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Jenny Davis
Redefining the art of singing, award-winning vocalist, composer, and bandleader Radebaugh, she has found the balance of songs and styles that showcase their collective talents, blending beautiful arrangements and soulful compositions, while adding new freshness to favorite jazz standards. In this adventurous recording, Jenny’s vocals fuse with inspired solos by Easton, Radegaugh and Willy Ingersoll, creating improvisations that make her voice sound, in the words of one of her fans, “like an instrument among instruments." Her voice invites the listener inside the music in recordings of vibrant bebop standards that are usually performed instrumentally such as Clifford Brown’s "Joy Spring" and Charlie Parker’s "Scrapple from the Apple". From the achingly tender title track "It Amazes Me" to Duke Ellington's hard swinging "It Don't Mean a Thing (if it ain't got that swing)" Jenny takes the listener on a personal exploration of vocal range and emotional depth that few have the heart, or talent, to traverse. Hers is the voice of a woman in love, in love with her daughter in her moving rendition of "Dindi," in love with life on her soulful composition " Answer the Call" in love with jazz on every song she delivers. Jenny learned her chops under the tutelage of renowned jazz vocalist, Beth Winter, and other greats such as Jay Clayton, Sheila Jordan, Hadley Caliman, Randy Halberstadt, Chuck Deardorf, Jim Knapp and Julian Priester. She graduated cum laude from Cornish College of the Arts with a Bachelor of Arts in Music, where she was awarded the coveted Maggie Hawthorne scholarship. Eager to define what has become her passionate performance style Jenny started a jazz trio, sang lead vocals for Jim Knapp's Big Band and played virtually every jazz club in Seattle, including Jazz Alley, while still a student at Cornish. Jenny continues to perform at clubs, festivals, workshops and jazz venues. She is also a dedicated teacher of jazz vocals. Her latest CD It Amazes Me features her jazz quartet: Chuck Easton, George Radebaugh, Ted Enderle, Tim Sheffel and an exceptionally talented young player, alto saxophonist, Willy Ingersoll. Jenny's recording and producing credits include her 2000 release, Daydream. In this, her debut CD, Jenny teamed up with former Doobie Brothers saxophone player, Danny Hull.
Awards
Maggie Hawthorne Scholarship, Cornish College of the Arts
Vermont College of Fine Arts, Women's Composer Scholarship
Ken Frackling 10 best composition 2020 'Wise Up"
Tags
Jenny Davis: Rearranged
by C. Michael Bailey
The first listen is simply heating the snifter to introduce the complex and commanding music made as essence to the listener. The second and subsequent listenings consumes the musical liquor of the talent and vision of vocalist and composer Jenny Davis, who reveals a very sophisticated creative method existing at the triple point of her singing, composing and activism. Davis's previous recordings It Amazes Me (Self Produced, 2006) and Inside You (Self Produced, 2010) were well received, setting Davis up ...
read moreJenny Davis: Inside You
by C. Michael Bailey
Jenny Davis' It Amazes Me (Self Produced, 2006) was a relaxed tuneful affair employing a crack quintet capable of multiple layers of musicianship. For Inside You, Davis whittles her quintet to a duo, featuring her regular guitarist Chuck Easton, and bassist Ted Enderle, furnishing a stripped-down swing that depends on its own momentum with which to propel it. From the near orchestral duet with Easton on When Your Lover Has Gone" to the brilliantly spare duet with Enderle on Softly, ...
read moreJenny Davis: It Amazes Me
by Michael P. Gladstone
Jenny Davis is a Seattle-based jazz vocalist who lives in Port Townsend, Washington. She studied with jazz vocalist Beth Winter and graduated cum laude from Cornish College, where she was awarded the prestigious Maggie Hawthorne Scholarship. While she was still a student, Davis formed a jazz trio, sang lead vocals for JIm Knapp's Big Band and played in just about every jazz venue in Seattle.
This is Davis' second album; her debut appeared in 2000. It Amazes Me ...
read moreJenny Davis: It Amazes Me
by Jim Santella
In a relaxed, acoustic setting with jazz standards filling the room, Seattle vocalist Jenny Davis combines her comfortable demeanor with a throwback charm that recalls those who have come before. Through her lyric interpretations and wordless scat singing, we can feel the distant memories of masters like Ella Fitzgerald, Peggy Lee and Mel Tormé.
Comparisons can be cruel, of course. However, Davis prefers to sing 'em the way they've been done before. She brings back the memories by ...
read more“Passionate…brilliant! EARSHOT JAZZ
“A talented singer-composer – knocking it out of the park!” ROOTS MUSIC REPORT
“With REARRANGED, Davis has catapulted her career out of the jazz standards vocalist idiom and conveyed a depth of writing with profundity.” CONTEMPORARY FUSION
“The plaintive, prayerful lyrics of REARRANGED are stunningly rendered! JAZZTIMES