Lee will bring you love songs and swing, some bebop and blues, and finally, a special performance of Jazz-Raga fusion. Joining Lee will be pianist and Grammy winner, James Weidman, with a jazz trio.
Lee Torchia’s Jazz CD, “Loverman, a Tribute to Billie Holiday” (reviewed and available on: ITUNES), features a rhythm section composed of the legends of jazz: Roger “Ram” Ramirez on piano; Milt “The Judge” Hinton on Bass; and Mel Lewis (of Thad Joes/Mel Lewis) on drums, and the scintillating sax of Ricky Ford.
Lee has performed with many of the top jazz musicians in the country, including Walter Bishop, Jr., Doc Cheatham, Jackie Williams, Ray Mantilla, Slide Hampton and Muhal Richard Abrams.
Simultaneously, when she arrived in New York, Lee met her Indian Music Guru, Pandit Pran Nath, the greatest of North Indian Raga masters. For the next twenty years, Lee studied privately with Pandit Pran Nath, and took initiation with him in 1995. Several times they travelled to India with a select group of disciples, including American Minimalist and Microtonal musicians
La Monte Young and Terry Riley in order to absorb the traditions and culture. Lee has given Raga performances at the Bruno Walter Auditorium at Lincoln Center, Pace University, Pratt Institute, and Penn State. She also gives Master Classes in Raga, and was adjunct faculty at the New School University Jazz Department.
As a composer, Lee has penned pop tunes in the blues and country genre. Yet it is her work in Jazz/Indian fusion which has put her on the "cutting edge" of jazz, premiering Monk compositions "Round Midnight" and "Straight No Chaser" at the Village Gate and the West End Gate; the spiritual "Amazing Grace" at St. Peter's Jazz Church, "All Blues" by Miles Davis at the 2009 Memorial service of her good friend, Lawrence "Larry" Lucie, Duke Ellington's guitarist.
Lee is a Music Fellowship Recipient from The National Endowment for the Arts.
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