LAUREN HOOKER helps to continue the tradition of great jazz singing

Wednesday, October 6, 2010

LAUREN HOOKER helps to continue the tradition of great jazz singing. Awarded Honorable Mention as one of AllAboutJazz-New York's selected Best CDs in ’07 for her debut CD: “Right Where I Belong”, critics from across the nation and abroad have compared her sound to that of Dianne Reeves, Nancy Wilson, Sarah Vaughan and Dinah Washington, but with a style uniquely her own. Known throughout the NY metropolitan area as a vocalist, instrumentalist, composer, lyricist, educator, producer and storyteller, she performs regularly as a pianist/vocalist, as well as a stand up vocalist with some of the best musicians in the business.

Of her latest release: "Life of the Music" on Miles High Records (Fall 2010), Rufus Reid writes in his liner notes: Lauren Hooker’s voice possesses a myriad of colors that successfully embrace this ambitious and eclectic program. Her voice is mature, rich, robust, and full of emotion that only experience can bring… a close-up view of Lauren’s broad musical scope and fine musicianship… a superb recording. In regards to her debut CD, Christopher Loudon from JAZZ TIMES says ...undeniably impressive… certainly imaginative… can hold her own against pretty much any singer-songwriter in the business… ability to add lyrics to instrumental classics… is flat-out masterful… and George Harris, All About Jazz LA states… Here’s a vocalist that is going to knock you off your chair... hits a double off the wall. Her voice-rich, confident and assured - pitch perfect… her timing, sense of swing - absolutely impeccable, can take a lyric and mold it like clay."

Lauren has been featured in many venues in New York City including Enzo’s Jazz Room at the Jolly Madison Hotel, Smoke Jazz and Supper Club and The International Women in Jazz Festival, as well as in New Jersey at the Puffin Cultural Forum, Barron Art Center, Trumpets and The Summer Jazz Café Series at The Two Rivers Theater. She has performed and/or recorded with some of the best in the business including Mal Waldron, Rufus Reid, Allen Farnham, Vic Juris, Bucky Pizzarelli and Reggie Workman to name a few and has appeared on numerous radio and television stations, most recently in all five boroughs on BCAT filmed live at the "Brooklyn Sings, Brooklyn Swings Series". Her jazz repertoire highlights her three octave range and features original compositions as well as instrumental standards set to her own lyrics and arrangements.

I was born into music ... hearing my dad jam with his fellow jazz musicians in the basement ... starting piano lessons at age four ... meeting Bill Evans at the Vanguard whom my father recorded with in college ... being exposed to and singing most of the major oratorios by age fifteen ... shaking hands with Duke Ellington and Dave Brubeck whose sacred works my dad's chorus, the New Jersey Schola Cantorum, performed ... reaching for Sarah Vaughan's range, Ella's scat, Miles Davis' tone and Coltrane's intention. I was not only encouraged, but expected to be a musician, and a well-rounded one at that ... one who could compose, play, sing, arrange and educate.

A former music teacher at the acclaimed Bank Street School in NYC, Lauren is dedicated to the education of young and old alike, conducting jazz vocal workshops, teacher training symposiums, group music classes as well as private piano lessons in her home studio in Teaneck. She also performs in schools, libraries, museums and festivals via her Arts in Education Company: Musical Legends, LLC which she founded in 1993, teaching cultures through the arts and arts through the cultures and is currently working on a television/internet series for children entitled “You Can Do It Too with Ms. Lauren”.

16 Oct 2010