaway Birdland New York, NY November 1, 2017 In her iconic theme song for The Nanny, Ann Hampton Callaway quips: “She's the lady in red when everybody else in wearing tan." And while Callaway wasn't dressed in red when she graced Birdland on 1 November 2017, she did stand out with equal vividness at a whitewashed historical moment. Backed by Ted Rosenthal on piano, Martin Wind on bass, Tim Horner on drums, and ...

5
Multiple Reviews

MCG Jazz does Christmas: New Holiday Releases From Ann Hampton Callaway and the Pittsburgh Jazz Orchestra

Read "MCG Jazz does Christmas:  New Holiday Releases From Ann Hampton Callaway and the Pittsburgh Jazz Orchestra" reviewed by Dan Bilawsky


The inevitability of new Christmas albums often fills jazz journalists with dread. And while some may assume it's because we're a cynical breed with unreasonable standards and upturned noses, that couldn't be further from the truth (in most cases). The reason jazz journalists approach new Christmas albums with caution is simple: the number of slipshod, hastily-produced, derivative holiday albums produced in a given year always seems to significantly outweigh the number of quality Christmas projects that appear in the same ...

6
Live Review

Ann Hampton Callaway at Dizzy's Club Coca-Cola

Read "Ann Hampton Callaway at Dizzy's Club Coca-Cola" reviewed by Ernest Barteldes


Ann Hampton Callaway Dizzy's Club Coca-Cola October 23, 2014 New York, NY On the CD release event for her album Sarah Vaughan Project (Shanachie, 2014)--captured live at this very venue--Ann Hampton Callaway kicked off the set with a very up-tempo take on “I'm Gonna Live Till I Die" that swung hard, setting the tone for the evening. She then talked a little about what the show and album were about--honoring “the divine" ...

231
New York Beat

Callaway at The Colony

Read "Callaway at The Colony" reviewed by Nick Catalano


There are so many perspectives from which to view Ann Hampton Callaway's vocal arsenal that I decided that I would take advantage of a Florida book tour stop I was making and catch her appearance at the Royal room of the Colony Hotel in Palm Beach. By skipping her CD launch party at Dizzy's (from where I would normally write this review) and attend one in entirely different demographic, I thought I might get some new angles that might be ...

326
Album Review

Ann Hampton Callaway: At Last

Read "At Last" reviewed by Woodrow Wilkins


It takes a certain degree of nerve to take on “At Last," Mack Gordon and Harry Warren's classic ballad. Etta James' definitive recording is the standard by which most--if not all--renderings are judged. Singer Ann Hampton Callaway has that nerve, and then some. Callaway, a performer in the Broadway musical Swing!, composed and sang the theme to the hit television series The Nanny. Her associations include Wynton Marsalis and the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra, and Keith Lockhart ...

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5

Recording

Ann Hampton Callaway's 'The Moon Is A Kite' - New Single - Just Released!

Ann Hampton Callaway's 'The Moon Is A Kite' - New Single - Just Released!

Source: Scott Thompson Public Relations

Tony nominee and Platinum selling songwriter, Ann Hampton Callaway, releases the latest in a string of singles called “The Moon is a Kite." The song originated from a poem she wrote in her #ahcpoemaday series on June 10, 2021. Arts Angel Debra DeMartini commissioned Ann to create a song and the result was an enchanted jazz waltz celebrating the benefits of keeping an imaginative life view to support the spirit during challenging times. This song will ultimately be part of ...

1

Performance / Tour

Jazz this week: Ann Hampton Callaway, Erik Friedlander's Black Phebe Trio, and more

Jazz this week: Ann Hampton Callaway, Erik Friedlander's Black Phebe Trio, and more

Source: St. Louis Jazz Notes by Dean Minderman

This week's calendar of live jazz and creative music in St. Louis includes the return of a popular singer, the local debut of a challenging trio of improvisors, a tribute to a beloved big band trumpeter and bandleader, and more. Let's go to the highlights... Wednesday, March 15 Longtime St. Louis favorite Ann Hampton Callaway returns for the first time for the first of four nights at Jazz at the Bistro. Callaway was here most recently last summer to do ...

Performance / Tour

Jazz This Week: Ann Hampton Callaway, Nevermore Jazz Ball, Trombone Shorty, and More

Jazz This Week: Ann Hampton Callaway, Nevermore Jazz Ball, Trombone Shorty, and More

Source: St. Louis Jazz Notes by Dean Minderman

This week's highlights in jazz and creative music include the return to St. Louis of a singer, songwriter and pianist who's been a longtime local favorite, and a funky New Orleans trombonist who's rapidly becoming one, plus a weekend-long event that attracts swing dancers from around the country, and more. Let's go to the highlights... On Wednesday, the aforementioned singer, songwriter and pianist Ann Hampton Callaway opens a four-night engagement continuing through Saturday at Jazz at the Bistro. Callaway (pictured) ...

112

Performance / Tour

Jazz This Week: Ann Hampton Callaway, Jacob Fred Jazz Odyssey, Peter Henderson and More

Jazz This Week: Ann Hampton Callaway, Jacob Fred Jazz Odyssey, Peter Henderson and More

Source: St. Louis Jazz Notes by Dean Minderman

This week's calendar of jazz and creative music events in St. Louis offers another varied selection of styles, from swinging jazz in a mainstream groove to eccentric, electric fusion to cabaret to contemporary avant-garde concert music. Let's go the highlights, presented as usual in chronological order: Tonight, singer, songwriter and pianist Ann Hampton Callaway (pictured) opens a four-night engagement at Jazz at the Bistro. Callaway has performed in St. Louis many times, most recently in 2009 for a benefit at ...

87

Performance / Tour

LA Phil Presents Ramsey Lewis & Ann Hampton Callaway

LA Phil Presents Ramsey Lewis & Ann Hampton Callaway

Source: All About Jazz


182

Performance / Tour

Jazz This Week: Dee Dee Bridgewater, Ann Hampton Callaway, Eric Person, Frank Catalano, Frank Rosaly, and More

Jazz This Week: Dee Dee Bridgewater, Ann Hampton Callaway, Eric Person, Frank Catalano, Frank Rosaly, and More

Source: St. Louis Jazz Notes by Dean Minderman

You might say this week's menu of jazz and creative music events in St. Louis has a sort of Noah's Ark vibe to it. The performances are coming in pairs, including two female vocalists, two versatile saxophonists, and two shows with an experimental/free improv bent.It all gets started on Thursday, when Chicago percussionist Frank Rosaly does a solo show of music from his new recording Milkwork at Lemp Neighborhood Arts Center. Rosaly uses both acoustic and electric instruments, ...

152

Performance / Tour

Ann Hampton Callaway to Perform Friday, October 2 at the Contemporary Art Museum

Ann Hampton Callaway to Perform Friday, October 2 at the Contemporary Art Museum

Source: St. Louis Jazz Notes by Dean Minderman

Singer, pianist and songwriter Ann Hampton Callaway (pictured) is returning to St. Louis to perform on Friday, October 2, 2009 at the Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis, 3750 Washington Blvd in Grand Center.The event, entitled “Queens of Jazz," will serve as a kick-off for the 2009 U.S. Women's Chess Championship, which begins the next day and continues through October 14 with events in various locations around town. St. Louis' own Denise Thimes will open the show at 7:30 ...

130

Performance / Tour

Ann Hampton Callaway at Dizzy's Club Coca Cola.

Ann Hampton Callaway  at Dizzy's Club Coca Cola.

Source: Michael Ricci

Ann Hampton Callaway’s self-reinvention from a lachrymose piano-bar chanteuse into a jazz swinger progressed a step further on Tuesday evening at Dizzy’s Club Coca Cola, where she added a new pose to her arsenal of attitudinal stances: pugilistic bossiness.

Punching out “The Best Is Yet to Come,” that optimistic swinger by Cy Coleman and Carolyn Leigh, she bore down heavily on the phrase “Come the day you’re mine,” as if aggressively asserting her claim in a romantic gold rush.

“Comes ...

103

Event

Cleveland Jazz Orchestra and Ann Hampton Callaway March 14

Cleveland Jazz Orchestra and Ann Hampton Callaway March 14

Source: All About Jazz

ANN HAMPTON CALLAWAY to perform with CLEVELAND JAZZ ORCHESTRA (CLEVELAND, OH) - Presented by local non-profit arts organization, Cleveland Jazz Orchestra (CJO) will present jazz headliner, vocalist and pianist, Ann Hampton Callaway in a one show only, family appropriate, musical event. Ms. Callaway will perform this show with the CJO. Co-beneficiary of the proceeds will go to Rainbow Chapter of the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. Ohio Theatre at Playhouse Square Center Wednesday, March 14, 2007, 8:00 PM Ticket Prices: $25, $35, ...

195

Education

Ann Hampton Callaway, Laurel Masse and Janis Siegel to teach Jazz Master Class at Singers Forum NYC

Ann Hampton Callaway, Laurel Masse and Janis Siegel to teach Jazz Master Class at Singers Forum NYC

Source: All About Jazz

Tony-nominated singer/songwriter Ann Hampton Callaway and Grammy winners Laurel Masse and Janis Siegel of The Manhattan Transfer will come together for the first time to teach a master class in jazz vocals for Singers Forum, New York's premiere vocal academy.

The class, “Sing the Swing," will take place on July 10th and 11th, from 7-10 pm in The Dorothy Jones Theater at Singers Forum. Participating students will be chosen by auditions on May 31 and June 1, but auditors are ...

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Music

Black Coffee

From: Fever: A Peggy Lee Celebration
By Ann Hampton Callaway

The Moon is a Kite

From: The Moon is a Kite
By Ann Hampton Callaway

Revelation

From: Revelation
By Ann Hampton Callaway