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Janet Lawson

Born in Baltimore to a family of professional musicians, Janet Lawson made her singing debut at the age of three and later in her teens performed with big bands. After moving to New York, she began her studies with distinguished composer/arranger Hall Overton and made her debut appearance in the Village Vanguard with the Art Farmer Quartet. Throughout her career she has appeared with, among other jazz greats, Duke Ellington, Tommy Flanagan, Joe Newman, Barney Kessel, Milt Hinton, Ron Carter, Barry Harris, Dave Liebman, David and Lida Baker, Rufus Reid, Clark Terry, Billy Hart, Cedar Walton, Billy Higgins and Bob Dorough.

Lawson was soprano soloist with the Alvin Ailey Dance Theatre in Blood Memories at City Center, New York, and composed and created, with lyricist Diane Snow, the musical Jass is a Lady, supported by NEA and ASCAP Theatre Workshop and produced by Playwrights Horizons in New York City. Lawson has appeared at major New York jazz clubs and has toured the US, Canada and the Far East. She performs mostly in Europe at festivals and clubs, including most recently the Jazz Cafe in London, the Duc des Lombards in Paris, the Copenhagen Jazz House in Denmark with The Very Big Band, plus concerts and clubs throughout Latvia and Lithuania. Her group, the Janet Lawson Quintet, has recorded two albums, The Janet Lawson Quintet, which earned her a Grammy nomination for Best Jazz Vocal Performance-Female (one of a handful of jazz vocalists to be nominated on her first album, she lost to Ella Fitzgerald), and Dreams Can Be. Cambria Master Recordings recently excerpted the albums for the new CD, The Janet Lawson Quintet, and in 2001, Celeste, a Japanese label, released two CDs drawing from her earlier works plus recordings with David Lahm on Palo Alto's Real Jazz for the Folks Who Feel Jazz and Eddie Jefferson on Inner City’s The Main Man.

Lawson is widely recognized for her impeccable musicianship and free-spirited, swinging improvisation. Her commitment to improvisation, the essence of jazz, and her later studies with tenor sax master Warne Marsh nourished her conception of the voice as an instrument. This dedication to the musicianship of singers led her to extending her voice into the field of jazz education. A gifted teacher of vocal jazz technique and self expression, Lawson has conducted master classes at the Manhattan School of Music, Berklee College of Music, Indiana University at Bloomington, City Stages in Birmingham, Alabama, and the University of Calgary, and has taught with jazz educators Jamey Aebersold, Patty Coker, and Berklee's Bob Stoloff at IAJE. Lawson headed the Vocal Jazz program at Wm. Paterson in Wayne, New Jersey, from 1981 to 1988. She has conducted clinics throughout the world and is Co-founder of the Vocal Jazz program at The New School in New York where she is currently an Adjunct Professor.

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Radio & Podcasts

A Jazz Celebration of the 50th Anniversary of Carole King's Tapestry

Read "A Jazz Celebration of the 50th Anniversary of Carole King's Tapestry" reviewed by Mary Foster Conklin


This broadcast features new releases from the Henry Robinett Quartet, Wayne Alpern and Rossano Sportiello with birthday shoutouts to Jocelyn Michelle, Bob Mintzer, Peter Eldridge, Barbara Carroll, Susan Tobocman, Etta James and Ed Reed. Also remembering the great vocalist and educator Janet Lawson plus a jazz celebration for the 50th anniversary of the release of Carole King's iconic Tapestry. Thanks for listening and please support the artists you hear by purchasing their music during this time of lockdown.

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Performance / Tour

Friends, Colleagues And Students To Celebrate Janet Lawson In NYC on May 15th

Friends, Colleagues And Students To Celebrate Janet Lawson In NYC on May 15th

Source: Jim Eigo, Jazz Promo Services

Friends, current and former students, and many of the incredible musicians she has collaborated with over the years will gather on Monday, May 15th 2017 from 7 to 10pm at the extraordinary Minnie Petrie Synagogue at Hebrew Union College- Jewish Institute of Religion, 1 West 4th St. (near Broadway) in jny: New York City, to offer a loving, healing tribute to Janet in celebration of her incredible impact on so many artists and students of jazz. Engaged in a health ...

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Radio

Vocalist Janet Lawson to be featured on “JazzTones” on BlogTalkRadio, Sunday, Nov. 7 - 6pm ET

Vocalist Janet Lawson to be featured on “JazzTones” on BlogTalkRadio, Sunday, Nov. 7 - 6pm ET

Source: Toni Ballard PR

“JazzTones," a live, Internet radio show on BlogTalkRadio.com, will feature GRAMMY-nominated jazz vocalist JANET LAWSON on Sunday, November 7, 2010 at 6:00 pm ET. “JazzTones" brings jazz musicians in Atlanta and worldwide “on -air" to talk about themselves and showcase their music. The number to call in and talk to Janet is (347) 884-9076, and the show page, which includes archives of past programs and a text chat room, is at JazzTones. We invite you to call in to comment ...

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Award / Grant

Janet Lawson, Grammy-Nominated Jazz Vocalist, Returns to Latvia to Perform and Teach at Music Camp

Janet Lawson, Grammy-Nominated Jazz Vocalist, Returns to Latvia to Perform and Teach at Music Camp

Source: Toni Ballard PR

NEW YORK, NY--New York City-based jazz vocalist JANET LAWSON is off to Latvia once again to sing and teach at the IX INTERNATIONAL LATVIAN YOUNG MUSICIANS MASTER CLASSES. Held every two years, previously in Ogre, the music camp takes place in Sigulda, Latvia July 15 to 24, 2010. Dace Aperans is the Artistic Director of the camp, which offers young musicians, who range in age from 17 to 22, the opportunity to study with world-renowned musicians and educators in the ...

"A singer blessed with...the gift of swing, and an infectious ebullient spirit that is unmistakable." —WILLARD JENKINS, Journalist, Open Sky Productions

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