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Gail Pettis

Gail Pettis is a remarkably original song stylist who does not bring to mind Billie or Ella or Sarah or any other vocalist, past or present. In jazz, she found an ideal outlet for expressing herself as an individual. “It feels like I’ve been looking for this all my life,” she explains. “Jazz invites you to be yourself, and that really appeals to me. You’re not required to sound like anyone else nor do you ever have to sing a song the same way twice. Jazz only asks that you live in the moment. That is tremendously freeing.” Gail was born in Henderson, Kentucky, on May 30, 1958 and grew up in Gary, Indiana. As a child, Gail sang classical music and hymns at a local Presbyterian church and continued to perform in other school and church ensembles in later years, including several years of playing the french horn. She was surrounded by healthcare professionals, yet there was also music in the family tree. Grandfather Arthur Pettis was a blues singer and guitarist who recorded for Victor Records in Memphis in 1928 and for Brunswick in Chicago in 1930. Her grandmother, Ninevah Pettis, played piano in the Chicago area. A latecomer to jazz, Gail began singing jazz in 2001 but quickly made up for lost time. Seattle’s Earshot Jazz magazine named her “2007 Northwest Vocalist of the Year,” and her debut CD, May I Come In?, issued that year by Origin/OA2 Records, received a warm reception by XM Satellite Radio and Music Choice Television, stations across the United States and also in Germany and Portugal. She has also performed at the Gene Harris Jazz Festival in Boise, Idaho, the Amersfoort Jazz Festival in the Netherlands, and in Kobe, Japan, as winner of the Seattle-Kobe Sister City Association’s Female Jazz Vocal Audition in 2006.


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Profile

20 Seattle Jazz Musicians You Should Know: Gail Pettis

Read "20 Seattle Jazz Musicians You Should Know: Gail Pettis" reviewed by Paul Rauch


The city of jny: Seattle has a jazz history that dates back to the very beginnings of the form. It was home to the first integrated club scene in America on Jackson St in the 1920's and '30s. It saw a young Ray Charles arrive as a teenager to escape the nightmare of Jim Crow in the south. It has produced such historical jazz icons as Quincy Jones and Ernestine Anderson. In many instances it has acted as a temporary ...

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94

Festival

Jazz in the Valley - This Weekend

Jazz in the Valley - This Weekend

Source: Seattle Jazz Scene

Jazz Port Townsend is not the only major jazz festival this weekend in Washington. The 14th annual Jazz In The Valley takes place July 29-31 in Ellensburg, a two hour drive east of Seattle on I-90.

This year' performers include Gail Pettis, Gary Hobbs Quartet, Lloyd Jones Struggle, John Gross Trio, Little Bill and the Bluenotes, McTuff, Sonando, The John Moawad's All Star Big Band and many more.

All the shows are located in downtown Ellensburg, with a main outdoor ...

85

Performance / Tour

Gail Pettis at Jazz Alley, April 19-20

Gail Pettis at Jazz Alley, April 19-20

Source: Seattle Jazz Scene

Vocalist Gail Pettis will at Jazz Alley for a special two-night run April 19-20. April 19-20: JAZZ ALLEY 2033 6th Avenue Seattle WA 98121 Reservations: 206-441-9729 Tickets are only $10.00 Pettis, the four-time nominee and 2010 winner of Earshot Golden Ear Awards “Northwest Vocalist of the Year," traveled to Kobe, Japan in 2006 to perform as a guest artist at KAVC Hall as First Place winner of the Seattle-Kobe Female Jazz Vocalist Audition.

Her debut performance at Jazz Alley will ...

93

TV / Film

Weekend Extra: Gail Pettis on TV

Weekend Extra: Gail Pettis on TV

Source: Rifftides by Doug Ramsey

Gail Pettis is an orthodontist turned singer (you may supply your own puns) who has commanded considerable notice in her brief new career. She has won awards, toured in Europe and Japan and recorded two albums praised by critics, including this one. Pettis's warmth and intelligence translate into performances that put the song first. She employs her jazz time and phrasing as interpretive tools, not means of calling attention to herself. When she scats, she does it judiciously, with musical ...

64

Radio

Hadley Caliman and Gail Pettis Continue to Dominate Jazz Radio Nationwide

Hadley Caliman and Gail Pettis Continue to Dominate Jazz Radio Nationwide

Source: Seattle Jazz Scene

Gail Pettis and Hadley Calimans recent release continue to rise up the JazzWeek national airplay chart. Last weeks Hadleys Straight Ahead reached #3 and Gails Here In The Moment moved up to #5.

1 - AHMAD JAMAL A Quiet Time (Dreyfus) 2 - STEVE HOBBS Vibes, Straight Up (Challenge) 3 - HADLEY CALIMAN Straight Ahead (Origin) 4 - PAT METHENY Orchestrion (Nonesuch) 5 - GAIL PETTIS Here In The Moment (OA2 Records) ...

221

Radio

Hadley Caliman and Gail Pettis Tie for #7 on JazzWeek Airplay Chart

Hadley Caliman and Gail Pettis Tie for #7 on JazzWeek Airplay Chart

Source: Seattle Jazz Scene

Two Seattle releases, Hadley Caliman's Straight Ahead and Gail Pettis' Here In The Moment, are currently tied in the #7 spot on the JazzWeek National Radio Airplay Chart with Pat Metheny's Orchestrion. 1 - STEVE HOBBS Vibes, Straight Up (Challenge) 2 - AHMAD JAMAL A Quiet Time (Dreyfus) 3 - JOHN STEIN Raising The Roof (Whaling City Sound) 4 - JEREMY PELT Men Of Honor (HighNote) 5 - JOE LOCKE For The ...

112

Performance / Tour

Gail Pettis CD Release Party - Wed, Feb 10

Gail Pettis CD Release Party - Wed, Feb 10

Source: Seattle Jazz Scene

Singer Gail Pettis will celebrate the release of her new CD, Here in the Moment, currently #5 on the JazzWeek chart, with a performance at Tulas on Wednesday, February 10 at 7:30pm.

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 10 TULAS JAZZ CLUB 2214 2nd Ave, Seattle 7:30pm, $10 Reservations: 206-443-4221

With an exquisitely subtle three-and-a-half-octave approach to the Great American Songbook, Gail Pettis developed a loyal following as her debut recording May I Come In? received ...

127

Radio

Gail Pettis and Hadley Caliman Racing up the Chart

Gail Pettis and Hadley Caliman Racing up the Chart

Source: Seattle Jazz Scene

Seattle jazz artists Gail Pettis and Hadley Caliman both have CDs with strong showings on the JazzWeek National Airplay Chart.

Gail Pettis new CD, Here In The Moment, is currently #5 and Hadley Calimans Straight Ahead jumped from #54 to #12 this week.

Bellingham-based composer Phil Kelly's new CD, Ballet Of The Bouncing Beagles, featuring a number of Seattle musicians, is currently #26.

Congratulations to both Hadley, Gail and Phil for giving Seattle such a strong presence on national radio. ...

135

Recording

"Here in the Moment": 2nd CD from Seattle Singer Gail Pettis Due Jan. 12 by Origin/OA2 Records

"Here in the Moment": 2nd CD from Seattle Singer Gail Pettis Due Jan. 12 by Origin/OA2 Records

Source: Terri Hinte Publicity

Here in the Moment, the assured new Origin/OA2 CD by Seattle jazz vocalist Gail Pettis, is only the second recording in a professional career that began in 2002. But Pettis has quickly worked to establish herself in a crowded field as a consummate stylist who sounds like no one but herself. After spending nearly two decades as a successful orthodontist, Pettis turned to music in midlife and was soon attracting the cream of Seattle's jazz instrumentalists, who've backed her on ...

"(Gail Pettis)....goes from strength to strength, performing a winning, crowd-involving style of vocal jazz." —Earshot Jazz

"...deliciously soulful..." —Cadence Magazine

"...a great collection of songs with a range of emotions, good stories, honest delivery..." —Jim Wilke, Public Radio International

Photos

Concerts

Music

Recordings: As Leader | As Sideperson

Here In the Moment

OA2 Records
2010

buy

May I Come In?

OA2 Records
0

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We've Met Before

From: May I Come In?
By Gail Pettis

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