Halie Loren, internationally acclaimed jazz/pop artist

Halie Loren, internationally acclaimed jazz/pop artist, is performing four shows in New York City April 12 through 15. Accompanied by pianist/bandleader Matt Treder and New Yorkbassist Mary Ann McSweeney, Loren will perform at the Metropolitan Room on April 12 at 7:00 and April 15 at 9:30. She will also perform in duo with pianist Treder at Caffe Vivaldi on April 13 at 7:00 and Googie's Lounge (Upstairs from The Living Room) on April 14 at 8:30.

At 26, Loren is already a veteran entertainer — a talented vocalist and award-winningsongwriter with five albums to her name who has been winning hearts of music fans with her molasses-dipped, sweet and sultry vocals and intuitive song interpretations. 

Though often favorably compared to singers spanning many generations andgenres, Loren puts her own ‘voice’ in her performances and her songwriting. She attributes her ability to cross and mix genres into a cohesive sound in part to having grown up on an island along the Inside Passage of Southeast Alaska, where she listened to the one radio (Public) station available and to her parents’ eclectic music collection. "Since I didn’t know what was supposed to be ‘popular’ music at the time, I didn’t establish any musical boundaries for singing or songwriting," says Loren. "I know now how important a role this played as I was absorbing everything musical I could find.” 

Loren carried that same no-boundaries approach into her songwriting from the beginning and found early successes.  While still in her mid-teens, Loren won songwriting awards in the John Lennon Songwriting Contest and Billboard World Song Contest.  In 2000, she earned first place in the Austin Songwriters' Awards for three of her songs, including jazz, and in 2005 took top prize in the Pacific Songwriters’ Association Awards.

Loren sprinkles stunning versions of beloved jazz standards with her own originals and re-imagines popular songs in unexpected, ‘jazzified’ ways. “Halie Loren has displayed the rare ability of being able to make the most familiar song sound fresh and relevant, and a talent at transforming unlikely material into jazz,” wrote reviewer Scott Yanow in L.A. Jazz Scene Monthly.

Her 2008 release They Oughta Write a Song won Best Vocal Jazz Album of the year at the 2009 JPF Music Awards, the largest independent music awards in the world. She was subsequently signed by JVC/Victor Entertainment for distribution throughout Asia, including Japan, where her albums have repeatedly reached the coveted #1 position, with songs charting on both jazz and pop radio.

Since summer 2010, Loren has performed in Canada and Hawaii and toured Japan twice, first as afeatured headliner at the Ginza Jazz Festival and again to packed houses at the Blue Note and Cotton Club, and has performances scheduled across the US, Asia, and Europe 2011/2012.  “She has both an exquisite musical sense and the talent for phrasing that makes a song come alive,” wrote Vivoscene about her most recent CD, After Dark. “If this is your introduction to jazz, there can be no better.” 

By Lynn Walker – Booking/Publicity Coordinator