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Jeudi

Welcome! I'm so happy to meet you. I'm Jeudi.

Here's my story: I love the vintage scene because it allows me to dress the part and feel like a time-traveler. As a performer of vintage music, I like to take people on a similar journey. As you’re listening, I hope you’ll feel like you’ve been transported to the past - - maybe it’s a swank Supper Club in Manhattan, an intimate Parisian Cabaret, an elegant London ballroom, or to Hollywood’s Golden Age—or maybe you’ll just drift on the music, back to your own memories."

This love of history, really goes back to my family. I was the kid who always wanted to be inside the house listening to the grown-ups reminisce about their lives. They had such incredible stories about the old country and about life during the Great Depression and WW2. My mom was even a Rosie the Riveter! (Both she and my Dad were sharp dressers and great dancers, which definitely influenced my taste in fashion and music.) So now, I'm the family archivist, preserving family history and memories. Some of my fondest memories are from my earliest childhood, when I'd visit my Tata's house in Barrio Logan. It was a time capsule from the past. There were old cars, a foot-powered Singer sewing machine, a wood burning stove, flour bins, an old ice box, a clawfoot tub, and you could even listen to old songs on the Victrola! This was magic.

Another thing that had a huge impact on me was growing up with a player piano in our family home. It was like stairmaster meets karaoke. We had hundreds of piano rolls mostly dating from the 1910s to the 1930s. It was such great fun and a novelty to be sure. Everyone wanted to see or try the player piano. The neighborhood kids and my family were my first audiences. Either with them, or alone, I'd spend countless hours pumping the pedals and singing along with these songs.

Throughout my life, while most of my peers were listening to the top 40 on the radio, I was listening to their grandparent's top 40! It astounded me that these incredible songs could be forgotten! It's no wonder I get a thrill from sleuthing through actual and virtual antique shops to excavate forgotten musical treasures, dust them off and dress them in fresh new arrangements for modern retro loving audiences!

​Over the years, my live cabaret acts have become synonymous with storytelling through song. As someone who works in different art disciplines, I liken my cabaret work to that of an "assemblage artist," who collects material from different sources, eras and genres and puts them together to tell a never-before-told story. I love the intimacy of salon performances, where I can see the audience and sing them a story. I've been fortunate enough to do this in different international settings and I love how even if someone doesn't understand the language of the lyric, they will still connect with the emotional delivery. It's because the music shows us our common humanity, even if it's a song that's generations old. That's magic!

My first album was "Winter Was Warm - Swingin' and Sentimental Songs of the Season." I wanted an album that would appeal to people from different faiths, so there are 7 songs about winter, in addition to the 7 songs about Christmas. The holiday season can be emotionally complicated, so I wanted this collection to encompass the many moods of the seasons from merriment to melancholy. Mostly, as a self-professed "musical archaeologist," I was thrilled to excavate forgotten gems from antique shop music heaps and dust them off for those modern listeners, who while loving their holiday standards, wanted to expand their playlist beyond the old chestnuts. These songs feel so familiar because they're in the same vibe, but they're also fresh and refreshing!

After that, I spent five years deep in development, eschewing most public performances to focus on a few big projects. It's been a lot of behind-the- scenes work, but at last, I've pulled open the curtain. Just this past June 2020, opening with "Stardust" I began a series of monthly music releases, as part of a curated song cycle called "Love Outshines the Moon." These 16 shimmering Jazz Age tunes, known and forgotten, alternately wax and wane poetic and energetic with timeless verities of the heart. In keeping with the theme, each single releases on the Full Moon. There are also music videos being released every 8 weeks.

What else to share?

I'm a trained multi-disciplinary artist. I earned my Interschool MFA at CalArts; other studies were completed at NYU's Tisch School of the Arts, SDSU and Paris-Sorbonne.

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ROB LESTER, TALKIN BROADWAY, DECEMBER 2015

https://www.talkinbroadway.com/page/sound/december0815.html

JEUDI / WINTER WAS WARM: SWINGIN' & SENTIMENTAL SONGS OF THE SEASON "I'm predisposed to want to cheer on any singer who champions the more neglected work of Golden Age songwriters that gets overshadowed by the big standards that get recorded over and over and over. So, the singer going by the single name of Jeudi, who makes it a mission to mine them, got my attention—and her stylish way of singing gets my smiling approval.

While she also sprinkles in some better-known things, like Irving Berlin's "I've Got My Love to Keep Me Warm," in her super-cozy seasonal survey, there's an abundance of stuff we don't hear on a regular basis

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Photos

Music

Recordings: As Leader | As Sideperson

In the Dim Dim...

Home And Yonder
2022

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The Starlit Hour...

Home And Yonder
2022

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Stairway to the Stars...

Home And Yonder
2021

buy

Moonglow (single)

Home And Yonder
2021

buy

Moonstruck (single)

Home And Yonder
2021

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Stardust (single)

Home And Yonder
2020

buy

The Starlit Hour

From: The Starlit Hour (single)
By Jeudi

Midnight, The Stars And You (single)

From: Midnight, The Stars And You...
By Jeudi

Get Out, Get Under The Moon (single)

From: Get Out, Get Under The Moon...
By Jeudi

Stardust

From: Stardust (single)
By Jeudi

Twinkle Twinkle Little Star

From: Twinkle Twinkle Little Star...
By Jeudi

Videos

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